Wondering how to practice sight words with your kids when they’re first learning to read? Here are some fun, easy ways that will keep them interested and engaged and make learning fun!

Hi friends!

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been keeping a list of how to practice sight words with my five-year-old. I know there are varying opinions about whether sight words are important, how often you should practice, when you should start practicing etc. I’m not here to give you any answers. But I’ve been doing them several times a week with my son and am always looking for creative ways to work practicing them into our day. I made of list of some of our favorite activities and then reached out to you guys as well and asked you to share your favorites. So, if you’re looking for ideas, here are some to try!

How To Practice Sight Words

• Write down a few words and put a ball of playdough near each one. Call out a word and have them smash the ball on that word!
• Tape sight words around the house and send them on a scavenger hunt to find them all. 
• Play “I Spy” and call out a word you taped around the room and have them run and get it.
• Write words on a dry erase board, on the window or on a mirror, call out the word and have them erase it.
• Try sight word Go Fish. You could make your own cards with notecards or tape words onto a deck of cards.

• Practice writing them. Pour some flour, sugar or sand into a tray, spread some shaving cream on the shower wall or a window or squeeze some paint into a ziploc bag and let them practice writing the words you say. Or practice writing them on paper.
• Incorporate them into sensory play – Have them practice while jumping on the trampoline or tape words up on the wall so they have to jump and slap them.
• Read lots of books! Ask them to find a certain word on each page. 
• Write words in chalk on the driveway and have your child run from one to another as you call them out and jump on them or spray them with a spray bottle.

• Put painter’s tape on train track pieces, write a letter on each piece of track and have them connect the track pieces to form a word.
• Use cooked spaghetti noodles or rolled out playdough to form the letters to spell sight words. 
• Have a flashcard race. Write words on a stack of notecards. Hold them up and have them read two words, then run a lap around the house or up and down the stairs and then come back for two more words.
• Build words with magnetic letters on the fridge. 
• Play sight words bingo. 

Here are some resources that were recommended that I was able to find links for on Amazon (affiliate links). I haven’t tried most of these myself but feel free to check them out! We have regular Zingo and love it so I’m definitely considering getting the sight word version!

• Sight Word Zingo 
• Learning Resources Sight Word Swat – or just a fly swatter with words you write on post-it notes
• Sight Word Magnetic Fishing
• The Reading Game
• BOB Books
• SnapWords Visual Learning Cards
• Scholastic Sight Word Readers

Here are a few online resources that were recommended!

• Jack Hartmann Sight Words
• Sight word parking lot
• Heidi songs sight words
• @Literacyinmotion  (photo above is from her) and @letsplayschool for ideas on Instagram

If you have other favorite sight word activities, please leave them in the comments!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Looking for workout ideas for kids? There are lots of great options on YouTube, plus you can easily create your own Tabata or deck of cards workout to get kids up and moving!

Hi friends!

I’ve been sharing some of our favorite workout ideas for kids over on Instagram lately but I wanted to round them all up in one place so you could easily find them all. 

We’ve found several YouTube channels we really like so I’ll link to both the general channels as well as some of the specific workouts we like. Remember that we haven’t had time to work through all the options on each channel so if you like some of our favorites, be sure the check out some of the other workouts on that channel!

These have been perfect for getting my five-year-old son up and moving in a way that gets his heart rate up but is still fun and easy enough for him to keep up and follow along. My three-year-old likes jumping in as well.

Workout Ideas for Kids

Coach Meger Fitness Games – lots of great Tabatas

• Thunder is our fav

Glenn Higgins Fitness – we like the superhero ones:

• Spiderman
• Tony Stark   
• Captain America 
• He also has lots of Star Wars ones!

Michael Ginicola – our favs are:

• Avengers HIIT
• Justice League HIIT
• Superhero Battle Fitness,
• Favorite Character Fitness

Les Mills Move Like The Avengers 

This is the only Les Mills one we’ve found like this but he loves it

Go Noodle – Their channel has lots of great videos. Some are more songs/dancing but we’ve found several that have you doing a lot of jumping, dodging, ducking etc.

• Raise the Roof,
• Yes I Want To Build A Snowman
• Fabio’s Meatball Run
• Red Carpet Run 
• Henry Danger

Make Your Own Tabata

We’ve had a great time lately making up Tabata workouts to do together. We each pick four movements and then we use a free tabata timer on my phone or computer and work through our list doing each movement for 20 seconds, resting for 10 seconds. You can make it harder by making the intervals 30 or 40 seconds of work, or you can just run through the whole thing again once you’re done!

Deck of Cards Workout

We’ve also been loving deck of cards workouts. We pick four movements and assign one to each suit. Then you just toss the cards in a pile, take turns picking one and do the movement assigned to the suit you pick for the number of reps on the card. To make it easier, I often pull out the higher card so we only include cards ace – 7 or 8 when I do this with my five-year-old but depending on their activity level and age…and the movements you pick….they might be able to do the whole deck.

Sidewalk Workout

Sidewalk workouts are great for when it’s nice enough to get outside. Give your child a new movement every 3-4 sidewalk squares. If you don’t have sidewalks you could use mailboxes, light posts or even a timer to change up the movements. Some ideas:

• Frog jumps
• Crab walks
• Bear crawls
• Hop on one foot
• Shuffle sideways
• Run backward
• Skip
• Gallop
• Grapevine
• Lunges
• Sprints
• Wheelbarrow walks
• Tiptoe

Each time they get to a driveway, give them a movement with a set number of reps like 10 squats at each driveway, or make them sprint up each driveway and back to you.

Other ideas:

• Try these 15 animal walks for sensory input
• Do this 7 minute HIIT workout for kids (scroll all the way to the bottom of the post and look for the animal pictures)
• Try this animal workout on Alexa Skills
• Play tag
• Set up an obstacle course
• Have a pillow fight
• Go for a walk, jog, scooter or bike ride
• Have a race

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

These everyday household item toys just might keep your kids entertained for a surprisingly long time. You likely have most of them at home already! Great for babies and toddlers too!

Hi friends!

I wanted to share a list of household item toys I put together in case it might be helpful during this time. I know a lot of us are stuck at home and trying to limit purchasing new items. The good news is that you probably have tons of items already laying around the house that make great toys for young kids!

I’ve listed some of my favorites and also included suggestions from my Instagram followers! You probably have almost all of these items at home already and I bet you’ll be surprised just how long some of these can keep your kiddos entertained…especially if they’ve never had the chance to play with them before!

Household Item Toys

• Spray bottle – fill with water and let them spray the car outside, the shower glass, flowers on a walk etc
• Ladle – perfect for scooping small items or water from one container to another
• Gift bags – give them a couple of bags and let them fill them with whatever they want and carry them around
• Pot w/ water & measuring cups, spoons etc
• Old notebooks or calendar – they can play restaurant, write secret messages, write down their appointments and more
• Painters tape or washi tape – perfect for letting them play by themselves because it comes off easily, or use it to make games,  etc on the floor
• Baking soda and vinegar – put baking soda in a cup on a tray, add vinegar and watch the bubbles!
• Sink or float with random toys around the house – have them write down their guess before each one!
• Kitchen tongs – just give them some tongs and let them go to town. This is a huge favorite toy at our house
• Dissolvable packing peanuts and a bowl of water
• Empty TP and paper towel rolls – make binoculars, telescopes, rain sticks, glasses and more
• Taking everything out of drawers or pantry – best activity to keep them busy when you need to cook
• K cups or tea bags – take them out of the box, put them back in, stack them up, line them up in a row….
• Glow sticks – if you have these lying around, toss some in the bathtub for extra fun!
• Pipe cleaners and colander - let them poke them through the holes and pull them out. Bonus- give them some cheerios to thread onto them
• String – my oldest will spend hours winding string/yarn/ribbon around anything and everything
• Dish soap and water to clean toys
• Tampons – But seriously. My 16-month-old could play with a box of tampons for HOURS
• Beans in a jar with a screw tight lid – save a plastic bottle, add anything that will make noise like beans, lentils, pasta etc and put the lid on. Tape it shut if needed.
• Pom poms in a whisk– show them how to push the pom poms in and then let them figure out how to get them out.

• Clothespins or wine corks – give them some ribbon to clip them on or some boxes and bottles to put the corks in
• Empty squeeze ketchup bottle with water – reuse old squeeze bottles in the bathtub or on the driveway
• Flashlights – fun in a dark room, inside a fort etc
• Vacuum/Swiffer/damp cloth – let them help clean! They love it
• Tape measurers – my kids spend hours measuring everything from their toys to the cat’s tail
• Stapler or hole punch – save scraps from art projects, drawings etc for them to staple and punch
• Mardi gras beads in an old baby bottle – great for making music
• Cardboard boxes – perfect for everything from decorating to rocketships to destroying
• Shaving cream
• Matching Tupperware with lids – see how quickly they can match them up
• Magnifying glass – use around the house or on nature walks
• Junk mail – let them save it, cut it up, circle their favorite items
• Sensory bin with pasta, beans, oats or cereal – bury little toys for them to find or just give them scoops and spoons
• Washing the dishes – another chore i hate but kids usually love
• Ping pong balls – let them throw them around, try to catch them in a cup
• Plastic cups – let them stack them up to make a tower, turn them into bowling pins etc
• Laundry baskets – let them push each other around in them
• Deck of cards – for simple games, workouts, dropping through a slot into a box or just throwing everywhere and picking up
• Pool noodles – make great swords
• Resistance bands
• Balloons
• Cheap photo album and old pics
• Old cameras or phones that don’t work anymore

I’m sure there are other things I’m forgetting but the point is….think outside the toy box!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Here are 35+ At-Home Activities For Kids!  These simple ideas are great for when you’re stuck at home due to illness, weather, or a break from school. Most can be modified for a wide range of ages.

Hi friends!

I’ve got more at home activities for kids to share with you today. Last week I shared my Indoor Activities for Kids and for the past two weeks I’ve been keeping a list of all the activities we’ve done while stuck at home. I thought I would round them up into a post so you can save it for easy reference. (Don’t forget I also have an Indoor Activities for Toddlers post!)

We’ve been using the Pre-Kindergarten Daily Schedule I created to help us come up with ideas for the day and then we’ve been working our way through the activities my five-year-old chooses, plus some extras for entertainment as needed. 

There’s no right or wrong when it comes to this list. No rules on how many of them you need to do in a certain amount of time. Just browse the list for inspiration, modify as needed based on preferences, available supplies, etc and most importantly…have fun!

Without further adieu, here are some activities we’ve done over the past couple of weeks! (Check out my IG highlights to see us doing all of these things)

At-Home Activities For Kids

• Do a tabata workout – we loved this Avengers Tabata. OR make up your own tabata, take turns picking movements and then do it together!
• Check out Glenn Higgins Fitness on Youtube for tons of other workouts for kids!
• Find all the letters of the alphabet on a walk or on things in your pantry. Have siblings race to see who can find them all first!
• Play exercise Simon Says – give commands like “simon says do 3 push-ups, simon says run up and down the stairs, simon says jump on one foot 10 times”

• Take a nature walk, then come home and learn about something. We heard a woodpecker on ours so we watched this video- Why Don’t Woodpeckers Heads Hurt? Or just go outside and look around with some binoculars! 
• Learn about something new on the SciShow Kids youtube channel.
• Draw a blueprint for something and then try to build it. (We did this with a leprechaun trap)
• Make muffins and learn about the difference between baking soda and baking powder with this easy experiment!

• Draw shapes or simple images with a sharpie. Tape the paper to a window. Have the kids hold a blank piece of paper over top and trace. 
• Do a lunch doodle session with Mo Willems (author of Don’t Let the Pigeon + Elephant & Piggie)
• Learn about a new animal via the Home Safari videos on The Cincinnati Zoo Facebook page.
• Build a fort. We love The Ultimate Fort Builder from Lakeshore Learning. Or go old school and use couch cushions, pillows and sheets.
• Try some Go Noodle videos to get moving (my kids like Raise the Roof, Yes I Want to Build a Snowman & Fabio’s Meatball Run).

• Freeze tiny toys in ice cube trays or other containers and let the kids “free” them using a syringe and hot water.
• Play with tongs. See how many dominos or other small objects you can pick up in 30 seconds, move small objects from one bowl to another across the room, etc.
• Build with toothpicks. Set out some grapes, chopped sweet potatoes, marshmallows, playdough etc and toothpicks and let them build!
• Watch this video of an elaborate chain reaction and then try to set up your own chain reaction or marble run.
• Tape the outline of an airplane on the floor with painters tape so they can go on an imaginary trip.
• Take a walk and build a story. Ask the kids to fill in the blanks as you make up a story – “There once was a bear named ______ and every day he went to work at _______, etc)

• Make a placemat – punch out shapes, stick them on contact paper, write your name in the middle, stick a piece of construction paper on the back and then cover with another piece of contact paper.
• Start reading a chapter book out loud to them or listen to an audiobook.
• Build a house out of cards.
• Repurpose an old canvas photo by covering it with butcher paper and painting on it. Then let your child hang it in their room!
• Blow up a balloon and see how long you can keep it in the air using your hands, a spatula, a fly swatter etc.

• Cut a picture frame out of cardboard, cover with construction paper and decorate it!
• Learn how to make paper airplanes! Watch this video for a basic one or this video for two slightly more advanced versions! The Eagle in the second video is our favorite.
• Make up a deck of cards workouts. Pick out a movement for each suit. Make it shorter for younger kids by only using Ace thru 5 for each suit or make it tougher by doing the whole deck of cards!
• Make sock puppets or popsicle stick puppets.

• Make sidewalk chalk paint! I mix 1/3 cup cornstarch with 2/3 cup water and a little washable paint….but you can use flour for cornstarch, food coloring instead of paint or even just crush up sidewalk chalk and mix with water
• Pull out the kitchen scale, gather up some objects, guess the weight and then weigh them. Practice writing the names of the objects, the numbers for your guess, organizing them lightest to heaviest etc.
• Make rainbow cupcakes. Use your favorite cupcake recipe, split the batter into bowls, color each one with food coloring, then layer the colored batter and bake!
• Load up with wagon with siblings or weights and let your child pull it on a walk for some exercise.
• Do a sidewalk workout. Have you child do one movement from one driveway to the next (or for 3-4 sidewalk squares) and then call out a new movement. Stop at each driveway to do squats, sprints etc. Some ideas for movements: run, hop on one foot, skip, run backwards, side shuffle, lunge, bear crawl, crab walk, etc.

• Do a robot rubbing. Check out this post for details but basically you cut a robot out of a cereal box, glue it down and then do a crayon rubbing on paper.
• Make homemade pizza – we used this recipe for whole wheat pizza crust and it was delicious!
• Listen to a book or two on Storyline Online or at @Savewithstories on Instagram.
• Have a jumping contest. Mark how far you can jump off two feet, one foot, running and backward then try to beat your previous attempt.
• Hide objects in a box with a hole in it. Have the kids reach in and try to guess the object by feel.
• Go bowling with solo cups or empty cans and a ball or make a ring toss out of a paper towel tube and some paper plates with the middles cut out.

Hope that gives you some new ideas!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Have your kids mail a hug to friends and family that they don’t see often! It’s a fun, easy way to brighten someone’s day.

Hi friends!

Last Fall, we did this mail a hug activity as part of our 75 Acts of Kindness for Kids challenge and it was a huge hit! We mailed one to my parents and one to my sister, since they both live several states away. It’s such a simple activity but it really can brighten someone’s day.

More Easy Kid Ideas

• Indoor Activities for Toddlers
• At-Home Activities for Kids
• Indoor Activities for Kids

Here are your directions:

1. Spread out a long sheet of butcher paper. 
2. Trace the child’s head, arms, and upper torso onto the paper. 
3. You can either cut it out now or decorate first and then cut. We used paint but markers or crayons would work just fine!
4. Print or write out the message below to accompany the hug.
5. Fold it all up, put in an envelope and mail!

Here’s the message we use:

“I miss you when you’re far away.
I’d love to see you every day.
But since I can’t come over to play,
I’m mailing you a hug today.

So although it might be quite a sight,
wrap my arms around you tight.
Repeat daily to keep your smile bright,
until we get to reunite!”

We mailed a few more hugs this weekend to friends and family both near and far since we’re all stuck at home right now!

I’d love to see pictures of your hugs if you mail some!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–