Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Reading Activities for Kids

Chalkboard Sight Word Tracing

By

 
Sometimes you just need something easy. I recently shared some of the easiest ways to practice sight words, and now I’ve got another idea to add to that list. If you’ve got a chalkboard, or in our case a chalkboard table, you’re all set.
 
 
I like to have activities like this all set up before I introduce it to my child. That way they don’t have to wait and can jump right in.
 
This chalkboard sight word tracing activity is easy to set up. All you need to do is write some of the sight words your child is learning on the chalkboard. Then, get out a cup of water and a paintbrush. Your invitation is ready!
 
Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.
 
 
All that’s left for your child to do is take a wet paintbrush and “paint” water over each word. I encouraged my daughter to say each word aloud before she “painted” it.
 
This is a quick idea to help your child learn sight words. Use the words they are struggling with or use this activity to introduce new words. Any bit of practice will help!
 
If you’re wondering what sight words your child needs to learn, you can use this list. (Click and save the Master List of Dolch Sight Words). I’ve had a copy since my oldest was in kindergarten and have referred to it often. I try to focus on ones I see my child struggling with as we read together.

 

 

 

Library Scavenger Hunt

By

Summer reading is not a huge struggle for us.

We usually participate in our library’s summer reading program and tend to read above and beyond what it expected of us.

My kids love reading. But, I know not all kids are as motivated to pick up a book. (Or, they might be like my daughter who will get obsessed with a particular series of books *ahem… Junie B. Jones* and read them over and over and over…)

Whether you’re looking to motivate your kids to read or you just want your kids to branch out a little and read different things, I’ve got a fun free gift for you.

Challenge your kids to read their way through this library scavenger hunt. They’ll have a lot of fun and they’ll hopefully discover some new favorite books along the way.

Explore the library with this fun summer reading challenge for kids. Can you find and read all the books on this Library Scavenger Hunt?

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Find some awesome new books

I made two versions of the library scavenger hunt. Both are available to download and print at the end of this post. One is for kids who are reading chapter books, the other is for kids reading (or listening to) picture books.

Can you find and read a book about… a mystery, history, an adventure, or a biography? How about a book that makes you laugh out loud or one written before you were born?

Or maybe a picture book about the ocean, a farm , the ABCs, or one with no words?

Explore the library with this fun summer reading challenge for kids. Can you find and read all the books on this Library Scavenger Hunt?

Read and record

I’ve left plenty of room for your kids to write down the name of each book they read. Each scavenger hunt has 12 different topics, so hopefully your child won’t get overwhelmed. This should be a fun summer reading challenge!

Challenge your kids to search through the library themselves to find books that match. This will help them get more and more comfortable with the library.

Use the time to show them around, especially if they are unsure of where to find a specific book.

Where are the biographies kept? Show them or let them ask a librarian.

How do I find a book written before I was born? Teach them where to find that information in a book.

Explore the library with this fun summer reading challenge for kids. Can you find and read all the books on this Library Scavenger Hunt?

Download your Library Scavenger Hunt here

Are you ready to get reading? Click below to download and print the library scavenger hunts. (Each hunt is only one page.)

Download the chapter book scavenger hunt here.

Download the picture book scavenger hunt here.

Explore the library with this fun summer reading challenge for kids. Can you find and read all the books on this Library Scavenger Hunt?

Books pictured (and highly recommended) are:

Biography: Ballerina Dreams: From Orphan to Dancer by Michaela DePrince

A Kid Your Age: Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot by Anna Branford

A Kid Your Age: Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

That Makes You Laugh: Geronimo Stilton: A Cheese-Colored Camper by G. Stilton

Mystery: Agatha: Girl of Mystery series by Steve Stevenson

Explore the library with this fun summer reading challenge for kids. Can you find and read all the books on this Library Scavenger Hunt?

 

 

You may also like one of these reading activities:

Magic Wand Reading Pointers

Go on a Fact Finding Mission

Poetry Basket for Creative Writing Fun

3 Easy Ways to Practice Sight Words

By

It's so easy to work on sight words at home. Try one of these low-prep and fun easy ways to practice sight words. Your kids will have so much fun learning at home.
Are you knee-deep in sight word practice? We certainly are. With a kindergartner and a second grader, it’s a big part of their reading practice. Our teachers are always telling us to practice at home with our kids, which leads to the question… how can I practice at home?
A quick search on Pinterest will lead you to a million ideas. Many of these are fun and your kids will absolutely love them. But, sometimes your day calls for simple. I’ve got three of the easiest ideas ever for sight word practice in this post. Keep them in your back pocket, you’ll use them often.
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details.

 

It's so easy to work on sight words at home. Try one of these low-prep and fun easy ways to practice sight words. Your kids will have so much fun learning at home.
Write in a Salt Tray
 
A salt tray is really easy to set up. I used a 9×13 baking pan and trimmed up a piece of brightly colored paper to put on the bottom. The paper isn’t necessary, but it does make it more fun. Next I added salt (regular table salt) to the pan. I added enough salt so that it was about 1/2-inch thick over the entire bottom of the pan. Now it’s ready to go.
I wrote out a few sight words on index cards and put them near the salt tray. My daughter uses her fingers to trace the words. She uses a small 6-inch ruler to “erase” or smooth out the words when she’s done. Easy and fun.
Quick tip: When you’re putting this away, add the salt to a plastic bag to reuse. You won’t want to cook with it, but you can use it over and over in a salt tray.
It's so easy to work on sight words at home. Try one of these low-prep and fun easy ways to practice sight words. Your kids will have so much fun learning at home.
Rainbow Writing
 
I borrowed this ideas from my daughters’ school. They use it often and the kids really seem to enjoy it. Plus, it’s an easy thing for you to recreate at home. All you need is some writing paper and colored pencils. Have your child write each sight word and then trace over the words several times using different colors. They’ll practice, practice, practice while they make their pretty rainbow words.
Quick tip: Invest in some primary writing paper for home. Your child probably uses this often in school and the format help them with their letter formation. You can find it in most stores that sell school supplies.
It's so easy to work on sight words at home. Try one of these low-prep and fun easy ways to practice sight words. Your kids will have so much fun learning at home.
Window Writing
You’ve probably guessed that this is a very popular way to practice. Because really, what kid doesn’t want to write on a window? The set-up is super easy. Just tape a few sight words to the window and grab a pack of window markers. That’s it! You’re kids will take care of the rest.
Quick tip: I’ve found that painter’s tape and washi tape both come off windows easily and leave no sticky residue.
What are your best ideas for sight word practice?

 

Sight Word Pick and Spell

By

If you have kids learning to read, you know how important sights words are to the learning process. I’m always looking for ways to make learning sight words fun. We’ve play Sight Word Islands on the driveway and now we’re playing a fun Pick & Spell game, which is similar to Bingo. It’s an easy game to play and a fun way to learn your sight words.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed:

Sight word game sheets (click the link to download and print)
Scrap paper
Bag
Manipulatives to cover your letters (glass beads, rocks, pennies, bottle caps, etc.)
A couple of willing players

To prep the game you will need to write each letter of the alphabet on separate pieces of paper. I had some leftovers paper circles from another project, so that is what I used. Put all of your alphabet pieces in a bag.

You’ll also want to print out the sight word game sheets. I used the Dolch sight word list to create the game. You’ll find all the pre-primer words, except for a and I, on the game sheets. (I will be creating game sheets to go with the Primer, Grade One, and Grade Two lists in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!) I chose the Dolch lists because that is the list my girls’ school uses.

How to Play:

The game play is similar to Bingo. Give each child one of the sight word game sheets and a pile of manipulatives. Have one person reach into the bag and pull out a letter. When we played, I was in charge of pulling out the letters, but the kids can also take turns doing this part. After a letter is selected, each child will cover every occurrence of letter on their board. Continue on by pulling out another letter. Keep going until someone has covered every letter on their board. Yay, you’ve got a winner!

This is a fun way to help your child become familiar with these very important sight words. The more fun and playful ways you can employ to teach sight words, the easier it will be to learn them. So the next time you want to review sight words, play a little Pick & Spell!

The Gigantic Turnip Story Sequencing Game

By

 Enhance your learning with this fun reading game to go along with the book The Gigantic Turnip. This Gigantic Turnip story sequencing game is easy to prep and so much fun to play.

This week, we’re taking a virtual trip to Russia.

Since we’ve been watching the Olympics lately, the girls have had a natural curiosity about the host country.

So, this week we’re going to explore Russian culture through folk tales and art.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

We began with our favorite Russian folktale… let me correct that… one of our favorite folktales period, The Gigantic Turnip by Aleksei Tolstoy.

Enhance your learning with this fun reading game to go along with the book The Gigantic Turnip. This Gigantic Turnip story sequencing game is easy to prep and so much fun to play.

We work a lot on reading comprehension at home. Most of this is covered by our nightly chapter book readings.

But, sometimes I like to play games to make sure the girls are listening and understanding when we read. This time, we tried an easy story sequencing game.

In the book, a series of people and animals come to help pull the gigantic turnip out of the ground.

Before we read the book, I took a pile of index cards and wrote each helper on a separate card. Then, we settled in to read the story.

Enhance your learning with this fun reading game to go along with the book The Gigantic Turnip. This Gigantic Turnip story sequencing game is easy to prep and so much fun to play.

Once we were finished the story, I laid all the cards on the floor.

I challenged the girls to put all the characters in order from the first person who started pulling the turnip to the last.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly they rearranged the cards.

Even if your child is not able to recall the order, let them look back at the pictures in the book.

No matter the process, you are getting them to think about the book and remember what they read.

Enhance your learning with this fun reading game to go along with the book The Gigantic Turnip. This Gigantic Turnip story sequencing game is easy to prep and so much fun to play.

This is such an easy way to enrich a book and to sneak in a little learning at home.

My oldest is in school all day, so I don’t want to be duplicating the work of the teacher. I want our learning at home to be different and fun. This simple game fit the bill!