My 3-year-old daughter just recently learned all of her letter sounds! I can’t take all the credit though as she’s been watching this awesome Netflix show, LeapFrog Letter Factory (highly recommend!). Within a few days, she was reciting the sounds that each letter of the alphabet makes to the catchy tune from the show.
Since she learned those so quickly, I decided that I should take her learning to the next level which is reading! Therefore, our next step in learning to read is sounding out small words and recognizing sight words.
Before having children of my own, I didn’t realize that learning to read can start at such a young age! Two-year-olds are capable of recognizing, saying, and learning letters which is the foundation of learning to read.
Once they master the alphabet, they can begin working on learning the letter sounds and blending them all together to form words.
I created these sight word flashcards for preschool-aged children to get a head start on sight words and learning to read. If you’re consistent with doing a couple of words a day, your child should be on track for learning a ton of new words in no time!
What You Need:
- Free printable preschool/kindergarten sight word flashcards (download below)
- Paper – high-quality opaque paper or card stock recommended if printing double-sided
- Laminator and laminating pouches
- Hole puncher
- 1.5″ or 2″ Binder Rings
What To Do:
- Download the free printable preschool/kindergarten sight word flashcards below. There
- Print out the sheets double-sided on cardstock (65lb). The thicker paper/card stock will make sure you don’t see the writing on the backside of the card instead of using thinner paper. You don’t have to use card stock if you have high-quality copy paper that is completely opaque to the other side.
- There are two blank cards at the end where you can add new words if you wish. Just write them in before laminating. If you want to add more than two, you can always just print that last page again.
- Laminate each sheet back and front. If you printed double-sided, just insert one sheet. If you printed single-sided, place 2 sheets back-to-back in the laminating pouch.
- Cut out each card outside of the border.
- Punch a hole in the top left corner.
- Insert a binder ring through all of the holes and clasp. If you don’t have binder rings or don’t want to purchase them, you can always use a twist tie, pipe cleaner, or piece of string and tie it around.
- Voila! You have a whole set of sight word flashcards for your preschooler or kindergarten child.
How to Help Your Child Learn with Sight Word Flashcards
These printable sight word flashcards can be very beneficial for your young child and can improve their reading abilities significantly. However, there are a few key tips to keep in mind as you use them to optimize your child’s learning:
1. Be Consistent
The more you expose your child to learning experiences, the quicker they will pick up what you’re teaching. So pick a time of the day where you can practice a couple of words at a time.
I love to do flashcards at bedtime when my daughter is winding down and calm. For some, you may want to pick right after breakfast or while they’re brushing their teeth. Whatever time you think your child can focus and learn is great.
Then, make sure you stick to that routine every day or every other day to keep the new skills fresh in their mind. Try not to skip a few days or a whole week because your child may lose any previous progress they were making.
2. Don’t Give Them Too Much at Once
You don’t want to overwhelm your child by trying to have them memorize all of these words at once. Start with only a few words at a time and work on those for several days or weeks or however long it takes for them to master those. Once they’ve perfected the first set, move on to the next set.
Don’t start new words until they’ve completely got the old ones down! The words are color-coded by letter so you can try to group them that way or group all the words in a certain letter family together as well.
3. Make it Fun!
We don’t want to make learning feel like hard work or a chore for our kids. Once you do that, they may grow up resenting any extra work they should be doing to get ahead.
So try and make learning with flashcards fun! I know it’s a bit hard to do with these sight word flashcards because there are no pictures, but you can come up with simple ways. For example, make it a game like get through 5 words and earn a prize or make up a song or dance for each word.
Don’t forget to access your free printable rightward flash cards by signing up here. Your child can be learning their sight words and on their way to reading in no time! Just remember to always make it fun, be consistent, and work in small batches.
