Physical activity word games

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a word search?

A word search is a puzzle where there are rows of letters placed in the shape of a square, and there are words written forwards, backwards, horizontal, vertical or diagonal. There will be a list of words for the player to look for and the goal of the player is to find those words hidden in the word search puzzle, and highlight them.

How do I choose the words to use in my word search?

Once you’ve picked a theme, choose words that have a variety of different lengths, difficulty levels and letters. You don’t need to worry about trying to fit the words together with each other because WordMint will do that for you!

How are word searches used in the classroom?

Word search games are an excellent tool for teachers, and an excellent resource for students. They help to encourage wider vocabulary, as well as testing cognitive abilities and pattern-finding skills.

Because the word search templates are completely custom, you can create suitable word searches for children in kindergarten, all the way up to college students.

Who is a word search suitable for?

One of the common word search faq’s is whether there is an age limit or what age kids can start doing word searches. The fantastic thing about word search exercises is, they are completely flexible for whatever age or reading level you need.

Word searches can use any word you like, big or small, so there are literally countless combinations that you can create for templates. It is easy to customise the template to the age or learning level of your students.

How do I create a word search template?

For the easiest word search templates, WordMint is the way to go!

Pre-made templates

For a quick an easy pre-made template, simply search through WordMint’s existing 500,000+ templates. With so many to choose from, you’re bound to find the right one for you!

Create your own from scratch

• Log in to your account (it’s free to join!)
• Head to ‘My Puzzles’
• Click ‘Create New Puzzle’ and select ‘Word Search’
• Select your layout, enter your title and your chosen words
• That’s it! The template builder will create your word search template for you and you can save it to your account, export as a Word document or PDF and print!

How can I print my word search template?

All of our templates can be exported into Microsoft Word to easily print, or you can save your work as a PDF to print for the entire class. Your puzzles get saved into your account for easy access and printing in the future, so you don’t need to worry about saving them at work or at home!

Can I create a word search in other languages?

Word searches are a fantastic resource for students learning a foreign language as it tests their reading comprehension skills in a fun, engaging way.

We have full support for word search templates in Spanish, French and Japanese with diacritics including over 100,000 images.

Teaching vocabulary to preschoolers is not just about giving the definitions and some examples, but about creativity and fun techniques to practice the words with them. One of the best and practical ways to teach them vocabulary is using games. Here are some of them.

Categories

This game helps children to categorize the words in the columns, to get their meanings and to find a relationship between these words. For each category, you can use flashcards (fruit, vegetables, clothes, sports, etc) and give a list of different words to your kids (banana, skirt, apple, tomato, tennis, baseball, shirt, shorts, kiwi, etc.).

out the odd word

This game is a bit similar to the previous one because it is again related to categorizing. Here the teacher gives a list of words, asking kids to cross out one odd word from each line. For example:

1. November, July, September, October
2. Cold, snow, January, summer
3. Monkey, banana, apple, kiwi
4. Run, tennis, baseball, football
5. Taxi, car, bus, house

How many?

Here all you need is to show a picture of different things (animals, fruit, vegetables) and to ask your younger learners to count how many things there are in the picture.

2-litre jar

This is a fun game to play with your kids. You show them a 2-litre jar and ask to come up with words that can be placed in this jar. For example, they can say coffee, candle, but they cannot say happiness or animal, because they cannot be placed in this jar.

I spy

One might call this game an old one, but my younger learners adore it. To begin the game choose an object and give some hints to your kids, such as: “I spy something that is big and blue”. The pupil that guesses the word takes a turn to spy something and let other kids guess.

Apple Pass

Get your kids to sit in a circle. You can use a real apple or a fake one. While you pass the apple to the next student, you must say one English word. The student then throws to another student and says a different English word. The student who fails to catch the apple or to say a word is out. And the game continues until you have one winner. It can be played with different categories, such as fruit, vegetables, animals, etc.

Touch

This game is all about giving some instructions. The teacher says: “Touch the board”, “Touch the chair”, “Touch something black”, etc. And young learners go around the classroom to find the appropriate objects and to touch them.

Basketball

Make a paper ball and prepare a box where your kids can throw an imaginary ball. Show a flashcard to the first student. If they say the right word and throw the ball into the box, they get two points. But if they fail to do one of these things, they get just one point. The person who gets the most points is the winner.

Pictionary

This is a nice activity for recycling vocabulary. You can play this game in groups. Tell one of the students a word and ask him/her to draw a picture of it on the board. The first student to guess, what the picture is, gets a point and takes a turn to come up to the board and to draw the next picture.

Line True or False

Put a line of tape on the floor and make appropriate signs for «True» and «False». Show a flashcard and say its word (you can say a wrong word).  If students think that you have said the correct word they jump on to the True side, if not they jump on to the False side. The student who gives the wrong answer is out.

What games do you play with your preschoolers?

How many times did you almost fall asleep in class as a student? Be honest, everyone’s been there at least once. Between PowerPoints and droning teachers, there are a lot of things that can go wrong in a  classroom. Teachers who can keep things lively will see students who are more involved and engaged with the material, even if it’s difficult. Many language teachers use Total Physical Response, or TPR for short, to keep their student’s energy up.

What is Total Physical Response?

Total Physical Response is a method developed by James Asher in the 1960s. It was created with the goal of helping students learn a second language. TPR helps students learn by associating a physical action with new vocabulary.

Some benefits of TPR:

• It helps students remember new phrases or words
• It can be used in both large and small classes
• It doesn’t require much preparation (bye bye worksheets!)
• It gets students excited about learning and involved in the lesson
• It is effective for all age groups and abilities

TPR isn’t only for the teachers though, students who are trying to learn a language on their own can benefit as well. Associating a movement with new vocabulary can help you remember it next time. TPR works by helping students understand the meaning of new words quickly. Teachers can develop TPR centered activities, or add TPR into any classroom activity they already do.

How to use Total Physical Response?

Ready to get moving? Here’s a quick step by step guide for teachers using TPR for the first time.

Prepare: Decide on the vocabulary you will be teaching and think about the most effective movements to use. You can also take some time to gather any props or extra materials you will need.

Teacher Modelling: Show the students the movement and say the vocabulary word. Be sure to do this a few times so everyone understands what you’re doing.

Student Modelling: Now it’s time to get your students involved. Choose a few and have them mimic the action and say the vocabulary word. This will help the rest of the class understand what you need them to do in the next step.

Student Participation: To ensure everyone understands, have the entire class model the movement and say the word together. This will get everyone on the same page. It will also help relieve some of the self-consciousness your students may feel saying a new word or doing a funny action.

Write it Down: Write the word down on the board, or whatever you are using to show your students new vocabulary. Not doing this earlier helps students focus on the sounds in the word and your actions, rather than the spelling of it. Writing it down for them at this point in the process helps students connect the sound with a written word.

Repetition and Practice: Continue teaching the rest of your vocabulary in a similar manner. At the end, be sure to review all the new words and movements with the class.

Total Physical Response Activities

Group Singing

Everyone loves a good song right? This is an especially great tool for younger learners, as singing together is a fun and exciting activity for them. Adult learners may not get as much of a kick out of this.

A great example of group singing with total physical response is the grade school classic, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”. This song is not only fun to sing but incorporates movements that students can remember even if they can’t quite get all the words. This helps them remember the words more accurately after practice, and reinforces their meaning.

Simple Simon Says

This is a great game because your students likely already know it in some capacity. Simon says to do something, you do it. Teachers in large classrooms typically have all of the students stand up to start.  Throughout the game, students sit down if they miss a question, answer incorrectly, or answer when they are not supposed to. This is useful for reviewing vocabulary from previous lessons or at the end of a complicated lesson.

For example, you’ve just taught a lesson on the face (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc.) and you want to make sure your students understand. You can stand at the front of the class and play “Simon says…” “touch your eyes”, “touch your ears”, “touch your mouth”.

This game is perfect for all levels, as even students who do not initially understand the game can catch on quickly. It can also be used for more advanced vocabulary and can be done at any pace to test quick understanding.

Charades

Charades is a helpful game for any learner, not just for language learning. Charades involves a student getting up and performing for the rest of the class. They are told a vocabulary word or action that the rest of the class needs to say, and then it’s their job to get that answer from the class. This helps test the student performers ability as well as the ability of the class.

You can also let your students get a little competitive by dividing them into teams. Teams alternate turns, so they can’t guess off of the other performer’s actions. This helps get your students more involved in the game, as everyone likes a little competition.

You can do this game with or without preparation, making it a great cool down activity or quick review game. If you want to prepare, write down your vocabulary (this works best with verbs) and put them on pieces of paper in a jar for your students to pull from. If you’re winging it, tell only the student that is performing which action they need to do.

Pantomime Actions

Have some extra props lying around? Get your students interacting with them by using this pantomiming activity. Here’s how it works- think of a series of actions you can do with your props, then get your students to mimic the actions. Use simple sentences for each action, so your students can practice extended speaking.

For our example, we’ll use a grocery store scenario-

“Get a basket”

“Pick up an apple”

“Look at the apple”

“Put the apple in the basket”

This can be extended indefinitely depending on your props and subject matter. This is a great way to get students practicing speaking and performing TPR at the same time. For large classes, you may want to set up a few different stations so no one gets bored watching or doing the same thing.

Storytelling sessions

Stories are a great way to put vocabulary in context and get your students to have a better understanding of what goes on in class. Adding TPR to your story makes it easy for students who may not have understood the vocabulary the first time around. Plus, it makes it more engaging.

Choose a story about something that can involve your vocabulary words more than once. For example: If your class has just learned about the five senses, you can tell a story about Sally’s first time in the park. Talk about what she hears, sees, and smells and use your TPR for each vocabulary word multiple times.

At the end of the story, ask a few students to summarize what happened. They can use the TPR for smells, sees, and hears to help them remember what happened in the story and practice speaking in full sentences.

Have a drama session

Do you sometimes feel like your students are a little dramatic? This is the perfect activity for them! A great way to test their language and TPR skills is to have them do a little improv. You’ll play the role of the narrator and decide how the story goes. Choose something light and easy to follow, like a hero’s journey.

For this kind of story, you’ll need a hero, a princess, and a villain. For a larger class, feel free to add more characters but don’t make the story too long or too complicated. You also can’t forget to leave some of the class in the audience to watch the chaos unfold!

Use some target language you’ve covered in class- ex. “Run away!”, “Wave Hello”, etc. and have the students in the play act using the TPR you covered in class. Don’t be afraid to stop the story if someone is confused or doesn’t understand. This activity is all about putting the vocabulary they learn in class to good use, so make sure they know what they’re doing.

Mime activities

This one’s all about total physical response. Your poor student has completely lost their voice! They’ll be assigned a partner who has to determine what they need, but they can’t say a word. You’ll give them a task or phrase they need to make their partner say. For example, “You’re looking for your dog.” The mime student must convey this entirely through their actions, and the partner must guess the target sentence.

This is a great way to test your student’s understanding, as they will have to remember the vocabulary off the top of their heads. This is also a great activity for large classrooms, as you can pair off students and have them race for first place.

Role Play

A simple way to get your students talking and using TPR is to have them roleplay easy scenarios. This is better for more advanced students that have a little more confidence speaking. All you have to do is give them a scenario or a few pieces of target vocabulary and watch them go.

You can do this two ways- you can have two students get in front of the class and perform, or you can pair them off and have them work more independently. Many students can be shy or reluctant to speak when learning a new language, so pairing them off and listening in on a few conversations works well for small classes. No matter what you do though, make sure they’re up and moving around!

If your students are reluctant to talk, some teachers find it helpful to set a timer for how long the scenario has to go on. 30 seconds is a good starting point for most classes, and you can give them time to prepare before they start.

Treasure Hunt with a Twist

This is perfect for classes that love to compete. Group your students into four or five groups and send them on the scavenger hunt of their lives! Or at least of their day. Instead of giving your student’s paper clues, give them verbally. Whichever team completes the activity first wins for that round.

For example, after teaching action verbs, you can ask your students to “go to the back of the class”, “run to the front of the class”, “find something yellow”, or “jump in place”. Be sure to keep track of each teams points, and award the winner with bragging rights (or candy).

This activity is great for getting everyone practicing total physical response, as teams cannot earn points unless all members are participating.

We hope this list of fun activities gets you and your class moving. total physical response is a great language tool for any age or level and can help your students more quickly remember vocabulary and phrases.

Check out these articles to up your language learning game:

5 Reasons to Use the Speech Shadowing Technique

7 Science-Based Methods to Thinking in a Foreign Language

The 8 Practical Steps to Learn Grammar Easily

Anyone (of any age!) who’s interested in increasing their English vocabulary or literacy skills needs to be familiar with sight words—what they are, how they work in the English language, and which words are considered sight words!

One effective way to master sight words is by playing games. Science shows that high-quality educational games can be effective tools to help you learn new concepts and skills. And hey—who doesn’t want to have fun while learning? 

To help you choose sight word games that are proven to be effective at increasing vocabulary and enhancing literacy skills, we’ve compiled a full guide to sight word games and activities for you. Included in this article are: 

• A definition of what sight words are and why they’re important
• Three do-it-yourself sight word games
• Three physical sight word games
• Three digital sight word games and sight word apps

So by the end of this post, you’ll have nine sight word games and activities that can help you improve both your vocabulary and reading skills! 

What Sight Words Are (and Why They’re Important)

Here’s one way to define “sight words”: sight words are words in the English language that you need to be able to recognize the meaning of right when you see them. That’s why they’re called sight words: you need to be able to recognize them and know what they mean on sight. 

But how is this type of word different from other words that you read? Don’t we recognize the meaning of all words when we look at them? Well, not exactly. We recognize the meaning of most words in the English language through a process called decoding. As we learn to read, we get the hang of letter-sound relationships and letter patterns, which allows us to pronounce words correctly and begin recognizing words we haven’t seen before. 

Kinda cool, right? 

Most people learn how to decode words through phonics instruction in school. But, here’s how sight words are different from all those other words that we learn to decode through phonics: sight words defy standard phonetic patterns and must be memorized. Memorizing sight words is important because sight words account for around 75% of beginning reading material. For children and adults who struggle to recognize sight words, learning to read is going to be a challenging process. 

When we’re able to recognize sight words, we can focus instead on meaning and comprehension while reading, instead of having to decode every single word. You can actually find several lists of common sight words online, but it’s important to know that U.S. schools usually use the Dolch or Fry Sight Word lists. Most often, children begin learning sight words in kindergarten in the United States, but many, many people learn English or acquire full, functional literacy at a much later age in the U.S. as well. 

But what do games and sight word activities have to do with memorizing all of these words? A lot, actually. Literacy learners of all ages are able to memorize sight words more quickly through repeated practice, but reviewing the same material over and over can become tedious or stressful for language learners. Gamifying literacy learning can help learners who struggle with memorization learn more quickly, be more attentive while they practice, and increase their confidence in their ability to learn to read. 

Now that you know what sight words are and why they’re so important to literacy learning, let’s look at nine different sight word games that you can play to increase your knowledge of sight words!

Do-It-Yourself Sight Word Games

If you’re looking for an affordable way to help someone memorize sight words, there are plenty of inexpensive sight word activities that you can put together on your own! Here are three tried and true, do-it-yourself sight word activities for people of all ages. 

DIY Flash Cards

• Cost: Free if you’re already stocked up on blank paper and a marker!
• Best For: All ages 

While there are definitely sight word flash cards that you could buy pre-made online, you can also make flash cards using your own materials at home. To create your own sight word flash cards, all you’ll need is a pen or marker and blank notecards! 

Sight word flash cards are good for children and adults working on their English literacy and vocabulary. Working through flash cards can help you recognize sight words more quickly and memorize them. You can also use flash cards for practice in the following ways: 

• Practice saying the word aloud when you see it on the flash card
• Practice saying the word aloud, then spelling it aloud
• Practice reading the word, writing it yourself, then saying it aloud

Making flash cards is an especially good activity for kids. They’ll have fun decorating their cards, which has an added bonus of sneaking in some extra study time, too. 

To create sets of sight word flash cards, you’ll probably want to use the Dolch and/or Fry Sight Word Lists, since these lists correspond with those used by teachers in school. Luckily, those are available online for free at the links above. You can use flash cards to study at school, work, or home, or take them on the road for practice as well!

Put Together a Word Search

• Cost: Free if you’ve got paper and pen on hand already!
• Best For: Kindergarten and up 

Creating and/or completing a word search that includes several sight words can be an excellent way to practice picking out sight words quickly. Creating a word search is pretty easy! All you need is a piece of paper, a pen, and a list of sight words that you can incorporate into the word search. For a tutorial on creating your own word search, check out this resource. 

If you have a friend, classmate, or fellow parent who is learning sight words or helping someone else learn sight words, you can create word searches and exchange them with each other. Not only will you get in extra practice, you’ll also make friends with a study partner who can help you practice your words. 

You can repurpose an old Candy Land game and turn it into a sight word extravaganza…for free!

Sight Words Book Land

• Cost: Free, if you already have all the materials, or about $13 for a Candy Land board game on Amazon
• Best For: People ages 5 and up 

We’re going to get into some board games you can purchase to practice learning sight words in the next section, but did you know you can also create your own sight word board games with materials you have at home? Sight Words Book Land is one DIY board game option, if you’re feeling a little crafty! 

Sight Words Book Land is modeled after the popular kids’ game, Candy Land, and provides a fun, engaging format for sight word repetition. The game can accommodate two to four players, which is great for family learning. 

To create your own version of the game, you’ll need the following materials: 

• Book Land Board, which you can download here
• Book Land Cards, which you can download here
• A color printer, or access to one
• Scissors
• Tape
• Game pieces of some kind

Alternatively, if you don’t want to print out your own game board and cards, you can repurpose an old Candy Land game for Sight Words Book Land. If you use a list of sight words online, you can write them on the old Candy Land game cards yourself!

To play, each player starts with their game piece on the “start” arrow, then takes turns drawing cards and attempting to successfully read the word printed on the card aloud. When a player reads the word on a card correctly, they move their game piece forward according to the colored dots on the card they drew. The first player who gets to the end of the board wins! 

If you’re not the crafty type, there are plenty of sight word games you can buy, too. 

Physical Sight Word Games

When we say “physical” sight word games, we mean word games that use physical materials, like board games or card games. (Don’t worry: we’ll talk about digital games and apps a little later.) 

For many learners, having a tactile learning experience can help them memorize sight words more effectively. We’ve listed four physical sight word games that you can purchase in stores or online to help you practice learning sight words by heart. 

Key Education Sight Word Space Station Game

• Cost: About $20 on Amazon
• Best For: Kindergarteners to second graders

If you’re looking specifically for kindergarten sight words games, Sight Word Space Station could be a great choice! This multiplayer board game can be ordered online and includes all the materials children need to practice reading and memorizing sight words. 

This game is designed for kindergarten through second graders to help this age group practice reading and memory skills by identifying pairs of sight words. Up to eight players can participate in this concentration-style game, which includes 96 game cards total, and 48 color-coded, high- frequency sight word cards. As an added bonus, you can limit the number of card pairs that are in play to make the reading tasks less overwhelming for stressed or reluctant readers. 

Oh, and here’s where the space theme comes in: as matched cards are removed from the game board, an alien space station is slowly revealed. Past parent purchasers tout this feature as a major point of interest for their youngsters!

Sight Words Four in a Row

• Cost: About $7 on Amazon Prime for the Connect Four game, and an additional $3 for sight word flash cards
• Best For: Kindergarten and up 

Sight Words Four In A Row uses materials from the familiar game Connect Four in order to build learners’ confidence with sight words through repetition and quick reading. To recreate this sight word activity, you need a Connect Four board, Connect Four pieces, and a stack of sight word flash cards. 

Now, here’s how you play Sight Words Four In A Row: get two players together, place the Connect Four board between them, and take turns drawing a flash card from the stack and attempting to read the corresponding sight word aloud. Each time a player reads the sight word on a flash card aloud correctly during their turn, that player gets to drop a game piece into one of the Connect Four board slots. The first player to place four game pieces in a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally wins! 

Sight Word Bingo

• Cost: About $7 on Amazon
• Best For: People ages 5 and up

Another classic sight words kindergarten game is Sight Word Bingo. Like several of the board games and card games we’ve mentioned, you could make your own sight word bingo at home, but if you don’t have the time or interest, there are Sight Words Bingo games out there that you can purchase online and have delivered to your doorstep!

Sight words bingo works pretty much exactly like regular bingo. The caller calls out the word on a card or shows the card, then players search their cards for a match. If they find the sight word on their playing mat, they cover it with a chip. Learners get practice reading 46 words, increase their vocabulary and word recognition, and build reading and spelling skills. 

There are many variations of sight word bingo games that you could purchase, but most versions comes with 35+ playing cards, 260+ playing chips, calling cards, caller’s mat, answer guide, and a storage box. They also come in different difficulty levels: we’ve linked to an easier game, but don’t be afraid to bump up the challenge. 

There are some great apps out there that can help you take your studying on the go! 

Digital Sight Word Games and Sight Word Apps

The last category of sight word activities we want to give you some options for is sight word apps and sight word games online. We’ve selected games that you can play on desktop or mobile so that you can have sight word games with you wherever you go. 

Learn Sight Words

• Cost: Free! 
• Best For: Kindergarten and up 

Learn Sight Words is an iPhone and iPad app designed for children. The 300+ sight word flash cards are based on the Dolch Word List (which we linked to above) and can be used for various forms of sight word practice. Reviewers say that if you’re looking for a sight words kindergarten game that’s compatible with what children are learning in school, Learn Sight Words is a great choice!

Children can use the app themselves to read sight words, listen to sight words, practice with app-generated mixes of 25 sight words per day, flag difficult words for extra practice, and view words in alphabetical or random order based on their grade level (the app has settings for pre-k through third grade). As an added bonus, the app’s “read aloud” feature can be temporarily turned off so children can practice saying the words aloud all on their own!

This sight words app doesn’t have a lot of fancy bells and whistles, but it’s easy for children to use for straightforward practice with sight words. 

The Sight Word Adventure

• Cost: About $3
• Best For: Kindergarten and up 

If you’re looking for a more immersive sight word game experience, The Sight Word Adventure is a great pick. This app offers seven different sight word games based on games children will likely be familiar with already—like bingo and whack-a-mole—and features a friendly kangaroo as a guide through the different games. 

The app allows you to select a level, ranging from pre-k to third grade, and tailors the sight word games to the designated learning level. The games are also structured into two categories: reading games and writing games. The reading games help learners recognize complete sight words, and the writing games test their ability to reproduce the words on their own. 

Parents might be interested to know that the app is customizable: you can include new sight words or prioritize specific words based on your child’s progress, which is trackable through the app’s parental dashboard. Finally, The Sight Word Adventure app is Voice-Over compatible, making it accessible to learners with disabilities. 

Education.com Sight Words Games

• Cost: Free!
• Best For: Kindergarten and up 

If you’re looking for a one-stop shop for sight words kindergarten games, check out the various online games provided by Education.com. Their repository of free sight word games includes everything from puzzles, to time-based challenges, to digital card games—and they’re paired with lively narration and engaging sound effects. 

Each game in the Education.com collection is prefaced by a one-paragraph description of the skills children will learn and practice, which age group the game is ideal for, and the option to view which state or national learning standards the game aligns with. The variety of types of sight word games available on this single site will keep children interested in learning sight words!

The only caveat here is that you’ll need to create an account with Education.com, and when you set up your account, you’ll be asked to indicate if you’re a parent or teacher. In other words, if you’re interested in using this resource for your own child or your students, you’ll have to do all of the online registration yourself. Additionally, since this is an online portal, you’ll want to supervise your children as they play. (The online-only aspect makes this resource super convenient for adult learners, though!) 

What’s Next? 

If you love learning through games, we have many more recommendations on our blog. Be sure to check out our posts on spelling games, learning games for toddlers, and alphabet games.

If you’re working on your sight words, you may be interested in building some of your other vocabulary skills, too. Here’s an article on the 265 vocab words you should know to help you improve your vocabulary even more.

Vocabulary and literacy go hand-in-hand. To learn more about how to improve your reading comprehension skills, be sure to check out this resource. It’s full of expert advice and helpful tips for young adult and adult learners. 

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

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