25+ Ways to Learn Letters & Sight Words
When you hear a song for the first time, do you know all the words? Nah. You listen to it over and over and probably learn “easier” part first- probably the chorus.
Same with children. They are going to learn “easier” letters first like the letters in their name and letters that are more original like “X and O.”
If someone gave you a speech to memorize in a short amount of time, it would be rough. You would probably go line by line, section by section to memorize it.
Same with children. Give your child a few letters or sight words at a time until they have mastered them.
Below are some of the ways my team of Kindergarten teachers would encourage parents to practice letters at home with their children.
BOOKS!
Ohhh the power of books. I cannot stress this enough. Don’t want to blow a ton of money on books? I get it. Get a library card- some libraries are doing curbside pick up, so you order books online, go to the library and they put your books in the trunk of the car- that’s IT! (side note: can we continue ALL curbside services when covid is under control, please?!)
I have a LOT of favorite books for teaching letters, but here are my top 3 that I read multiple times a day at the begining of the year when I taught Kindergarten.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
LMNO Peas
Eating the Alphabet
Need more book ideas? Follow @librarian_mama on IG. She gives great book recommendations for all kinds of topics.
Magnetic Letters
Magnetic letters are a powerful literacy tool; anywhere from learning letters to writing words, these letters provide a tactical way for children to grasp important skills… And, they’re fun!! When I taught kindergarten, we used magnetic letters A LOT!
Magnetic letters are a powerful literacy tool; from learning letters to writing words, these letters provide a tactical way for children to grasp important skills… And, they’re fun!!
Be sure to get a letter set that have both uppercase and lowercase letters. The magnetic letter set I like is LINKED HERE.
1. Names: Write your child’s name with a marker on a paper or dry erase board. Have your child match the letters in their name. Beginner: only give them the letters in their name. Intermediate: give them more letters than what are in their name. Advanced: Remove the written part of their name and have them put the letters in the correct order to make their name.
2. Fishing for Letters- attach a string (or shoelace) to a magnet from the fridge, have your child “fish” for the magnetic letters from a bowl or the floor. Match the letters on an ABC chart
3. Sort letters on the dishwasher, door, fridge, car, etc: uppercase and lowercase. You can also sort letters in my name and letters NOT in my name.
4. Playdoh: Any and all exposure to letters is wonderful. So, if your child loves playdough, throw a couple letters in there next time they are playing.
5. SLAM IT: put the letters on your garage door. Have your child throw a soft ball to hit the letter. You can call out letters or they can choose a letter from their flashcards and have to find the match.
6. Cookie sheet- Write letters with permanent marker on cookie sheet, parchment paper, or foil- match the magnetic letter to the written letter
7. Sort letters: curves, letters with sticks, letters with both
8. ABC soup: throw one of each letter in a bowl, mix it up with a spoon and scoop some out. Talk about the letters as they scoop them out "Ooo! You scooped a P. Just like a pig /p/ /p/ pig!"
9. Beginning Sounds: grab one of each letter and label items in your house with the beginning sound.
10. Shake & Make: take the letters from a sight word and shake the letters in your hands. Throw them on the ground or table (kids love this part because they fly everywhere.. hehe). Have them collect them super fast and make the word you’re practicing. Again, for beginners, you may have to have the word written on a card to have them match the letters.
To see these in action (with pictures), visit my Instagram:
Here’s a couple more ideas on how to use magnetic letters:
Make-write-read- same as Shake and Make (see above), but add a writing component to it. Have your child write the word on a dry erase board after they make the word with the magnetic letters. THEN, have them READ the word they just wrote. Encourage them to slide their finger under the word while reading the word.
Discovery bottle- grab an clear bottle or jar, add rice or beans, throw some magnetic letters in there, too. Have your child turn the bottle around and find letters.
Chicka Chicka Boom boom tree- read the book “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” make a tree with a toilet paper or paper towel roll and reenact the story!
Guess my letter- throw a letter into a black bag or clean black sock. Have your child reach in the bag and feel it. Have them guess the letter before pulling it out.
More FUN ways to practice Letters & Sight Words:
Learning should be fun.
Read that again.
I didn’t say, “Learning should require you to prepare a 90 minute activity that your child plays with for 2 minutes.”
Incorporating simple games and activities can help your child learn letters and sight words quicker.
Here are some simple (and fun) ways to practice letters & sight words
Write letters or sight words on a cookie sheet or tray or salt, Kool-Aid, shaving cream, lotion, or dry Jell-O
Read a lot of ABC books. Talk about the names of the letters and the sound they make.
Write all the uppercase letters on index cards. Make a second set of lowercase letters. Have your child match the same letters. Talk about the name of each letter and the sound it makes.
Use your child’s name to learn the letters. Write their name on a card and find the letters in their name in a book.
Hang a list of sight words from the headrest in your car using string. Have your child read as many sight words each time they get in or out of your car.
Let your child practice writing their letters and sight words with a paintbrush and water, chalk, dry erase board and markers, magna-doodles, markers or pens.
Point out letters on signs while driving the car. Find letters on the menus in a restaurant. Play ‘I Spy’ with sight words.
Roll play-dough into a rope to form letters or build sight words.
Use food to make letters and sight words. Pretzel sticks, carrot sticks, marshmallows, and candy are fun way to make letters!
Trace your child’s hand-print, cut it out, and hang it up by a doorway. Write a sight word on the hand-print and have your child ‘high-five’ the hand-print while reading the sight word each time they walk out of the door.
Make flashcard for your child. Make a pile of words they know and words they do not know yet. Add one unknown word to the pile of known words. Keep the word in the known pile until they have mastered it and then add another unknown word to the pile.
You can add sight words to many board games and turn them into sight word games! Jenga, Candyland, Connect 4, Don’t Break the Ice, and Chutes and Ladders are just a few board games that make excellent sight word games. Simply have your child read a sight word before taking a turn at the game.
Play Pancake Sight Words: flip the sight word flashcards upside down, use a spatula to flip one flashcard over at a time, if your child can read the word they can add it to their “pancake stack”
Write sight words on water bottle caps with a permanent marker. Read the sight word before flicking the sight word into a goal or at a target
Have a Sight Word Indoor Snowball Fight: write sight words on white paper, crumple up the paper, pick up a “snowball”, read the word, crumble it back up and throw it!
Sight Word Cup Stacking: write sight words on small Dixie cups or any kind of plastic cup. Time yourself to see how quickly you can read the sight word on the cup and then stack the cup to build a tower.
Tape the sight word flashcards to a wall or door. Read a sight word and try to throw a ball at the sight word. You can also use a Nerf Gun and shoot the sight word after reading it!
Spread your sight words, face up on a table or the floor. Have 1 person call out a sight word while the other players race to slap the sight word first. The person that slaps the sight word first gets to keep the sight word!
Have any other simple game ideas? Let me know!