Set up a fun sight word activity for kids using simple DIY pirate gold doubloons hidden in a sand tray to make a treasure hunt! Adapt this for letters of the alphabet for those learning their initial letter sounds, or numbers to create a maths themed focus instead.
Hands on, pirate learning fun for all!
What
you need
cardboard, gold paint, black permanent marker pen, tray, play sand, treasure chest, telescope, Pretend To Bee Pirate Dressing Up Costumes http://www.pretendtobee.co.uk/character-costumes
What you do
Paint
a large piece of cardboard with gold paint and leave it to dry. Then use a
glass to draw around to create lots of circles for the gold doubloons. Onto
these write some of the high frequency sight words found on the KS1 list, then cut
them all out ready to play.( include similar ones so that they have to look
closely to differentiate them all, e.g. “this, then, there, the”.)
Into
a tray, tip a bag of play sand, then stand each gold doubloon word card into it,
along with an empty treasure chest
How
to Play
Tell
the children that some pirates have hidden their ‘pieces of 8’and to look for
each one as the word is called out and put them into the treasure chest before
the pirates return! Use the telescope to help you!
Once
the treasure game is completed ask the child to show you what is in the pirate
treasure chest and read them back to you
Another
challenge could be to put some of the words into a simple sentence with
assistance if required
.
What
they are learning as they play:
Literacy: recognising familiar words by sight, reading
unfamiliar words using phonic knowledge, using simple words to build a sentence
Physical: using all of their senses while they play
Creativity: dressing up and taking on a role or character, playing
imaginative games
