Short Vowel Sounds and the "I Spy" Game

Welcome to Read Not Guess. Today we're going to work on short vowel sounds and then sound out a few words. At the end, I’ll leave you with a suggestion for a game to play to reinforce what your kids are learning.

Let’s get started.

Short Vowel Sounds

Kids often struggle with different vowel sounds. See if they can nail these words with short vowel sounds:

ad

bad

mad

sad

had

Now these:

ed

fed

red

led

Ted

And these:

ig

rig

dig

big

pig

And:

od

pod

god

nod

rod

Now these:

ud

bud

sud

mud

dud

Word Practice

Now we’re going to work on “blending” letter sounds into words. Your child can start slowly by saying each sound individually, but each time, they should try to say it just a bit faster.

Ask your child to say the correct sounds as they point to the letters:

l i p

l ip

lip

And:

l e g

l eg

leg

And

s l i p

s l ip

slip

And:

t e ll

t ell

tell

Last one:

b u zz

b uzz

buzz

Overnight Challenge: Play “I Spy…” With Letter Sounds

Try playing the classic “I Spy…” game with your child using letter sounds. One person might start by saying, “I spy with my little eye, something that starts with the “sss” sound.”

The other person has to guess things they see that start with the “sss” sound, like sofa or stairs. Once they guess correctly, switch roles and start with a new word.

This game is a good time waster at the dinner table, a restaurant, or waiting in line. (It doesn't work as well when you're in a car or walking around.)

That’s it for this today. We’ll see you next time.