Elementary Kindergarten Preschool
PrintablesLanguage Arts
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Whether they’re three years old or pushing ten, there are some kids that just absolutely love playing with cars.
It’s just one of those things that some kids really don’t ever grow out of.
So, finding ways to add those cars to their learning seems like a no-brainer, right?
Add in something that they love and they’ll instantly become more engaged!
That’s easy to do when they’re younger, of course, as you can count the toy cars or sort them by color, but how do you incorporate something like cars into their learning as they get a little older and the concepts a little more complex?
Well, by making a sight word parking lot, of course!
Practicing Sight Words with Cars
With so many sight words and other high-frequency words to cover while learning to read, it doesn’t take long for the process to become monotonous and boring.
And no one is going to put any real effort in when it feels like they’re just going through the motions for the hundredth time.
Switching things up every once in a while, however, keeps things fun and your students interested.
This sight word parking lot is the perfect example!
No one wants to practice hundreds of sight words by simply drilling with flashcards for hours on end, but those same sight words start looking a whole lot more exciting when you start practicing them with cars!
If you can add in another element and work on those fine motor skills at the same time, that’s even better!
And with this sight word parking lot activity, you get just that!
A small motor workout and practice for more than 230 sight words at the same time!
Assembling the Sight Word Parking Lot
Within the printable download, you’ll find a blank “parking lot,” a few different printable cars, and four sets of sight word cards covering the following lists:
- Dolch pre-primer
- Dolch primer
- Dolch first grade
- Fry 1st 100
To get this activity ready for your students, you’ll need to print off the parking lot, the cars, and the sight word set that you’d like to use and then, run everything through your laminator.
Once laminated, attach your cars to some wooden clothespins using either a hot glue gun or some double-sided tape.
When your activity is ready, grab a dry erase marker and write a few of the sight words from your cards on the empty parking spaces.
Then, call one out for your students to find.
If your kids have just started learning these words, it can be helpful for them to see the card while they’re looking. When it comes to the words that they don’t yet know by sight, this allows them to hear and see the word at the same time while still searching through the sight words in the parking lot to find their match.
For older students or those that are simply using this as a practice/review activity, simply call out a sight word and have them try to find it themselves.
Once they’ve found the right sight word, they’ll need to park one of their cars on it to give their answer.
They can do this by either placing the car on top of the word to mark the spot or, if you added clothespins to your cars, they can use those small motor muscles to clip the car to the correct spot on the parking lot.
When they’ve successfully parked a car on each of the sight words, simply erase that dry erase marker and start over again with some new words!
