Sight words, or high frequency words, are the most common words in the English language. They are very common words which can’t be sounded out according to the normal rules, so they need to be learned by sight.

Children are encouraged to learn sight words by memory to make reading quicker and easier. Amazingly, sight words can make up to 50-70% of the words used in general text!

Having a lot of sight words memorised can help children gain confidence with reading and spend less time on decoding (figuring out the letter sounds).

If a child can read almost a whole book just based on kindergarten sight words, they’ll be able to spend more time learning the words they don’t know yet! Learning sight words is the easiest and most efficient way to start learning to read. Try out these kindergarten words with your early-learner today!

• Sight Words Bingo:
  1. Create a sheet of sight words 25×25 squares
  2. Give kids pens or small markers
  3. Read aloud the sight words one at a time
  4. Kids should cross out the word when they hear it
  5. To win, kids need to make a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line of 5 words and read aloud the 5 words for more practice!

• Sight Words word search:
  1. Create a word search using an online generator
  2. Add 20+ sight words into the generator
  3.  Children need to find each sight word (vertical, horizontal or diagonal) and circle them
  4. Repeat until all the words have been found
  5. For more practice, help children to make short sentences using the words

• Sight Words Beanbag Toss:
  1. Create 30+ separate sight words on some cards (use our flashcards above or write your own)
  2. Spread them out on the ground
  3. The child should toss the beanbag onto one of the words and then read the word aloud!

• Sight Words Memory:
  1. Write 10 word pairs onto 20 pieces of card or paper
  2. Shuffle the cards and place them face down on a table
  3. The child should turn over one of the cards, read it out loud and keep it face up
  4. Then the child should pick up a second card and read it out loud. Do they match?
  5. If they match, keep the cards face up. If they don’t match, turn the cards over again. Repeat from step 1
  6. Keep repeating the steps until all 10 pairs have been matched!

Sight words need to be memorised when children are young (3-6 years) to give them the best head start with reading. Early-learners should learn sight words before they actually learn to read so they’ll save time and have more confidence with reading.

Start with our sight words list and kindergarten sight words printables above, then go on to learn more sight words with the resources here.

Here are some sight word activities for kindergarten! Try these at home or in the classroom:

• Use our sight words video to help your kids sound out these common words. They can listen and repeat each word as a class or one-by-one.
• Use printed flashcards to help with sight words drills in class or at home. You can help kids to make their own sight word sentences!
• Read with your child and point out or underline all the sight words in the book. Read the book again and see if your child recognises the words more easily this time.
• Use the flashcards to mix and match the words, and help children create full sentences
• Online games: find games which use a mix of audio, imagery and action to keep children motivated and curious to learn more.
• Images and gestures: for some children, the best way to learn sight words is to match them with pictures and gestures. This can be difficult for some of the more abstract words, but you can be creative with this.

I started Red Cat Reading to help overworked and overstressed parents prepare their children for school success.

For children just starting to learn how to read, our Phonics Program is just what they need. Our phonics books introduce sight words and dolch words (common words) gradually, page-by-page, book-by-book.

Your child can easily follow the gradual introductions of sight words and understand the context with bright illustrations, read-aloud text and catchy songs.

For example, all our Level 1 books only use the simplest sight words (the, and, a, in, it) so kids can get comfortable with these words before moving on to the next level.

Your child will have FUN learning sight words with our interactive phonics books, videos and songs! Each book comes with read-aloud audio and a video, so your child can reinforce their knowledge.

Access on any device, anytime! You can even download all our books and videos to read and watch offline.

Now that your kids have a lot of sight word practice under their belt, you can move on to phonics! Unlike sight words, phonics is the system of breaking down words into separate sounds to make them easier to sound out.

This can be daunting to start with, but we make it easy and fun for kids with our friendly characters, read aloud phonics books, read along phonics videos and creative worksheets!

Sample one of our Level 1 phonics books below:

Your child will learn to read FAST with our 4-step method. You already know that phonics is a proven method that brings letters and sounds together.

While learning phonics your child will also learn ALL the sight words they need, in 4 simple steps.

1. Watch
   Watch phonics videos to hear the sounds and see the letters!
2. Read
   Read the Free eBook to review the words and sounds!
3. Practice
   Speak out loud with the fast and easy practice pages!
4. Sing-along
   Sing-along with catchy songs and master all the phonic sounds!