We recently tried a 6-week 足球 (zúqiú / soccer) course to see if she might be interested in the sport. I can’t say it was a hit because my daughter cares more about playing pretend with the colorful cones than 足球. But it was great to see her kick and coordination improve, and it was important to branch out and try something new! So I combined my daughter’s love for pretend play with her new soccer skills AND sight word practice. I recommend sight word soccer for all kids (preschool and elementary school), because exercise is so important! Kids naturally love to run around and play, and it’s a low-stress way to sneak in reading practice! Families can play this sight word game at home, and teachers can this at school as well.
Sight word soccer is perfect for Chinese learning. Since all Chinese characters are sight words, you can use flashcards with any character! Of course, you can do this outdoor literacy activity with any language. You can also focus on letters, such as in the English or Korean alphabet, or simply practice shapes and numbers!
What you need for sight word soccer:
- Index cards
- Soccer ball
- Cones
- Painter’s tape
- Black Sharpie marker
How to set up sight word soccer:
- Write characters on index cards with
- Tape cards on cones
- Take turns calling out the words and kicking ball to the chosen sight word
To narrow the learning goal, I asked my daughter to name her favorite places and wrote each name on index cards. She chose the following places:
- 超市 (chāoshì / supermarket)
- 城堡 (chéngbǎo / castle)
- 餐馆 (cānguǎn / restaurant)
- 海边 (hǎibiān / beach, oceanside)
- 农场 (nóngchǎng / farm)
- 派对 (pàiduì)
We pretended that each cone was a different place and my daughter contributed her own creative ideas to the activity! I love that my daughter is excited to share her thoughts, and she expresses it very well in Mandarin!
Sight Word Soccer was a huge hit with my toddler, and I know it will be fun at any age! Great exercise for your body and brain!!!
If you try this outdoor literacy activity, please let us know! Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag a photo #ChalkAcademy on Instagram and Facebook.
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Happy learning, friends!
Great idea! My son is an avid soccer player but not fond of reading. We’ll have to try this!