If your students light up when learning feels like a game, this Long Vowel A I Spy Flip Board Game will quickly become a classroom favorite.
This hands-on phonics activity turns practice with CVCe words and vowel teams into a fast-paced, visual race that builds reading confidence, strengthens vocabulary, and keeps kids engaged from start to finish.
With bright, colorful illustrations, multiple ways to play, and built-in differentiation, this game is perfect for literacy centers, small group work, speech therapy, occupational therapy, ESL/ELL instruction, and homeschool learning.
Whether you’re targeting long vowel A recognition, articulation goals, or visual scanning skills, students will be learning without even realizing it!
What’s Included in the Long Vowel A I Spy Board Game Set?
10 full-color I Spy game boards featuring a variety of playful, engaging illustrations
20 printable star tokens to award winners or track points
Step-by-step teacher instructions for quick prep and multiple game variations
Each board is filled with clear, easy-to-recognize pictures to reinforce long vowel A words through repeated exposure and meaningful play.
Primary Skills Reinforced
Long Vowel A Recognition – Identify and match words with the long vowel A sound in CVCe words, vowel team words, and two-syllable words.
Phonemic Awareness & Decoding – Strengthen the ability to segment and blend words with long vowel A patterns.
Visual Discrimination – Build attention to detail as students scan the board for matching images.
Vocabulary Development – Expand both expressive and receptive language skills by connecting words to visuals.
Secondary Skills (SEL + Life Skills)
Turn-Taking & Cooperation – Build patience and positive peer interaction during small group play.
Communication Skills – Encourage students to name, describe, and use target words in sentences.
Focus & Attention – Keep learners engaged in a motivating, goal-driven game.
The Long Vowel 'A' Words I Spy Board Games are Perfect For:
Literacy or math center warm-ups – Use the game to kick off your small group time with a high-energy activity that gets kids thinking and engaged before diving into lessons.
RTI or small group work – Great for targeted practice! The visual discrimination and vocabulary connection make it ideal for intervention groups needing focused support.
Early finishers or rainy day fun – Keep those fast finishers busy (and happy!) with a meaningful game that reinforces skills without feeling like extra work.
Homeschool learning – Easy to prep and reuse, it adds hands-on play to your homeschool routine while supporting visual perception, attention, and vocabulary.
ELL students – The visual clues and image-to-word matching are perfect for supporting English Language Learners as they build vocabulary and connect words to real-world objects.
How to Play the Long Vowel 'A' I Spy Game:
Prep your materials: Print the long vowel 'a' word image cards, I Spy game boards, and token cards. Laminate for long-term use and cut the pieces.
Set it up: Choose one long Vowel 'A' I Spy game board and place it in the center. Deal image cards to each player.
Flip and find: All players flip one word card at a time and race to find the matching image on the board.
Win a token: The first player to spot the correct image wins a token!
Repeat and play again: Keep flipping and matching until all cards are used. The player with the most tokens wins!
Additional Ways to Use the Long Vowel 'A' I Spy Game:
Independent Play: Give one student an I Spy game board and the full stack of word cards. They flip each long vowel 'A' word card, find the image, and cover it with a mini eraser or token. This builds visual focus and word recognition independently.
Parallel Play: Two players use separate I Spy game boards and take turns flipping and matching their own words cards at their own pace. Great for learners who need personal space or are just beginning to engage in group activities.
These options make the game even more flexible... perfect for classroom differentiation, therapy settings, or adapting to students’ emotional and developmental needs.
Perfect For:
This I Spy Long Vowel 'A' game is super versatile and fits easily into a variety of classroom and at-home routines.
Literacy centers and guided reading warm-ups
RTI and small group interventions
Speech therapy articulation games
Occupational therapy visual scanning practice
ESL/ELL vocabulary reinforcement
Homeschool morning baskets
Early finisher activities
Sub tub plans or no-prep day fillers
Rainy day or indoor recess fun
Simply print, laminate, cut, and go! The small storage size makes it super easy to keep everything in one place.
Standards Alignment:
✔ Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
K.2A / 1.2A – Demonstrate phonological awareness by identifying and producing spoken words with the same initial, medial, and final sounds.
K.2B / 1.2B – Demonstrate and apply phonetic knowledge by decoding words with common spelling patterns, including CVCe and vowel teams.
K.2E / 1.2E – Decode and spell words using knowledge of letter-sound correspondences.
K.6D / 1.6D – Discuss the meanings of new words and use them in oral and written communication.
✔ Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL)
K.4a / 1.5a – Identify, produce, and manipulate beginning, medial, and ending sounds in spoken words.
K.5a / 1.6a – Apply knowledge of letter-sound relationships to decode and encode words, including those with CVCe patterns and vowel digraphs.
K.7 / 1.7 – Expand vocabulary by discussing meanings of words and using them in speaking and writing.
K.1b / 1.1b – Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners in small and large groups.
✔ Common Core ELA Standards:
RF.K.2d – Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in three-phoneme words.
RF.K.3a – Produce the most frequent sound for each consonant and vowel.
SL.K.1a – Participate in collaborative conversations with peers and adults.
L.K.6 – Use acquired words and phrases through conversations and reading activities.
Check out what other educators are saying:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Christine H. wrote: “I used this as a vocabulary game with my RTI group. It was great to have new types of words… and a good tool to see which students could grasp words and images quickly.”
This Long Vowel 'A' I Spy Game is phonics practice that doesn’t feel like work!
Let your students play their way into early reading success while strengthening social-emotional skills, visual scanning, and decoding... all with one fun and flexible game.
📥 Download Info:
This is a digital download: no physical items will be shipped.
I love the "Flip" activities. They're always colorful and engaging. These activities reinforce childrens use of language, labeling, identifying of vocabulary associated with specific themes. My students in the past have loved the Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall flip, so when I wanted to update my beginning of the school year activities I happened to find the September themed one and knew I had to purchase it. I laminate my mats and have the kids cover the images with colored small or large game chips, vase jewels or playdough. If the images on the mats are too busyi make sure to uave extra copies for the kids to engage in matching the images. The kids love it!
I am greatly appreciative of this content. I have developmentally delayed preschool baby 3-5 year olds and this really is helping them a lot. I wish I had pictures, but I don't yet.
Great game. My students love it and my kids at home. Lots of fun times playing this game. I love the variety in boards. My suggestion for customers is to print it on cardstock so you can't see through the cards.
My kindergarten students are using these clip cards as a review activity in our morning bins. This is a fun review activity that also helps build fine motor skills.