Bats in a Cave: Bat Sight Word Game

We’ve been practicing sight words a lot lately. Have you? They’re so crucial to reading and a good knowledge of sight words can help your kids grow into strong readers.

Since it’s always my goal to help my girls have fun while learning at home, I came up with this fun Bat Sight Word Game that gets my girls moving, learning, and having fun. (I never want to recreate school at home! Do you?)

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How to make your bat sight word game

To create the game, I started out by making my bats. I wanted a bunch of sleeping bats hanging upside down so I drew a quick template on a piece of cardboard from my recycle bin. A cardboard template helps so much when you want to make several duplicate items.

The bat template was super-simple to draw and I promise you can do it even if you don’t think you have any artistic skills. Check out my template below – it’s so easy!

Start with a large teardrop shape for the body. Add a curvy triangle to the top overlapping the pointy end of the teardrop for the feet. Add a circle with a slightly pointed top for the head. Finally add two pointy ears. Cut around the outline.

Because I didn’t want to sit and cut out bats all day (and I know you don’t want to either), I folded a piece of black construction paper in half and then in thirds. I was able to trace one bat on the paper and cut out six at one time. So much easier!

I did this twice so I had 12 bats altogether. I put a piece of rolled up painter’s tape on the back of each bat.

Finally, I cut off a piece of brown wrapping paper and drew a simple cave opening.

I then wrote 12 different sight words on the paper and hung the wrapping paper on a door.

Choose your sight words

I chose words from a list of sight words my daughter’s teacher had sent home. Pick words that your child is having difficulty with or just hasn’t learned yet.

If you need some ideas, you can print off a list of all the Dolch sight words sorted by grade level here. I refer to this list all the time!

This game would also work with spelling words.

Hint: Lay the bats out on the paper before writing the words. You’ll know where you need to put each word and not have to worry about getting them too close together. 

Now it’s time to play your bat sight word game!

We played two different versions of a bat sight word game with this set up.

Game 1:

Call out a sight word and have your child find the word and cover it with a bat.

When they’re done, they’ll have a cave full of sleeping bats.

Game 2:

Have your child read each word out loud then cover that word with a bat.

Both games are fun and great ways to practice a group of sight words.

Note: This post was originally published on October 15, 2015. Updated and republished on September 14, 2018.

Be sure to check out all of the great Nocturnal Animal Posts from the 2nd Grade Blogging Team!

Bat Science Experiments: Echolocation Activities from Preschool Powol Packets

Nocturnal and Diurnal Animals Sorting Activity from Look! We’re Learning!

Creating Growing Patterns with Nocturnal Animals from Life Over C’s

Nocturnal Animal Report: Hedgehogs from Crafty Kids at Home

Nocturnal Animals Writing Tray and Word List from Lemon Lime Adventures

You may also like one of these other sight word games:

DIY Sight Word Memory Game

Sight Word Tallies

Sight Word Pick and Spell

Fall Sight Word Scavenger Hunt at Life over C’s