Preschool Prep Company has created a series of educational DVDs that focuses on teaching sight words to young children. Sight words are commonly used short words in the English language that do not always follow traditional rules and are typically better learned through sight recognition rather than phonetically sounding them out. Examples of sight words are “of,” “the,” and “you.”
The first DVD is titled “Meet the Sight Words 1” and features sixteen frequently used sight words. The colorful animated graphics and repetitive use of the words throughout the video seem to be an effective means for teaching these sight words. Though this DVD is recommended for children ages 15 months to 6 years, it seems geared for kindergarten or pre-kindergarten education.
As is always the case when I am sent kids products for review, I went straight to my resident experts — my five-year-old and two-year-old daughters. Being designed for the kindergarten classroom or supplemental educational tool for kindergartners, I expected my five-year-old to show an interest in “Meet the Sight Words.” What surprised me, however, was how fascinated my two-year-old was by the DVD. It quickly became her favorite thing to watch, and she requested it over and over again for weeks on end. In fact, at age two, she now recognizes several of the sight words in the video, as well as the individual letters and the sounds that correspond with them, thanks to this educational video program.
It seems to me that shows designed for children have raised the bar and developed into something significantly more educational than the choices I had as a kid. With the exception of perhaps “Sesame Street,” it seemed that most of the offerings of my generation featured animated characters beating each other to a near-death pulp. “Meet the Sight Words” is far beyond that genre of programming, yet it still manages to effectively capture the interest of young children. Speaking as both a professional product reviewer and a mother of young children, “Meet the Sight Words 1” receives my hearty recommendation.
Damian Daily 
That’s like Word World on PBS. Nadja is bored by it but Romana… the opening tune of the chorus gets her so excited she’s dancing around the playroom like a maniac, maaan-i-ac. Sight words must be like crack for the pre-Preschool set.
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hmmm…seeing as it’s been a while since i stocked up on little kid stuff, this looks like a good start. thanks, lisa!
if i only still had that old bear in the big blue house potty video, i’d be all set…
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Try playing a board game called, Er-u-di-tion. This award winning game incorporates over 300 sight words and the letters of the alphabet and their basic phonic sounds in an enjoyable, engaging activity, providing both teachers and parents with a useful tool.
The game takes emergent readers on a fun adventure through literacy land complete with common landmarks and street signs. They earn a bonus roll after correctly identifying a game card.
The first player to reach the library is the winner!
For additional information, please visit http://www.sightwordsgame.com.
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