When you have an active child who needs to move, practicing sight words can be challenging. Santa Claus can help! This activity for kinesthetic learners is a fun way to motivate kids at Christmas time.
My son,
Liam, needed extra motivation to work on sight words. He isn’t the type of kid who will sit and study flashcards. I invented lots of
games like this to get him interested. He has tons of energy, and loves active play.
The idea behind this game is that Santa Claus is delivering sight words to different places.
How to Play “Sight Word Santa”
First, make a “sleigh” using the instructions below. Then, set out stuffed animals (or dolls, mini-figures, plastic animals, etc.) around the room. Lay out a small group of sight word cards near the sleigh.
To begin play, tell your child that, say, the teddy bear, wants the word “and”. The child selects the flashcard with the word “and” on it, puts it in the sleigh, and delivers it to the teddy bear.
To bump up the difficulty level, have your child pack the sleigh with flashcards. Then, as he makes deliveries around the room, he reads each word as he sets it down.
Sleigh Instructions
Materials Needed:
empty paper towel roll
scissors
tape
sleigh printout (click the popout button in top right corner, then click the print icon)
Assembly:
1. Do not cut first! First, fold the paper in half lengthwise (along the long straight dotted line – teachers call this a hot dog fold).
2. Wrap the paper around the paper towel roll so that the sleigh image is on top of the roll. Tape the paper to the roll.
3. Overlap the paper on the bottom and tape together.
4. Now, cut the curved part of the dotted line from Santa up to the first reindeer. Tape the loose sides together.
Now you’re ready to play a game of Sight Word Santa!
For more holiday-themed kindergarten activities, check out these other ideas from this month’s Kindergarten Blog Hop:
Free printables- Gingerbread Math Facts Printable by Something 2 Offer
You might also like these other Books and Giggles posts:
This is fun! I am going to try it with my kids next time we need to do sight words.
My son is going to love this game! He is working on sight words now and always likes to move.