Dr. Seuss-Inspired Sight Word Game

With their funny rhymes and zany characters, Dr. Seuss books are always a hit with kids.

Over the years we have enjoyed several Dr. Seuss activities inspired by his books.   

One of our favorites for early readers is this Dr. Seuss sight words game.

This simple Dr. Seuss game makes sight word practice at home more fun.   It’s perfect to do in March, while schools are often celebrating the author’s birthday.

You will also love these other Dr. Seuss sight words activities and  Dr. Seuss File Folder Games for preschool & kindergarten.   

Dr. Seuss Sight Words Game

You will need 9 plain white note cards.  You could also cut your own cards out of a piece of white card stock.    

Use markers to draw a hat similar to the Cat in the Hat’s hat on each card.  (You could also do this on the computer and print it out if you have access to a color printer.)

With a black marker write one sight word at the bottom of each card.    I chose to use all rhyming words for our cards, making it easier to sound out unknown words.  (And very Seuss-like, too!)   But you can use whichever sight words your child is working on at the moment.  

Draw a small birthday cake on a piece of scrap paper.  It needs to be small enough to hide under one of the note cards.  

Why the birthday cake?  To celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday on March 2.  If you plan on doing this activity at a different time of year, simply draw (or print out) a picture of the Cat in the Hat for your child to find instead.

Dr. Seuss Reading Game

To play, flip all 9 cards over.  

Hide the birthday cake (or cat) under one of the cards while your child is not looking.

Have your child flip over the cards, one at a time and read the word on the card. 

If they read the word correctly, it stays face up. 

If they read the word incorrectly, read it for them, and then place it upside down again.  

The game ends when they find the hidden birthday cake and correctly read the card it is hidden under.  

How many cards can they read before they find the cake?  

Both my preschooler and kindergartner were able to play this game.  

The kindergartner already knew several of the words in this DIY sight word game and was easily able to sound out the others.

I LOVED that the preschooler was also able to play by sounding out the first letter and then add “at” to it and putting it all together.  He was so excited to read the words “mat,” “hat,” and “rat!”  (And I was excited to watch those wheels in his head turning!)

This Cat in the Hat craft was fun to do after playing the game. 

You can easily modify this game to meet the needs of your child.  Once they are feeling confident in getting through 9 cards, try setting it up with 12 or 15 cards for them to read.  

I hope your child enjoys this Dr. Seuss sight words game as much as we did.

Looking for more Dr Seuss activities?  

• Dr. Seuss Activities for Older Kids (8+)
• DIY Yertle the Turtle Stack the Turtles Game
• Dr. Seuss STEM Activities 
• Daisy-Head Mayzie Craft

Originally published February 28, 2014.