Back to school with sight word toys from Learning Resources

‘I can help you find it! I can help you find it!’

Big Girl was super excited to hear I’d brought her new bingo game on holiday the other day and wanted to dive into our bags to search for it.

mI packed Beginner: Sight Word Bingo (£6), which we received from Learning Resources to review, to go on holiday because it’s an educational family game she loved the first time she played it.

The game is ideal for children who are learning to read and are being taught a large number of sight words to speed up reading. By playing Beginner: Sight Word Bingo, we can remind Big Girl of words she’s been introduced to in nursery, helping her get ready for school. When playing, l let her read the words she knows and help her with new words without making it feel like it’s a reading exercise.

In fact, we’ve just tried to make it a fun family game, with Daddy T and I bending the rules and focusing on the words Big Girl knows to let her win every time. After playing like this, she’s gained more confidence and become enthusiastic about Sight Word Bingo, which was perhaps slightly unexpected.

We’ve also received POP for Sight Words (from £7), which features popcorn-shaped cards with sight words, and this game is also brilliant for reinforcing words children have been introduced to in school.

POP for Sight Words comes in two different levels with 92 cards in each popcorn box. It can be played as a game for two to four players, but I think the popcorn cards also work well for pretend play.

Instead of playing the game to start with, I’ve picked a pile of popcorn to take on holiday and use for pretend play, which is what Big Girl loves. Whether my old Quints dolls are having a sleepover, or a My Little Pony is getting ready for a snack, sight word popcorns can easily be used and we can practise a few words now and then.

I may not be great at setting aside time to do reading on holiday, but I should be able to sit down and play a game, or feed popcorn to dolls.

Tags: Educational toys, Learning Resources, Learning to read, Review, Sight words