It seems as though I woke up one morning and I was suddenly a mom of a Kindergartener! What? How did this happen? Where is the time going? One minute he's a playful PreK student coming home with dirt in his hair and paint on his hands. The next he's coming home with sight word lists and daily worksheets. Thankfully, I taught first grade so I know some tricks of the trade on how to make rote memorization fun and engaging. An all-time favorite for my classes as well as my son is BAM! It only takes about 5 minutes to make up a set of cards and just a few materials, but you will be amazed at the fun it brings!

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Materials Needed:

Blank Index Cards

Markers

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Make a card for each sight word you are focusing on and make a few BAM! cards. For the purpose of practicing at home, I make 4 BAM! cards, but in a classroom setting I usually made 8 because the students love getting BAM! cards. Go figure!

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Objective:

The objective of the game is to be the person with the MOST cards at the end of the game.

How to Play:

Mix the BAM! cards in with the sight word cards. Place the deck of cards face down in the middle of the players. Each player takes a turn drawing a card. The player must be able to read the card to keep the card. If a player is unable to identify the word, they show the card to the group and we all shout out the word together. The player must then put the card face down at the bottom of the pile. If the player is able to identify the word correctly, they get to keep the card in their pile.

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If a player draws a BAM! card, they must put ALL of their cards face down at the bottom of the pile including the BAM! card.

NOTE: How you rotate out the BAM! cards is up to you. However, I allow each BAM! card to be played twice before it is kept out of rotation. This allows for more game play, thus more practicing of the sight words. 

Play continues until all of the cards are gone from the pile. At the end of the game, I go around the group and have each student read all of the cards they have in their pile. alphabet-games-4

And we always end a game with a handshake.

The beauty of this game is that it can be adapted to any skill you are practicing. I have used it for alphabet recognition, letter sounds, math facts, and even coin recognition. The kids love it and get really excited when they draw a BAM! card and have to put all their cards back – you would think it would be the opposite, but it's not.

This game can also be adapted for seasons or holidays. This time of year, I change the BAM! cards to BOO!

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Have fun!

Comment with how you put a fun spin on sight words!