Many words describing physical actions include short vowel sounds. Use this Simon Says-type game to test students' knowledge of the difference between short and long vowel sounds. While students sit in a circle, call out a word such as stand, hop, smile, stretch, sit or sleep. If the word includes a short vowel sound, students complete the action. If the vowel sound is long, they remain seated.
Turn reading into a hands-on activity emphasizing short vowel sounds by incorporating clapping and repetition into songs or short poems. Nursery rhymes, especially Dr. Seuss books, are excellent tools for this. Read one line of the rhyme and instruct the students to repeat it. If the line contains rhyming short vowel sounds, the children clap and repeat it a second time.
Send active children on a treasure hunt around the house or classroom to find items containing short vowel sounds (hide any breakables). Give each child a bag or basket and set a time limit. When children return from the treasure hunt, they display and identify each item. Encourage them to collect hats, cups, mitts, pencils, cans, bottles and snacks as things that have short vowel sounds in their names.
An easy arts and crafts activity to teach short vowel sounds requires magazines, catalogs, safety scissors, glue and construction paper. Each child cuts out pictures of things that have a short vowel sound. Challenge children by assigning one vowel to each child or split a class into groups to work on each letter.