Short Vowel Sounds Board Game

So I've noticed something. When I work with my son and volunteer in his alternative kindergarten class, those darn vowel sounds are tough for kiddos to remember. Since the teacher has been working on letter sounds using Jolly Phonics, I thought a little game might help reinforce what he's been learning in school.

This game uses the short vowel sounds only. I had the five Jolly Phonics songs (and tunes) written down to help me remind my son as we played. 

If you're unfamiliar with Jolly Phonics, simply search YouTube for "Jolly Phonics a," "Jolly Phonics e," etc. Each letter sound has a short song to sing to help remember its sound, along with an action to complete while singing. It's terribly effective for kinesthetic learners. And let's face it, music is a great way to memorize things (just think of the alphabet song!). 

To play the short vowel sounds board game, you'll need two pages of heavyweight cardstock, onto which you'll print my free 2-page PDF (download it free from Google Drive here). 

Cut, fold, and glue the 10-sided die together (I scored the lines with the backend of a butter knife and used a hot glue gun). 

The die features two pictures for each vowel:
A - apple, anchor
E - egg, envelope
I - igloo, ink
O - octopus, ostrich
U - umbrella, underwear

Find small but different items to use as game pieces. We used two oversized buttons. LEGO minifigures, a penny and a dime, or Monopoly pieces would work perfectly too.

How to Play
The youngest player rolls the die. Whatever picture lands up, they must identify the object, and listening carefully to the beginning sound, identify the first letter of the word. Once this is accomplished, they move their game piece to the first occurrence of that letter on the game board. 

The next player takes a turn. The first player to get to the last letter on the board is declared the winner!