FREE Printable Valentines Day Sight Word Bump Game

If you are working on learning sights words in February, you will love these free sight word activities! These Valentines Day activities for preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, and first graders too. Simply print the printable sight word games and you are ready to practice these words that make up 75% of all words used in books.

Free Sight Word Activities

Sight words can be quite a challenge for our little ones who are used to sounding out words phonetically. Sight words are rule breakers that cannot be sounded out, but must be learned. This sight word game is a fun way to practice sight words. Use this free sight words activities with preschoolers, kindergartners, and grade 1 students to learn sight words. Whether you are a parent, teacher, or homeschooler, – you will love this convenient, free printable, and educational Valentines Day game!

What are Sight Words:

Sight words are words that are not easily decoded or sounded out following typical phonetic rules. They often appear frequently in texts and are recommended to be recognized by sight for fluent reading. Some sight words don’t adhere strictly to phonetic rules, making them difficult to sound out. Here are some examples:

1. The: The ‘th’ sound in “the” doesn’t follow typical phonetic rules.
2. Was: The ‘a’ in “was” is not pronounced as expected.
3. One: The ‘o’ and ‘e’ sounds in “one” don’t follow phonetic patterns.
4. Does: The ‘oe’ in “does” doesn’t have a straightforward phonetic pronunciation.

These words are usually recommended to be learned by sight recognition rather than relying solely on phonetics because they are not consistently pronounced as per standard phonics rules.

More Examples of Sight Words that are not Phonetical:

Here are more sight words that are not phonetically straightforward:

1. Two: The ‘w’ in “two” is not pronounced phonetically as it starts with the ‘t’ sound.
2. Said: The ‘ai’ in “said” is pronounced as a short ‘e’ sound, which is not phonetically obvious.
3. Friend: The ‘ie’ in “friend” does not follow standard phonetic rules.
4. Laugh: The ‘au’ in “laugh” is pronounced differently than typical phonetic patterns might suggest.
5. Eye: The ‘ey’ in “eye” does not follow the expected sound patterns.

These words can be challenging for beginners because their pronunciation doesn’t align directly with the typical phonetic sounds of their respective letters or letter combinations. Therefore, they’re often taught as sight words to be recognized by sight rather than decoded phonetically.

Sight Word Practice

Learning sight words can greatly improve reading fluency. Here are some tips to help learn sight words effectively:

1. Repetition: Practice sight words regularly through various activities like flashcards, games, or writing exercises. Repetition helps reinforce recognition.
2. Multisensory Approach: Engage multiple senses while learning. Use visual aids like flashcards, auditory techniques like reading the word aloud, and kinesthetic methods like writing the word by hand.
3. Use Technology: There are various apps and online resources available that gamify sight word learning. Consider using these interactive tools for additional practice.
4. Consistency: Dedicate a specific time each day for sight word practice to maintain consistency and improve retention.
5. Games and Activities: Turn learning into fun games. Use activities like word searches, bingo, memory games, or scavenger hunts to make learning more enjoyable
   And today I have a fun game to help work on reading and writing some challenging sight words.

Printable sight word games

Prep-Work:

1. First, print off the game board and list you want. Any list can be used with any game board.
2. Next, place the game board in a sheet protector or laminate it.
3. Finally, gather up one die and two different colored dry-erase markers.

Sight word games

Here is how to play this fun sight words game:

1. Players take turns rolling a die.
2. The number rolled determines which word they can write with their marker. For instance, if a player rolls a 3, they look at the number three words on the list and write that word in the number three box.
3. If a player lands on a word that’s already covered by their own marker, they can circle this word protecting their word from being bumped by the opponent.
4. If a player rolls a number that has a square occupied by their opponent (and not circled), they can “bump” their opponent off the square and replace it with their own writing, claiming that word.
5. The game continues with players taking turns rolling the die, writing the words, and circling them until all words on the grid are circled.
6. The player with the most words circled by their marker at the end of the game wins.

Valentines Day Game

I hope you have fun playing this fun sight word game where you will practice the following sight words: the, was, one, does, said, of, would, from, they, there, again, your, some, water, who, what, could, are, come, friend, laugh, eye, people, because, before, should, together, busy, favorite, build, ocean, beautiful, island, world, answer, mountain