Looking for a way to make reading practice fun? This printable “roll and graph” sight word game is a great way to get beginning readers to practice reading and writing skills in a play-based setting.    My son is starting first grade this week. I can hardly believe that our lazy (or crazy, depending on the moment) summer days are behind us. We’ve got new shoes, backpacks, and freshly sharpened pencils ready to go.

It will be nice to get back into our school routine since we got a little lax about learning over the summer. Still, we didn’t totally throw learning out the window the past few months. My husband and I challenged our two boys (6 and 4) to dedicate ten minutes per day to learning. Just ten minutes! If they would do this for fifty days (we used this reading chart to keep track), at the end of summer they would earn a trip to the amusement park near where we live.

I am happy to report that YESTERDAY, they both officially completed their goal. Just in time, since school starts tomorrow.

My six-year-old’s goal was specifically 10 minutes of reading practice each day. He’s been steadily improving in his reading skills over the last year, but he doesn’t read books independently yet, and I felt really strongly that he needed to keep practicing consistently over the summer in order to progress.

Most days, his reading time consisted of us sitting on the couch and reading together, with me helping as needed. Sometimes, thought, he would get bored with just reading and needed something more exciting to keep him motivated.

Sometimes, we would play a sight word version of our favorite learning game, Kaboom! Other times, I would time him to see how many sight words he could read in one minute (using flashcards).

One day, I came up with the game I’m sharing today. It’s a powerhouse learning activity wrapped up in a simple little game–reading, writing, and math skills all in one. Not bad, eh?

Little Man loved it, and we’ve played it several times, using different words each time.

Originally I made this game because Little Man was struggling with a lot of the “w” sight words (who, what, etc.). I built this game as a way to increase his exposure to those specific words as well as to see them next to each other and learn to differentiate between them.

I love that I can keep track of trouble words while he’s reading and use this game as a fun way to get some extra practice on those tricky sight words. No complaints about reading when I pull out this activity. Hooray!

Wanna give it a try? Here’s everything you need to know to play:

“Roll and Graph” Sight Word Game

What we’re learning:

• sight word identification
• reading skills
• writing skills
• counting
• graphing

Materials needed:

• printable “Roll and Graph” game (see below for free download)
• dice
• pencil (or other writing utensil)

Directions:

1. Read the directions on the page with your child. (Seriously, teach your kids to read the directions on any paper they get. Their school teachers will thank you!!!)
2. Roll a die.
3. Have your child identify and read aloud the sight word that matches the number rolled.
4. Write the word in the next available box above the word.
5. Keep rolling and writing words until one column is filled. First word to the top wins!

Variations:

I also used this game with my four-year-old to practice number skills and counting. Really, you can customize the boxes at the bottom of the game board to be whatever you want:

• numbers
• shapes
• alphabet letters
• colors
• sight words
• rhyming words
• cvc words
• word family words

For younger kids, you can also have them just color in the square for the number they rolled rather than writing a word. They can still practice identification skills without the frustration of writing.

Click Here to Download Your Free Printable
“Roll and Graph” Sight Word Game

Note: I have included three different sight word versions, a number version, and a blank template that you can fill in with whatever your child needs to practice.

Happy learning!

Want more simple and fun ways to teach sight words? Check out this post:

Fun ways to practice sight words with beginning readers