8 Active Ways to Learn Sight Words

Learning sight words is the most basic way in which children learn to read. However, it can often be hard for kids to sit down and practice them – especially for boys!

When my son was learning to read, to keep him motivated, I had to develop some ways to keep him moving while learning his sight words!

Here are 8 Active Ways to Learn Sight Words

1. Hot Wheels Parking Lot

My son is obsessed with Hot Wheels, so I took a big piece of paper and drew roads for a town. Off the roads, I created parking spaces. Each parking space included a sight word.
Call out a sight word and have the child drive his Hot Wheel to the new word and park. Once he learned the words, we called out words for each other to drive to.

2. Scavenger Hunts

My son was motivated by special treats! My mom suggested I create a scavenger hunt making up clues with simple words. He had to follow the clues to find his snack at the end. Three years later, we still use the same clue words and the kids still ask to find their after-school snacks this way!

3. Animal Toss

Create (or buy) sight word cards. Spread a few cards out on the floor. Call out one of the words and have the child throw a stuffed animal (or bean bag) to have it land on the word called.

4. Card Race

Spread sight word cards out on the floor. Stand at the opposite end of the room. Call out a word and the child must run down, find the word, pick it up and bring it back.

Variation: I created “active word cards” like HOP, JUMP, RUN, WALK, CRAB WALK, WALK WITH EYES CLOSED. The child runs to the cards, picks one, and must come back to the start line in the manner of the sight word card.

5. Watergun Fun

With a washable marker or tub-specific crayon, write sight words over the shower stall walls. Give the child a water gun. Call out a sight word and they must spray it with the water gun.

6. Body Letters

Have children create each letter of the alphabet together using their bodies. If you have enough children, see if you can make a word!

7. Chalk Words

Write site words (or letters of the alphabet) in the driveway with chalk. Call out words and have the child run and jump on each word. If using letters, write the entire alphabet and have the child try to spell a word. This also works well if a child is on a trike and “bikes” to each word.

8. Bowling for Words

Write sight words on a slip of paper and tape them to a bowling set. Set up the pins and call out a word. The child must roll the ball and try to knock over that pin. This works well if you really spread out the pins so you know which word he is trying to hit!