Review: Sight Word Swat from Learning Resources for making sight words fun

Today I’ve been Googling when sight words were first introduced. I thought perhaps sight words were relatively new, but it turned out Dr Dolch prepared his list of the most frequently used words in children’s books in 1936, and Dr Fry’s extended list of the 1000 most common words was published in 1996.

The concept of memorising sight words – frequently used words – when learning to read was new to me before Big Girl embarked on her reading journey, and I soon realised I had some catching up to do if I wanted to be on top of the methods used for teaching children to read in English.

In the past year, I’ve enjoyed trying out various sight word resources, and this winter I’ve asked to review one I knew four-year-old Big Girl would like. My new favourite sight word game is now Sight Word Swat by Learning Resources (£15.10).

The new game features 150 fly-shaped cards and four plastic fly swatters. The cards are double-sided, and there’s a sight word on each side. The words are colour-coded, splitting words into the different levels of sight words, so it’s easy for parents to pick out words that fit with the children’s level of reading.

A grown-up can shout out the word and children can then use their swatters to catch the fly with that word. The fastest reader wins, and I’ve usually played alone with Big Girl (and sometimes Teddy), so I shout out the word and then pretend I’m a bit slow, letting her (or Teddy) do the reading and win.

This game is the most fast-paced sight word game we’ve had, and Big Girl loves it and asks me to play it with her. It is for 1 to 4 players, and I think it works particularly well when we do it just the two of us. I can then pick a mix of words I know would be good to practise and some I know she knows very well to give her confidence, and it’s only about having a laugh and not competing.

We could have printed a list of sight words to repeat too, but the Sight Word Swat makes it so much more fun and more natural for me to talk about sight words at home. Since I’ve played a number of sight word games, I also know many of the words myself, and this is useful when reading with Big Girl at home.

A win-win for us both!

Tags: Educational toys, Game, Learning Resources, Learning to read, Reading, Sight words