10 Long vowel activities that you'll love!
I’ve been talking to lots of parents and teachers lately about what kids are stuck on or struggling with. One of the common themes that I’ve been hearing lately is that their kids are stuck on those tricky long vowels and double vowels. Howww do I help them differentiate between “ee” and “oo”? When should they learn this? I decided it was time to write a short blog on fun, easy long vowel activities that will not help kids, but they’re fun! Making things fun is SO important in children’s long term growth. I’m not saying stand on top of a table, hang upside down and dance, kind of activities. The activities that I do with kids are simple, easy to prepare and less stress for all!
Long Vowel Spring Flowers:
Okay this is a fun one and my kids LOVE this one! You can really adapt it for any season (trees, rain, snow, etc) and being a not-so-good artist, I like to keep things simple. For this activity, have a few long vowels that the child(ren) are working on. Write them down at the top. For a bit more structure, and then draw the flowers. Inside each petal, kids write the long vowels! Easy peasy.
Fill In The Blank
Using a white board/dry-erase board, write down a few words that the child is working on! I especially love dry-erase boards because you can use them for anything and they’re fairly inexpensive. This one was from the dollar store! If this is too complicated and/or advanced, work on ONE long vowel at a time. So brainstorm words together that have the “oo” in the middle and then write them down with the child.
Long and short vowel comparison
This is always an all-time favourite for me because it works on multiple skills like:
- Reading the words, which is always a great review.
- Sorting the words helps kids differentiate between the words. It’s sometimes tricky and/or confusing for kids when they see similar words. They may be in the habit of memorizing the words and this is a habit we need to break!
Long vowel worksheets
I am a firm believer that kids need to learn by doing and worksheets should be used after they’ve learned a concept and sporadically. I do think though, that worksheets can be beneficial! These worksheets that I’ve created are made using the skills and knowledge i have learned through multiple reading programs as well as trial and error with hundreds of students. why am I telling you this? Well, because these long vowel worksheets work on fundamental skills through phonics and phonological awareness!
