8 Free Short Vowel and CVC Online Games for Desktop and Classroom…

This has been updated in light of a certain global pandemic that has swept all over us. Hoping these simple CVC and Short Vowel online games help you if your in, or even out, of the classroom at the moment.

Following on from the selection of rhyming games post a few weeks ago I have put together a list of short vowels and phonic CVC online games for teachers to be able to easily access in lessons. There are three of mine on there, mainly because, I hope not arrogantly, it seems there are a lot of older games out there that are starting to look very dated. I will let you judge that for yourselves. It has however inspired me to make some more to try to get some better ones out there.

We also have articles on the best games for other English and Phonics subjects as well. These include:

• Best FREE Online Sentence Games
• Best FREE Online Digraph Games
• Best FREE Online Short Vowels Games
• Best FREE Online Long Vowels Games
• Best FREE Online Rhyming Games

Also as something to note depending when you access this page, the majority of games online like this use Flash, which will cease to work at the end of this year (2020). Mine are built in HTML5 (that doesn’t have to mean anything to you) but it does mean they will work beyond this year. I will revisit this page at the end of this year and double check links. However if you discover one has disappeared just leave a note in the comments and I will get it. If we can keep this up to date it can be a useful resource for all of us!

Word / Phonics Hop and Pop – Making English Fun

Press the picture for the video example.

Play it online here

Well this is mine so of course its fantastic, at least in my mind. I made it originally as a mobile app, which it still is on both Apple and Android. However i have made an online version with out those pesky ads and uploaded to itch.io. At some point when I work out how I will host it here. You have two games in this, Panda Pop and Birdy Hop ( excuse the names) but before you get to play both you have the choice of what kind of words you would like. I have made 9 different categories, ABC, CVC, Blends, WhChSh, Syllables, Sight Words 1 and 2, Magic E and Vowels. You click on that and then you can go to the game with just those words

Panda pop is easier, it is pop the floating words that are displayed so it can help to build confidence with young learners. Birdy Hop is a little more complex. They have to listen to the word and jump to the correct cloud. I have made a video at the top of this with strummy guitar music so you can check that out as well. I think it works well and i do use it in my school, the online version is well received.

CVC Maker – Making English Fun

I made this a few months ago and it was made to be simple. one button press, brings up three letters to make a CVC word. As it is automated it does bring up a mix of nonsense words and real words and this is by design. I want to know students can put the sounds together, not just say the the words they have memorised. To help with this , i have taken out the vowels from the last box so it will only make CVC words.

As an extra i have also put it online as an app on google for free ( no adverts) and there is even a PC version so you can put in to a laptop or use it if the WiFi goes out. There is a video link in case you want to see it in action on the picture.

PLAY CVC MAKER ONLINE HERE

hope its helpful! Oh one word, it will half work on your phone ( use the app if you want to) but it will work on your PC for those zoom lessons 🙂

Short Vowels from Turtle Diary

This is both a pretty and pretty useful game. It asks students to listen and then find the medial vowel to complete the word. It has pictorial clues as well as the spoken word, however the voice could certainly be clearer. It is big enough to be played with a projector and a white board. It also has two levels the first asking you to listen and put the vowel in and the second asking which vowel completes the word. It is one of the better ones out there for CVC, Vowels and Phonics. It is not just CVC though, it uses words like clock, cash and dust. Just as a heads up.

https://www.turtlediary.com/game/short-vowels.html

CVC Maker – Crickweb

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1literacy.html#cvcmaker

This is a useful tool for changing the onset and rime of words and to teach rhyming words as well. It allows teachers to change the letters and ask the students to decode the word. It is a flash game so may disappear later in the year, so i am looking to make something similar but a little more updated. Once i have done i will post it here. It has some functionality but i use it mainly as a CVC generator.

CVC Games – Fun Phonics.

https://www.funfonix.com/games/book1menu.php

This is a basic but functional set of games. It has a spelling test, with nice sounding out of the sounds. Students have to spell the word to progress, it also has a matching game with word to picture which words pretty well. It is basic looking and on flash however so it remains to be seen if it is around next year.

CVC Blitz – Making English Fun

https://making-english-fun.itch.io/3-cvc-games

Is it bad to put my own games in these type of lists? I don’t know actually, what i do know is that i did actually make them as i couldn’t find ones that suited by purpose and what i needed as a teacher. I put that down to, with no research at all though, the fact that there were not very many Teachers who could make mobile apps or HTML games. Now I’m no expert but i can put together something simple. Which is exactly what i have done here. Three games, a matching picture to words, a quiz that has some long vowel in it but it mostly CVC, and a scrambled CVC game. This is very popular in the USA as an app, i guess for Kindergarten so I’m grateful for that. but it is simple, which in a classroom is a plus point. Again, i have a video of the game play so you can check it out and at some point i will host it on my site, rather than someone elses. I also use this in my year one classes. This again is on Apple for free.

CVC Scramble – Making English Fun.

https://making-english-fun.itch.io/cvc-word-scramble

SO this is the last one of mine, and it is a remake of a sentence game i have but with three letter words. Students can have a text hint, a picture hint or a timed mode. They have to rearrange the letters to spell the correct CVC word. It is helpful, in a classroom setting the students watching will shout out the word and be actively engaged while a student plays. Just to be clear though all my phonics games are actually free on Android ( with ads cos you know I gotta eat!) For the life of me i can’t actually remember why it is not on Apple! So if you want a more personal experience for them you can get it for free on Android at least as well. This is the simplest game i have made.

Starfall – Learn to Read.

https://www.starfall.com/h/ltr-classic/

This app is awesome, it has online big board readers for students ( the app is paid) but online its free. So you can run a reading session with Short Vowel Phonics and they also incorporate games that use words from the stories. They go all the way through from AEIOU to the longer vowels and r controlled vowels as well. It really is a good resource for emerging readers and phonics instruction. I use this more than i use my own! As i said the app is paid and has more to it than the online version but the online version is just great as well. The video is from the app, I will make a website screen one later.

If you know of any other decent games please leave a note in the comments and i can add them up here. I aim for this to be a resource so we don’t have to wade through Google every time.

About the Author

Hi I’m Marc. A teacher of over 15 years, mostly English but dabbled in outdoor pursuits and media. Thought is was about time to sharing both what I have learnt during that time and the resources I have put together. On this site we aim to teach the theory and share our thoughts, but also go that one step further and give you access to the hard resources you need for your class or for you children. Feel free to take a look at our resources, email us on info@makingenglishfuncom.wpcomstaging.com, or jump on the Facebook group to ask questions. Happy learning, teaching or playing!

Post by Marc of Making English Fun