Painting is a staple at our house. I contain it in the kitchen {easy clean up}, but it’s a great quiet time activity that the kids enjoy. We’ve done several activities with watercolor paint, like our Crayon Resist Sight Words and our Hidden Phonics Word Search activities. Today, I’m sharing one that has been a favorite with my Kindergartner for the last couple of months, Sight Word Find & Tally.
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Just like phonics, sight words are a very important part of learning to read. What are sight words? Basically, they are words that kids know by sight, without needing to figure them out each time they see them. Sight words can include the child’s name or words like cat and dog.
The lists we usually look at for sight words {sometimes called high frequency words} are the Dolch Word Lists and Fry’s Word Lists. Search for either term online and you’re sure to find a plethora of lists and activities. These are words that appear frequently enough in text that we want kids to know them by sight.
Sight Word: Paint, Write, and Tally
This activity is very simple to set up.
- Using cardstock {I recommend cardstock so that the paper won’t tear},
write a few sight words with white crayon a number of times in small print all over the cardstock. I chose to write 5 different sight words from 6 to 8 times on the paper, but the free download {found at the END of this post} has options for writing 5, 6, or 8 different words on the paper.
- Print a recording sheet {FREE at the end of this post}.
- Gather watercolor paint.
After all the words are hidden, ask your child to paint with watercolor paint over the entire paper. We have found, through lots of trial and error, that darker colors work better and that the paint brush shouldn’t be too wet.
Let the painting dry a bit while you have a quick snack or do something else. We also discovered that given a little extra time, the words “pop” better and are easier to find, especially if the words are written in smaller font with the white crayon.
Once dry, use the recording sheet to let kids write each sight word they find, count how many there are, and write tally marks to show that number. {This is a 3-for-1 activity, covering reading, writing, and math! Woohoo!}
More Activities You May Enjoy:
- Crayon Resist Sight Words
- Phonics Word Search: Paint & Sort
- Sight Word Guess Who?
- Pattern Block: Read, Build, and Write
- Mystery Letters for Hundreds Chart
- Learning to Add & Subtract
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>>Download our FREE Sight Word Find & Tally Student Pages HERE.<<
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~Becky
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