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Very early on in our math curriculum I knew my kids were going to need to know their number sight words pretty quickly. They were required to read and write numbers in words right off the bat and that’s hard to do if you don’t know them! So, I set out to teach the number sight words using fun and engaging games that had them learning without even knowing it.  No worksheets allowed! 🙂

Act it Out

This game was always a favorite!  Have a student draw a number sight word card from a stack and read it.  Then, they do that amount of a certain action you call out.  For example, if a student draws and reads the word “five”, they do five jumping jacks or spin around five times.

Here are some of the actions we used:

• jumping jacks
• spin around
• hop on one foot
• clap
• snap fingers
• touch toes
• blink
• take giant steps
• take steps backwards
• hop like a frog
• walk like a crab
• push ups

After they finish the action, have them read the number sight word one more time before drawing the next card.  This game is great for kinesthetic learners and for getting those wiggles out!

What’s Missing?

Have students close their eyes or turn around.  Arrange several number sight word cards in order, but turn one over or leave it out.  Students turn around or open their eyes, read the number sight words, and figure out what number is missing.  This game also practices counting and sequencing.

Fix the Mix

Mix up the number sight words and have students put the cards in numerical order.  You might have them order the cards from least to greatest, or greatest to least.  This is another game that practices sequencing and also comparing.

Number Sight Word War

Played like the traditional “War” card game, each player has a stack of number sight word cards placed face down in front of them.  Each player turns the top card over, and the one with the highest number keeps both cards.  The players keep playing until all their cards are turned over.  The player with the most cards at the end wins. What students don’t even realize is that they’re also practicing comparing numbers with this game.  It’s a win-win!

Number Sight Word Matching

Kids love playing matching games.  Make two copies of each number sight word, turn them over face down, and have players turn cards over two at a time to try to find the match.  Play this game with regular sight words, too!

Hide and Seek

Hide number sight words around the room and have students find them.  Use regular sight words to play this game, too.

Number Sight Word Race

This game was probably the second favorite one to do after Act It Out.  Line the number sight word cards up across the room away from the students.  Call out a number and have a player run down and get the number sight word card and race it back to you.  You can divide students into teams and make it a relay.  Students might enjoying playing this relay with regular sight words.

If you’re interested in doing these activities with your students, download and print the number sight word cards I used by clicking HERE.  It contains the numbers one through twenty and there are four cards per page.

Create your own number sight word cards by clicking here.  Scroll down the page until you see the words “3. Quarter-Page Sight Words Flash Cards (4-up)”.  Click on “Custom Flash Cards”.  It will take you to a page where you can enter the number sight words you want to use, click “create flash cards”, and then it will create your flash cards for you using the number sight words you entered.  Four sight word cards will be on one page.  Cut them apart and laminate for durability.

I hope these activities give you some fun ways to teach number sight words to your students. Do you have any special games or activities you use to teach number sight words?  I’d love to hear your ideas!