Looking for a phonics game that actually gets your kids excited to learn?
This Short Vowel I I Spy Flip Board Game transforms phonics and vocabulary practice into a fast-paced visual race your students won’t want to stop playing!
Whether you’re introducing short vowel I words or reinforcing them through targeted practice, this sensory-friendly board game helps learners master short vowel sounds while strengthening visual discrimination, vocabulary, and expressive language.
With clear, colorful images and multiple play options, it's ideal for your literacy centers, ESL/ELL students, speech therapy sessions, and those wiggly early finishers.
What’s Included in the Short Vowel I I Spy Game
10 I Spy game boards featuring fun, high-interest scenes
40 short vowel I image cards (words like ill, fig, inch, pink, swing)
20 printable star token cards for keeping score
Simple teacher directions with flexible game variations
Each board is packed with picture-word matches that emphasize both beginning sounds and medial short I sounds... perfect for practicing CVC, CCVC, and even some two-syllable vocabulary in an engaging way.
Primary Academic Skills Targeted:
Short Vowel I Phonics
Reinforces the /i/ sound in beginning and medial positions
Supports decoding of CVC and CCVC short I words
Phonemic Awareness & Decoding
Segmenting and blending practice as kids connect sounds to visuals
Encourages recognition of short I vowel sounds in different word structures
Visual Discrimination
Kids must carefully scan busy boards to match pictures
Great for boosting attention to detail
Vocabulary & Oral Language
Helps expand receptive and expressive vocabulary
Encourages discussion and sentence generation with target words
Secondary Life Skills & SEL:
Turn-Taking & Cooperation
Practice social skills while playing together
Self-Regulation & Focus
Game structure helps learners practice patience and maintain attention
Flexible Communication Practice
Great for encouraging speech and expressive language, especially in therapy settings
The Short Vowel 'I' 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 I Spy Flip Game:
Prep: Print, laminate, and cut the cards, boards, and tokens.
Set Up: Choose one game board and give each student a small deck of image cards.
Flip: Everyone flips one card at the same time.
Spy: Players race to find the matching image on the board.
Win a Token: First to find their image earns a token!
Repeat: Keep playing until all cards are matched. The player with the most tokens wins!
Additional Play Options
Independent Play: Let students match the full deck of short vowel I cards to a single board. They can cover each image with a mini eraser or token to mark matches.
Parallel Play: Use two boards side by side for quiet partner practice. Each player flips a card and finds the match on their own board.
Therapy Adaptations: Use in speech therapy or occupational therapy to target articulation of short I words or visual-motor skills like pointing, scanning, and tracking.
Perfect For:
This I Spy Short Vowel 'I' 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 Pre-K Guidelines
Supports phonological awareness, vocabulary development, and cooperative play through interactive learning.
✔ Virginia ELDS
Builds sustained attention, early language skills, and social communication.
✔ Common Core ELA Standards
RF.K.2d: Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds
RF.K.3a: Demonstrate basic knowledge of short vowel sound correspondences
SL.K.1a: Participate in collaborative conversations with peers and adults
L.K.6: Use acquired vocabulary through play and discussion
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.”
Keep Building Phonics Skills Through Play
This Short Vowel 'I' I Spy game isn’t just a literacy center... it’s a game your students will beg to play again and again!
Add it to your literacy stations, sub plans, or intervention kits for a low-prep tool that’s packed with high-impact learning.
You’ll love how easy it is to implement and your students will love how fun it is to play!
📥 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.