Sight Words Scavenger Hunt

When kids start putting together the developmental building blocks for literacy it’s exciting. My 4 year old has been sounding out words for a long time and has always enjoyed rhyming and playing with the sounds letters make. We haven’t been pushing any of this just paying attention to what she was doing during reading and writing ( self directed writing) times. A few weeks ago at church she looked at the projector screen and read all the words. I asked her if she read them and she said ” No, I just knew them.” She didn’t know she was reading because to her reading is sounding words out. That was when I knew it was time to work some targeted reading especially sight word, activities into playtime.

This is such a simple sight word game that you can throw it together after a long day at the office, as a quick activity between dinner and bed, or like we used it a short activity for days when your child is already going to school. I want to challenge her but not overwhelm her. If reading activities are new to your house I suggest erring on the side of short and easy. The reason I say this is because we don’t want to send the message that reading is this impossible mountain to climb. Reading is fun, so let’s keep it that way. You can turn up the challenge once you can gauge their ability a little better.

Gather your materials. You will need some paper, a clip board, a marker and some sticky notes.

Write out the sight words you want to work on. I used words from the pre-primer list . You can see all the Dolch sight word lists here. If you aren’t sure where your child hits you can always read through a list with him together before the activity.

Write the same words on sticky notes.

Pop those sticky notes all over your house.

When your child is home from school tell them you have something RAD for them to play. Look at how she ran from the car inside… that’s a first.

Go over the list. Don’t read it for them. Let them read through it. She was off hunting before I could really do anything. She knew what to do and didn’t want to waste any time.

When they find the word they must call it out and stick it on. Keep going until all the words are covered with their match!

I was surprised that she knew them all. The only word she sounded out was can. A reminder about sounding out words. When your child is sounding it out if their first attempt is wrong don’t just yell out the correct word. You can tell them things like ” You are close, keep trying.” ” Let’s take it letter by letter.” ” Sometimes that letter makes more than one sound.” etc… let them work it out. This will build their confidence!

I loved hearing ” Mama that is we. We is so so easy! It’s just me with a w!”

The best part is that when there were only 10 minutes before I had to leave to pick her up from preschool I through this together and the game was a fun way for us to re-connect after hours apart.