Super Genius First Words is sight word reading fun

We have a sight reader in the house now. We know that he can read certain words, but he needs to gain the confidence to say the sight words that he knows aloud.  He has had some sight word cards in the house for years and is just starting to see why they’re important. Blue Orange provided us with a set of Super Genius First Words so that we could let our young reader at them.

First Words consists of 64 cards with six images or six words on them. Pick two carts out of the deck at random and there will be at least one match. There are 31 words or images spread out amongst the cards. For example, the written words will have net, map, rat, mop, six or pig written on it, while a picture card might have a picture of a log, nut, hat, sun, pig or mug on it.

The cards are slightly bigger than your average playing card and have a glossy finish-which is important when your audience is five-years old. There is also a reference card for each illustration, with its written word in case our young players need assistance without asking a parent.

What is really brilliant about Super Genius First Words is that there are six games that young readers can play. Each game has its own card that explains how to play it and the games can be played by 1 to 6 players.  That means a solo reader can play by themselves or a group of beginning readers can engage in a group game.

Our young reader is actively playing Cooperative and Flip-Flap. Cooperative has the player seated in front of all of the cards face up in a grid. Players then take turns finding matching pairs of cards. When they find a match they remove them and place them in their pile. The person with the most cards when all of them are gone wins. This game is also great for even younger kids that can’t read, but are learning to match pictures. Another bonus of bringing in a child that age is that it puts pressure on your young reader to match words to words, instead of relying on the picture card.

Flip-Flap is essentially a take-off on War. Each player receives the same number of cards. One card from the deck is placed in the middle, face up. All of the players take two of their cards and the first one to say out loud what their match is wins that hand. The winner then gets to put one of their cards in the middle for another round.

Again, any two cards will have at least one matching element so there are countless ways to play a game with them. It’s a fun, simple game that gets kids reading without the pressure or hassle of learning-in their mind. Granted, they are still learning, but the fun is greasing the wheels of the learning train so they don’t realize how much they are actually doing.

The container for the cards is also worth noting because it’s made of strong cardboard and closes securely with magnets. This is 31 sight words of learning fun that your pre-k or kindergarten student will enjoy playing. They’ll get more out of the game if you play with them, but an older sibling who can read will do the trick and help guide the game appropriately.