My daughter is in the process of learning sight words. Our first introduction into site words was color words. Obviously sight words are learned by memorization. So the trick was to teach her to memorize the color words without a lot of stress and headache. Education should never be about stress yet there are times it is a byproduct. With my reluctant reader I wanted to make things as fun as possible to open up the world of reading in a positive way. I came up with a few ideas to teach her color words in an effective way that she would also have fun doing.
Ways to Teach Color Sight Words
Flash Cards: You will need markers, index cards or word strips, book rings and a hole puncher. Choose about eight to ten basic color words. Then have your child write down the color word in the matching color of marker on the index card. Your child can also draw a picture of an object that is associated with the color on the card as well. Then punch a hole in the corner of the index cards and place on the book ring. Now your child has a set of flash cards to go through daily or a little cheat sheet when reading sentences or reader books which contain color words.
Color by Number: I have found that color by number activities to be a great way to reinforce color words. You can do a search online and find plenty of sites with color by number printables for free. Some of the coloring pages will have the color word in the matching color. That is perfectly fine for the first few times a child does the activity.
Memory Cards: You will need crayons (or markers that will not bleed through the cards) and index cards. On one index card write the color name in black. On another card use a marker to write the color name in the matching color or scribble with the color. Then flip your cards over and have the child match the color word to the color in the same fashion as playing memory.