preschool sight words

Learning Preschool Sight Words – Preprimer Dolch List & Printables

This post is all about preschool sight words.

Preschool Sight Words

Learning to read is such an exciting time for children. It opens up a whole new world for them. Preschool Age (3-4) is a perfect time to start implementing some fundamentals that are helpful with learning to read. This will help your child to excel when they reach kindergarten. Preschool sight words are a great place to start!

What are Preschool Sight Words?

Simply put, preschool sight words are words that are frequently seen in English text and can be recognized at first glance. When you look at books for preschoolers, you’ll often find that they are anywhere from 60%-80% sight words. While there are many different philosophies when it comes to learning, it is commonly thought that it is more effective for children to learn to recognize sight words ahead of time, rather than trying to teach them while reading a story. That’s why so many preschools focus so heavily on the introduction of sight words.

Benefits of Learning Sight Words

The benefits of your preschooler learning sight words is clear, and very intentional. To make them stronger readers! When a child has a strong sight word foundation, they don’t have to pause and think so hard on as many words in a book. This allows them to focus more of their mental energy on the more challenging words, that they aren’t so familiar with. Your child will also start to understand the connections between the sight words over time, helping them to more clearly understand the sentences that they’re reading.

Dolch Sight Word List

The Dolch Sight Word List was created back in 1936 by Edward William Dolch, Ph. D. The light includes 220 of the most frequently used words in the English language. The list is divided into different academic levels. So when determining where to start for preschool sight words, you should focus on the Preprimer words.

What Sight Words Should a Preschooler Know?

As stated above, the Preprimer category from the Dolch Sight Word List would be a great place to focus for preschool sight words. Those preschool sight words are listed below:

How To Teach Preschool Sight Words

When it comes to teaching preschool sight words, repetition is key! It’s also very helpful to make it fun, so your child is not only willing to participate, but EXCITED to participate. My little one will ALWAYS ask me to play one of the sight word games with her, and it’s been so fun to see her improvement week after week. Believe it or not, she also loves doing sight word worksheets! With the worksheets, sometimes we’ll “play school”, and she’ll complete a worksheet, and then I’ll grade it as the teacher, and give her a sticker on her paper. It’s so simple, but she thinks it’s fun, and she’s learning at the same time. It’s a win-win in my book!

preschool sight words

Preschool Sight Word Flashcards

Flashcards are a great tool when teaching your preschooler sight words. You can utilize the Flash Cards to play a number of fun games to help your child get exposure to preschool sight word repetition.

Tips For Our Preschool Sight Word Flash Cards:
  • Grab these Laminating Sheets from Amazon. No laminating machine required, and super simple to use! Also super affordable. The pack comes with 100 sheets, so you can use them for a bunch of other projects as well. (Check out our Printable Shop which has tons of great printable resources for moms, toddlers, and preschoolers! We are working to add even more resources!)
  • For the match game, I recommend either using thicker printer paper, or simply put a piece of construction paper on the backside, prior to laminating. This is just so you can’t see through the paper when they’re turned upside down)
  • You can print the Flashcard pages more than once to accommodate any game you want to play. For the below game examples we recommend 2 copies for Match Game and Scavenger Hunt, and 3-4 copies for Go Fish.

Here are some ideas for games that you can play using Preschool Sight Word Flash Cards:

Match Game

To play, mix the cards up, and arrange them face down. Take turns trying to make a match. The person with the most matches at the end of the game wins! Since this is a lot of sight words at once, you may want to start by just working with sets of 10-12 at a time.

Scavenger Hunt (indoor or outdoor)

Hide each sight word in an area of your house, or yard. (You could even bring this to the park to play!) Then, you draw one sight word at a time, and show your child, and have them read the sight word, then they need to go find that sight word and bring it back to you.

Go Fish

All of these games are open to your own customizations. I usually just work with 10-15 sight words at a time, so we don’t have too many cards. It also helps make it less overwhelming if you little one is just starting out on their sight word journey. Then, I deal out 5-7 cards each, depending on how many people are playing, and how many sight words we’re including. Then, just follow the basic Go Fish rules.

More Preschool Sight Word Printable Games

Preschool Sight Word Bingo

Call out a sight word, and put a token on the square if you have that sight word on your Bingo Card. The first one to get a full vertical or horizontal line wins!

Tip: Use the laminating sheets for the Bingo Cards and the Bingo Tokens to keep them in good shape, so you don’t have to re-print them next time you want to play.

Preschool Sight Word Word Search

This one might be a little more challenging for our preschoolers who are just starting their sight word journey, since there is a lot going on with all the letters. But once they start getting a grasp for their sight words, this would be a great level up game!

Tip: Use the laminating sheets and dry erase markers, so you can re-use them as many times as you’d like, and un-do mistakes.

Roll A Sight Word

Roll the dice, and write the corresponding sight word. My daughter likes playing it “Bingo Style”, and the first person who fills a whole line (vertically or horizontally) wins. A lot times she wants to play until the first person fill their whole board, just so she can play for longer. This is a great preschool sight word game because not only are they reading/looking at the sight words, they are also WRITING them.

Tip: Use the laminating sheets and dry erase markers, so you can re-use them as many times as you’d like, and un-do mistakes.

I Spy Sight Words

Find and color in the corresponding sight word. Simple as that!

Sight Word Tic-Tac-Toe

Each player has an assigned sight word from the sight word list. Standard tic-tac-toe rules except instead of writing “X” or “O”, you write your assigned sight word.

Tip: Use the laminating sheets and dry erase markers, so you can re-use them as many times as you’d like, and un-do mistakes.

Preschool Sight Word Worksheets

PRESCHOOL SIGHT WORDS

Grab the Preschool Sight Word printable bundle. In addition to the flash cards, and games, it includes a worksheet for each preschool sight word!

Preschool Sight Word Games From Amazon

Wooden Magnetic Fishing Sight Words Game

Sale
Coogam Wooden Magnetic Fishing Sight Words Game Learning Dolch Word Flashcards Montessori Educational Toy for Preschool 3 4 5 Year Old Kids
  • 220 Sight Words Fishing Game Set: Learning Sight words can be fun with Coogam Sight-words fishing game. The excellent value toy set comes with 220…
  • Premium Quality Material: The multi-shapes wooden Sight-word fish and sturdy fishing rods are durable, well-sanded with harmless paint based, smooth,…
  • Color-Coded With Five Levels: Each sight word level is a different color and has a diverse fish shape. With red for pre-k level, yellow for…

Sight Word Swat

Gamenote Sight Words Game – 520 Dolch Fry Site Words with 4 Fly Swatters from Pre K to 3rd Grade Swat Educational Learning Games for Kindergarten Classroom
  • More Words, More Fun: Come with 260 double-side flies up to 520 sight words, covering up to 75% of words found in beginner books. Designed to teach…
  • Quality Colorful Fly swatters: Include 4 fly swatters made of high-quality plastic, each size up to 7.6 × 2.9inch. Collect the most flies and win!…
  • 5 Different Level: 5 Level flies with 5 different color, which are a selection of words found most frequently in children’s books, included 5pcs…

Dry Erase Flash Cards

Coogam Sight Words Kids Learning Flash Cards, 250 Dolch Word Game Reading Vocabulary Card Montessori Toy for Kindergarten Preschool 3 4 5 Years Old Toddlers
  • Learn Sight Words with Sentences: This Sight word learning flash card set has 5 different levels of difficulty, each level has 50 words with related…
  • Develop Vocabulary and Handwriting Easily: Designed for different ages of kids ( from pre-kindergarten to 3rd grade) to practice handwriting and build…
  • Vivid Pictures with Vibrant Color: Each card has vivid and fun illustrations on both sides. Vibrant pictures catch kids’ attention easily, giving…

tOP SELLING PRESCHOOL SIGHT WORDS GAMES

Bestseller No. 1
ThinkFun Zingo Sight Words Award Winning Early Reading Game for Pre-K to 2nd Grade – Toy of the Year Finalist, A Fun and Educational Game Developed by Educators for Boys and Girls, Multicolor
  • Trusted By Families Worldwide – With Over 50 Million Sold, Thinkfun Is The World’S Leading Manufacturer Of Brain Games And Mind Challenging Puzzles
  • Develops Critical Skills – Perfect For Pre-Readers And Early Readers, Teaches Recognition Of Essential Words Zingo Sight Words Is As Popular In The Classroom With Teachers As It Is In The Home With Families
  • Developed By Educators – Zingo Sight Words Is A Bingo Style Game That Was Developed By Educators To Create A Great Play And Stealth Learning Experience For Pre-K To 2Nd Graders And Help With Reading Skills, And It Makes A Great Gift
Bestseller No. 2
Sight Word Stomp!, Educational Indoor Games, Preschool Alphabet ,Toddler Brain Toys, Toddler Preschool Learning, 114 Pieces, Age 5+
  • Spot It, Stomp It, Win It!: Kids spot the sight word, stomp their dino, and build elementary language skills as they race to collect the most cards!
  • Learn Language Essentials: As they stomp away, kids will learn 220 Dolch sight words in five challenge levels—the basis for kindergarten reading!
  • Multiple Ways to Play: Designed for 1-4 players, this language game for kids supports solo play, head-to-head challenges, and group games!
SaleBestseller No. 3
Gojmzo CVC Word Writing & Spelling Flash Cards, Preschool Learning Toddler Activities, Kindergarten Homeschool Supplies, Sight Words Reading Game, Montessori Educational Toys for 3 4 5 6 Year Old Kids
  • ✨CVC Word Writing & Spelling Flash Cards Set✨: Package includes 100 double-sided CVC sight words flashcards (one side is the word, and the other is the picture, fill in the blanks with words) and 4 dry erase markers (2 blue and 2 red) that have the erasers on top. It also comes with a nice drawstring bag and sturdy storage box for safekeeping.
  • ✨Fun Educational Activity✨: This set contains cards with just the vowel missing or the beginning and ending letters missing, so both types of practice are included. Different ways to practice means the same type of activity stays exciting longer. The colors and pictures can catch the kid’s eyes and keep their attention, which can help them have fun while learning reading, spelling and phonics skills.
  • ✨Preschool & Kindergarten Classroom Must Haves✨: This writing & spelling kit can be used as an excellent teaching tool for class and homeschool. It will also be great learning materials and resources for preschoolers, kindergartners & first graders who have learned letter sounds and are beginning to learn how to read and write cut words.
Bestseller No. 4
Sight Word Bingo Game, 120 Sight Words Learn to Red Level 1 & Level 2 Bingo Board Game Dolch’s & Fry’s Words Lists for Kindergarten and Preschool Kids 4-8, Perfect for Classroom & at Home
  • Skills Development: It is not just a simple toy, kids will get more while playing the sight word bingo game. This educational game is designed to help children recognize and read commonly used sight words with excitement and enthusiasm. What’s more, the ability of hand-on coordination and reaction will be cultivated greatly.
  • Super Value Pack: The bingo game set comes with 12 double-sided bingo boards, 120 double-sided calling tokens, 100 plastic bingo chips and 1 storage bag. It could meet the needs of your activity of up to 12 players, perfect for diverse events. An attached soft velvet bag to keep a tidy and neat storage and organization.
  • 2 Different Levels: Level 1 is red colored version, introducing easy sight words, perfect for young learners or those who are just starting to build their reading skills. Level 2 is blue colored version, containing harder and more complex words, encouraging children to further enhance their reading fluency and comprehension.
Bestseller No. 5
Alened CVC, CVCC & CCVC Word Builder Games, Phonics Flash Cards Sight Words Games for Kindergarten Classroom, Preschool Phonics Manipulatives Learning Activity, Special Education Speech Therapy
  • 【Build CVC CVCC & CCVC Word Games】Look at the pictures and build different words. Kids can flip the flash cards and create correct letters to match pictures. Phonics flash cards kit contains 80 double-sided cards and 50 fun pictures to build CVC, CVCC, and CCVC words. CVC word games can enhance children’s knowledge about vowels and consonants, help them be more familiar with cvc words and primary phonics. Cvc word builder is good assessment tool and homework practice game.
  • 【Phonics Flash Cards Games】Cvc word games are best choice for classroom group work and kindergarten phonics games. This preschool classroom must haves helps kids learn spelling and reading. Creative phonics games help them learn letter sounds, improve children’s reading fluency, promote language cognition and phonics manipulatives. Develop kids’ intellectual development while exploring in the game.
  • 【Kindergarten Teacher Supplies】 Consonant letters are marked in green and vowel letters are marked in orange to recognize. Attractive phonics games allow kids learn and practice phonemes in an easy way. Vivid pictures and cvc word spelling game help kids to know consonants, vowels and diphthongs better. Cvc words for kindergarten enlarge children’s vocabulary in early age and make them be confident in future learning.
Bestseller No. 6
Wooden CVC Word Spelling Games, Math Addition Game, Sight Word & Math Flash Cards: Montessori Educational Toy for Kindergarten Homeschool Supplies Preschool Activities 3 4 5 6 Year Old Kids
  • [ 129 PCS: 2-in-1 Wooden Learning Toys Set ] – Teach and play with this comprehensive 129-piece learning set, combining CVC Word Spelling Games and Numbers Counting Activities. Includes: 26 upper & lowercase letter blocks; 50 phonics flashcards & number flashcards with dual-sided design; 20 math building blocks featuring blue & red counters; 2 plastic rings; 1 draw-string portable bag; 1 wooden camp shape holder composed of four parts, encouraging hands-on assembly for children.
  • [ Safety First ] – Crafted from natural pine wood, our non-toxic and heavy-duty materials ensure your child’s safety. The larger-sized wooden blocks minimize the risk of swallowing, while rounded corners and smooth edges provide a burr-free finish. Our flashcards are printed on thick cardstock with a splash-proof PET film for long-lasting use.
  • [ Early Language Building ] – Engage your kids in fun CVC word games, enhancing their fine motor and problem-solving skills. The interactive matching of wooden blocks to learning cards encourages kids to spell and sound out sight words and facilitates phonetic reading, spelling and rhyme learning. This perfect Montessori tool fosters early language development.
SaleBestseller No. 7
Gojmzo Wooden CVC Word Spelling Games, Preschool Kindergarten Learning Activities, Montessori Educational Toys Gifts for 3 4 5 6 Year Old Kids, Sight Words Flash Cards Reading Letters for Toddlers
  • ✨117 PCS Wooden CVC Word Flash Cards Set✨: Package includes 50 double-sided phonics flash cards (one side is the word, and the other is the picture), 62 wooden lowercase letter blocks (15 pcs red vowels and 47 pcs blue consonants), 5 wooden spelling boards and 1 sturdy storage box.
  • ✨Preschool & Kindergarten Classroom Must Haves✨: This spelling and reading kit can be used as an excellent teaching tool for class and homeschool. It will also be great learning materials and resources for preschoolers, kindergartners & first graders who have learned letter sounds and are beginning to learn how to read cut words.
  • ✨Fun Learning Activity Games✨: This CVC word flash cards set is an interactive learning game for 3 4 5 6 year old boys & girls. The colors and pictures can catch the kid’s eyes and keep their attention, which can help them have fun while learning reading, spelling and phonics skills.
Bestseller No. 8
SpringFlower Sight Word Game, Sight Word Educational Toy for Age of 3,4,5,6 Year Old Kids, Boys & Girls,Homeschool,Visual, Tactile and Auditory Learning, 120 Pieces
  • Why is it so funny? It’s a game and not “work”. Build reading, spelling and vocabulary skills through playful competition with up to 4 players. The element of speed promotes confidence and fluency in reading. A fun way to reinforce sight word learning.Perfect educational toys for boys and girls 3 4 5 6 years olds.
  • Encourage kids to discover the 224 most commonly used sight words with this fun and fast-paced game. Specially designed to teach the top Dolch sight words, sight word game challenges kids to see, play, and learn! They’ll think they’re just playing, but parents and teachers will know they’re actually learning.
  • What’s inside? 112pcs Double-sided Sight Word Card–which provides huge variety, and important words.3pcs vocabulary cards–contains 5 different levels’ words, Blue for Pre-Primer; Green for Primer; Pink for First Grade; Orange for Second Grade; and Purple for Third Grade. 4pcs 9″ Sturdy Swatter–Which is solid and easy to maneuver, even for little hands. 1pcs storage bag–Help your children develop a good habit of packing toys. Easy to travel and store.
SaleBestseller No. 9
Learning Resources LER8598 Sight Words Swat! A Sight Words Game
  • SWAT A SIGHT WORD GAME: Build reading, spelling and vocabulary skills through playful competition with up to 4 players. The element of speed promotes confidence and fluency in reading.
  • GAMES FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL KIDS: The sight-word flies are color-coded by level: Blue for Pre-Primer; Red for Primer; Green for First Grade; Orange for Second Grade; and Purple for Third Grade.
  • EASY & FUN WAY TO LEARN SIGHT WORDS:: After one of the 220 Dolch sight words is called out, use your swatter to swat the word on the matching fly.
SaleBestseller No. 10
Coogam Wooden Magnetic Fishing Sight Words Game Learning Dolch Word Flashcards Montessori Educational Toy for Preschool 3 4 5 Year Old Kids
  • 220 Sight Words Fishing Game Set: Learning Sight words can be fun with Coogam Sight-words fishing game. The excellent value toy set comes with 220 wooden site word fish in five levels individually packed; 4 wooden fishing poles, 5 Sight word cards, and a portable draw-string bag for easy taking on the go.
  • Premium Quality Material: The multi-shapes wooden Sight-word fish and sturdy fishing rods are durable, well-sanded with harmless paint based, smooth, and burr-free without rough edges, which is user-friendly and poses little harm to kids. Each Sight word fish is installed with double-sided nails to ensure every detail are quality-made
  • Color-Coded With Five Levels: Each sight word level is a different color and has a diverse fish shape. With red for pre-k level, yellow for kindergarten level, green for the first grader, blue for the second grader, and purple for the third grader. The Sight word list is also divided into five-word cards and color-coordinated with each level.

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