How to use these kindergarten sight words worksheets
Each page follows the same five steps, so after the first one your child knows what to do. Set out a pencil and some crayons and allow 5 to 10 minutes.
- Read it out loud. Point to the word and read it together, then ask your child to read it alone.
- Color the big word. As they color, put the word in short sentences: "We are at the park. I am five."
- Trace it and write it. Trace the gray letters first, then write the word without help. Ask them to say each sound or letter as they write.
- Circle it every time. The word is hidden among others such as are, must, want and went. This is the real test. Am and are look alike at the start, so your child has to look at the whole word, not just the first letter.
- Check together. Count the circles and look for any missed ones.
Do the review page after at. Each of the four words has a shape in the key; your child reads a box and colors it to match. A box colored wrong tells you exactly which word needs another day. The page for do comes from later in the book and works well as a stretch on day six.
For the whole list, with the four groups we suggest, see our kindergarten sight words list.
Tips by age
Early in kindergarten (just 5). Do one word a day and stop after the coloring and tracing if attention runs out. Come back for the circling after a snack.
Mid to late kindergarten. Fold the page so the big word is hidden, then ask them to write it from memory before checking. Add a sentence on the back: "I am at the zoo."
Confident readers. Time the circling, then try to beat it tomorrow. Ask them to read the other words in the circle field too; many are on the same list.
Games to play with the pages
- Sentence strips. Cut the five big words from a spare Black & White copy and add picture words. Build sentences like "We all are at home."
- Read the room. Tape finished pages around the house. Your child walks the route reading each word before they get a snack or a story.
- Race the review. Print the review page twice. Color one now and the second a week later, then compare how fast it went.
- Silly voices. Read the circle field in a robot voice, a whisper or a giant voice. Repetition sneaks in without feeling like drill.
- Write it big. Write each word in chalk outside or with a finger on your child's back and let them guess which it is.
Our guide on how to practice sight words has 12 more games with times and materials.
When your child is ready for more
When these words come quickly, keep going through the primer list: ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did and onward to will, with and yes. Sight Word Explorers: Kindergarten gives every one of the 52 primer words its own page like these, with a read-and-color review after every four and a certificate at the end.
Alongside sight words, kindergarten readers grow most from sounding out short words like cat, pig and sun. Mixing a few minutes of both each day is the balance that works for most children, and by the end of the year the two skills meet in real sentences.
Questions parents ask
Yes. The full book follows the 52 primer words, the list most often used in kindergarten, in alphabetical order. This free sample has the first four (all, am, are, at), the review page that follows them, and the page for do so you can try one from further in.
Yes, completely. Pick Colourful or Black & White and US Letter or A4 and the PDF downloads right away. There is no email to give and no account to make. The pages are the real ones from our kindergarten sight words book, not a cut-down version.
Around 5 to 10 minutes for most kindergarteners. Reading and coloring the word is quick, tracing and writing takes a few minutes, and the circling at the bottom is the part to slow down on. One page a day, with a minute of rereading old words, is a strong routine.
Start with the review page. If your child reads every box without a pause, the writing part is still worth doing: spelling a word from memory is harder than reading it, and it locks the word in. Then move on to the later primer words in the full book.
Sight Word Explorers: Kindergarten has 68 pages: one page for each of the 52 primer words (such as all, are, have, like and want), a read-and-color review page after every four words (13 in all), and a certificate of completion.
