Use pictures to help students create a memory association with a vowel sound. To begin, choose a skill focus for your game, such as the short "a" and short "e" vowel sounds. Choose pictures of items that correspond to the short vowel sounds and that are easy to remember, such as an or an egg. Show students the pictures and practice saying the vowel sounds and words. Say the letter name, the word that corresponds to the picture and the vowel sound. Ask students to identify and say the letter name, the word that corresponds to the picture, and the vowel sound.
Compile a list of words that focus on a vowel sound and include some words that do not. Provide students with a list of the words -- write them on a big sheet of paper, a board or a photocopied sheet. Read some or all of the words together. Ask students to organize the words into appropriate groups. For example, students will group words with a short "a" sound and words with a short "e" sound., leaving aside words that don't fit in either category.
Give students marker boards, markers and erasers or ask students to write on paper. Ask students to write words from your list of target skill words several times in a variety of ways. For example, say "write 'apple' at the top of your board"; "write 'apple' really big in the middle of your board"; "write 'apple' tiny in the lower right hand corner": or "write 'apple' as fast as you can."
Making words challenges students to apply skills to produce language. Use magnetic letters, blocks or marker boards and ask students to change the final consonant, the initial consonant or both consonants in a word to make rhyming words. For example, ask students to write the word "pat." Say, "change the 'p' to a 'c' to make a new word." Make this task more difficult by saying, "change one letter to a 'c' to make a new word." Or ask students to change the vowel to make a new word.