18 Vowel Sound Activities and Games for Kids to Love
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Bring fun and play to learning long and short vowel sounds with these simple games and activities for young children.
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As children master letters and the sounds they stand for, they discover that some letters are consonants and others are vowels. They also learn that vowels can stand for two sounds: long and short. As their skills advance, students add in vowel teams, which have their own sound rules. It’s a lot to grasp! These vowel activities and games can help your young learner make sense of it all.
Tips for Teaching Vowels
English is tricky, and there are exceptions to every rule. However, there are some rules that learners find helpful when it comes to vowels:
- Vowels are the letters a, e, i, o, and u.
- Each vowel can stand for long or short sounds. For the long sound, the vowel “says its name,” just like in the word “name!”
- Short vowel sounds are usually surrounded by consonants on either side.
- The letter y is sometimes considered a vowel, depending on where it falls in the word. When it’s at the end, it usually stands for the sound of a long e. In the middle of a word, it can stand for a long or short i sound.
- Vowel teams usually stand for the long sound of the first vowel in the set. For instance, “team” is pronounced with a long e.
Find out more about vowels and the sounds they stand for here.
ABCmouse Vowel Activities
Our learning program and activities are designed by curriculum experts and support learners from preschool through second grade, a prime time for learning vowel sounds and how they work. Presenting material in a variety of ways can enhance learning. The following ABCmouse activities present vowel-related learning through free printables, digital learning games, and catchy educational songs and videos.
1. Free Printable Worksheets
These free printable vowel worksheets offer practice for every age and skill level. You’ll find coloring pages, short and long vowel worksheets, and roundups by grade level. From fill-in-the-blank and writing practice to games like word searches, these free worksheets can make vowel learning meaningful and engaging.
Try it: Free Vowel Practice Worksheets
2. Online Vowel Practice Games
When kids play online games at ABCmouse, they’re learning at the same time! Our big collection of vowel sounds games teach important fundamentals. Children can enjoy long vowel games, short vowel games, vowel team games, and more. Here are a few of our favorites to check out. Please note that many of these games require an ABCmouse subscription to play.
- Short Vowel Paintings With Maggie: Help an artist name her paintings using short-vowel words.
- Carnival of Fun: Identify pictures of words that have short or long vowel sounds.
- Garden Vowels: Plant a family vegetable garden to learn all about vowel teams.
- Vowel Sound Fireworks: Launch the correct vowel teams into the sky to see a dazzling display!
3. Vowel Videos and Songs
Videos are a terrific way to enhance hands-on learning. ABCmouse’s YouTube channel features dozens of songs and videos about the letters of the alphabet, including vowels. Try these playlists:
Hands-on Vowel Activities and Games
Support traditional learning activities with these fun and interactive vowel activities and games. You can play them at home or in the classroom and some are even great on-the-go!
4. Vowel Spotlight
Dim the light in a room and use a flashlight to highlight objects or pictures that start with different vowel sounds. Say the vowel sound aloud, and have your child repeat it. For example, if you’re in the kitchen, shine the flashlight on an apple and say “a, a, apple,” then ask your child to repeat it back to you.
5. Vowel Sound Sorting
Create or print out a set of cards or images, each with a picture of an object that starts with a vowel sound (an apple, elephant, igloo, octopus, umbrella). Work with your child to sort the cards into groups based on the initial vowel sound. Encourage them to say the vowel sound out loud.
6. Vowel Sound Treasure Hunt
Hide objects or pictures (you could even use the pictures from the sorting activity above) around your home or yard. Guide your child toward the hidden objects by playing hot or cold or giving them clues on where to look. When your child finds the object, ask them to tell you what they found. Then ask them what vowel sound they hear. (If you hid a hat, ask them to say the vowel sound they hear in that word).
7. Long and Short Vowel Collages
First, get our free printable letter coloring pages, and pull out the vowels. Invite your child to color them in any way they like! Then, have your child flip through magazines or newspapers and cut out pictures or words that have a specific vowel sound. They can paste them onto the appropriate vowel coloring page to make a fun collage!
8. Vowel Dice
You’ll need two dice for this one. The first dice represents the vowels (1=a, 2=e, 3=i, 4=o, 5=u, 6=y or wildcard). The second tells you whether the vowel will be long or short (odd numbers=long sounds, even numbers=short sounds). Roll the die and start the countdown. You have 15 seconds to come up with a word that fits your roll, and it can’t have been used before in the game.
Example: Player one rolls a 3 and a 1. That means they need to come up with a word that has a long i sound in it, such as “smile” or “mine.”
9. Vowel Sound Bingo
Make bingo cards with vowel sounds in each block, like “long a” or “short u.” Older students can include vowel teams, too. Then, call out a one-syllable word. Players determine the vowel sound and mark it off on their card. First to complete a row across, down, or diagonally wins!
10. Vowel Hop
Grab some sidewalk chalk and head outside for a Vowel Hop! Write vowels in circles and squares in a random pattern, close enough to hop from one to another. Circles are for long vowels, and squares are for short vowels. Now, call out a word. The player identifies the vowel sound and hops to the right circle or square. Continue calling out words and hopping for as long as you and your child would like!
11. Vowel Circle
This one works best with at least five children (10 is even better), all sitting in a circle. Give each child a big card with a vowel on it (if you have 10 players, give half your players long vowel cards and half short vowel cards). Read out a one-syllable word like “chip” or “bone.” The player holding the right card (short i or long o) raises it up high and comes to the middle, and everyone repeats the word together. Continue with more words so everyone has at least one turn.
12. Vowel Scavenger Hunt
Write vowel sounds (“long i,” “short o,” etc.) on note cards. Mix them up and pull one at random. Race to be the first to find an item nearby that uses that vowel sound. You can play this indoors and out!
13. Long and Short Vowel Sort
Create a chart with two columns, one labeled “long” and one labeled “short.” Then, pull out one of your favorite books to read together. Begin reading the story, taking time to stop and note words with long or short vowels. Write them in the correct spots on the chart. Continue this for a page or two or for the entire story.
14. Vowel Sounds Charades
Play just like regular charades but use words that fit the vowel sound or sounds you’re working on. So, if you’re currently focused on long and short o sounds, you might act out “boat” or “hopscotch.”
15. Rhyming Vowel Poems
Rhymes are a wonderful way to practice vowel sounds. Create silly rhyming poems, paying special attention to the matching vowel sounds in the rhyming words. Try creating poems that focus on a specific vowel sound or use mostly short (or long) vowel sounds.
16. Vowel Team Word Ladders
This is a challenging yet fun vowel teams game. Start with a word containing a vowel team, and write it at the top of the page. Then, change one consonant to create a different word. Continue down the page as long as you can without repeating words.
Example:
FAIL
RAIL
RAIN
GAIN
17. Vowel Stories
Here’s a real challenge: Choose a vowel sound, then try to tell or write a short story that uses that sound as many times as possible. Turn it into a competition between multiple players or just have fun making up stories together.
18. 21 Questions with Vowels
One player thinks of a word, and others try to guess by asking questions about the vowels. Once you’ve narrowed down the vowel sound(s), players can ask other types of questions to determine the right answer. For more advanced students, try using multisyllabic words with more than one vowel sound in them!
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