Sight Word Activities with Cloud Dough

This post was contributed by Ness of One Perfect Day.

Cloud Dough Makes Sight Word Activities More Fun!

Make learning fun with a sight word sensory bin. The sight word activities using the bin can easily be adapted to suit different age groups and reading skills, and it’s very quick and simple to create.

Learning sight words can quickly become boring and feel like hard work. This sight word hunt sensory bin is an easy way to make learning fun. What kid doesn’t love a treasure hunt? Best of all, you only need four simple items and then it’s time to play!

An Easy Sight Word Sensory Bin

For this sight word sensory tub you will need:

• a large container (we used a large plastic storage tub)
• 8 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 cup of baby oil (vegetable oil can also be used if you would prefer it to be edible/non-toxic)
• foam letters (we found ours at the craft store but magnetic letters would also be fine for this activity)

How to play:

1. Simply fill your large container with the flour and oil. Mix the two ingredients together to make some wonderful silky cloud dough.

2. Next, choose some letters that spell out one sight word. Bury them in the cloud dough and that’s it! Your child is now ready to go treasure hunting!

My son loves cloud dough and was excited to start digging for the letters. When he had found them all, he began arranging them in order to form words. He used the letters as stamps to make impressions of the letters in the cloud dough and then hid them all again to go treasure hunting over and over. What an easy way to make learning fun!

More Letter Learning & Sight Word Activities with the Bin

1. For younger kids, simply add several letters to the tub and let them play and explore. As they discover each letter try saying things like “Oh, you found a “T” then make the sound of the letter and say words that begin with that letter.
2. Make a DIY word puzzle. Instead of the child needing to sort the letters of the sight word into the correct order by themselves, trace the foam letters onto a piece of paper first. Then as each letter is discovered in the tub, the child can use the traced template as a guide, and place the foam letter on the corresponding traced letter on the paper.
3. For sight word activities for older kids with more reading experience, add letters into the tub that make two or three sight words. They can then separate the letters into the different words.

What kids of sight word activities so your kids enjoy?  Do share your sight word learning ideas in the comments below!

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