Short U Charades is a fun short vowel U game that will help your young reader learn to read short u words so easily that he will barely even know he is practicing! My kids and I enjoy playing this short vowel U game together. Even the ones who are already fluent readers like to get in on the action! This short U phonics game not only helps your child learn to read by practicing basic phonics, but it can also be a great way to nurture your relationship with your child because it is playful and fun. In this post, I will give you the free printable Short U Charades cards and explain how to use the game to help your child learn to read short U words. Read on for the instructions and the free printable.
Is Your Child Ready to Play Short U Words Charades?
Once your child has begun to develop phonemic awareness and has learned all the most common letter sounds (the consonant sounds and the short vowel sounds) she may be ready for the next step to learning to read. The next step is learning to sound out words that are made with short vowels. Every vowel makes several different sounds, and the short sound is the most common sound of a vowel. Once your child is ready to try sounding out words, you will want to begin with simple words with short vowel sounds, specifically CVC words.
CVC words are single-syllable words that follow the spelling pattern of consonant, then a short vowel, then a consonant. An example of a CVC word with a short U sound is the word cup. Cup begins with a consonant (letter c), then comes a vowel in the middle of the word (letter u), and there is another consonant at the end (letter p).
There are lots of different ways you can practice sounding out short U words, and I like to use as many fun ways as I can, rather than having my children do a phonics worksheet or practice with flash cards. There is nothing wrong with phonics worksheets and flash cards – my kids really like doing them sometimes! But, children learn really well through play and they also have a positive association with learning when they play to learn. Children also progress in their learning in a very short time with play based learning. With that in mind, I’d like to share a really simple and fun game that you can use to help your child practice sounding out short u CVC words. Young readers will love practicing reading short U sound words with this fun phonics game!
Materials Needed for Short U Words Charades:
You only need a few simple materials to prepare short U words charades:
- a set of Short U Charades cards for each person who will play the game
- sturdy cardstock to print the cards on
- scissors or a paper cutter
- a laminator – this is optional, but I highly recommend laminating the cards for durability if you are able to
- Here is the free printable:
Preparing the Short Vowel U Charades Game:
- Print the Short U Words Charades cards – you need one set for each person who will play the game. You will want to print the cards on a sturdy cardstock.
- Laminate (optional) and cut out the short U sound words cards. I really recommend laminating them if you can, so that the cards will be durable enough for multiple uses, and for use by multiple children, if you have multiple children with whom you plan to practice reading skills.
Practice Reading Short U Sound Words
- Remind your child of the short U sound (the short U vowel sound is the first sound in the word up and the sound in the middle of the word tug. Remind your child that the letter “U” can make a few different sounds, but that the short vowel sounds are the most common vowel sounds.
- Practice sounding out a few short vowel U words, such as words from the following short u word families: up, cup, pup or tug, rug, dug, bug, mug, hug, pug. I recommend using a moveable alphabet of some kind for this, and allowing your child to place the letters. Magnet letters or letter tiles work great for this. Engaging your child’s senses goes a long way in helping your child engage his brain and makes learning fun!
- Guide your child in spelling short U sound words with his letters. Ask him to try sounding out the words. Help him as much as he needs.
- If your child is having trouble, you can start with the last two letters – letter u and letter p, for example. Ask your child to make the sound of each letter, then have your child put the two letter sounds together. When she can blend the sounds successfully and read “up” add a letter to the beginning of “up” to make the rest of the word. Add letter p to the beginning, for example, to make the word pup. ask your child to try sounding out the word with the consonant added. You can use a moveable alphabet or fridge magnets and switch the consonant at the beginning of the word to make a new word – change pup to cup, for example.
When your child feels somewhat comfortable sounding out the short u sound words, you can start playing the short U words charades game!
Instructions for Short U Charades
- Explain the game:
- Each player has a set of cards with short U sound words. Each player spreads their cards in front of them.
- On the first player’s turn, all other players close their eyes while he chooses the word card that he wants to act out and puts it face down in front of him. He acts out the word on the card, and the other players look at their cards to find the word he is acting out.
- Encourage your child to be silly and dramatic as he is acting out the short vowel U words – get the excitement and the laughter flowing!
- This game is a sneaky way to motivate your young readers to read simple words, and most of the time they will do it without even realizing that they are reading, especially if you are being silly and dramatic with them!
- When a player thinks they know the correct word, they will make a guess by holding up a word card and saying the word on the card. It is very important that the child says the word – you want to make sure she read the word correctly.
- If she is correct, the matching cards are discarded, and the next player has her turn selecting a word card and acting it out for the other players to guess.
- If you want to make this a competitive game, have the player who guesses correctly keep the matching word cards and see who has the most cards at the end!
You don’t have to spend much time playing Short U Charades (or any phonics game) to see a lot of progress in your child’s reading. In general, I recommend 5-10 minutes a day, and only playing until the child starts to lose interest or get tired. But you will be amazed at how much progress your child will make with just five to ten minutes of practice a day!
*Note: if your child is just beginning to be able to sound out words, you can start with just a few of the charades cards to avoid overwhelming her. Lay out 3-6 cards to begin with, and add more when she is ready for them. If she is having to work really hard at sounding out the words, you can even start with just one or two cards! If your child enjoys this game, you can try out the Short A, Short I, Short E, and Short O charades games as well. You can find the links to these games at the end of the post.
When your child is starting to get a handle on the short vowel sound words, you can mix up the cards from the different word families so that your child can practice different vowel sounds at the same time.
For extra practice sounding out short vowel u and the other short vowel CVC words, you can also try Short Vowel Memory.
When your child has mastered reading short vowel CVC words, it’s time to add some new sounds to your child’s phonics skills – consonant digraphs! You can also start practicing longer words with short u and introduce reading practice through very simple early readers.
I hope you and your child enjoyed this game and that it helped your young reader in her journey to learning to read. Thank you for visiting and feel free to check out my other phonics games and activity ideas for having fun while practicing phonics!
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