Apple Long A Sound Game with ei Vowel Team

Practice long a words that are spelled witht he ei vowel team with this super cute, free printable Roll and Color Apples Game! This ei sound phonics activity is a great way to help first grade students practice all the different spellings of long a vowels.

ei vowel team

If you want your little one to be familiar with all the ways to make the long a sound, this “ei” roll and color game is a fun way to practice the words where the “ei” makes the long a sound. This month we have been working on ways to make the long a sound. We have learned that there are so many ways to make the long a sound. There are common ways, like ai (rain) and ay (pray). And there are the not-so-common ways like “ea” (great) and ey (obey).

This week we are working on the “ei”. For some reason, this has been a tricky one for my little girl. And she has needed a lot more support as we maneuvered through this lesson. So a fun game that also focuses on fine motor skills (if you choose to have them color the apple tree), was a needed break from the grueling task of mastering this sound.

“ei” Makes the Long A Sound

Many of you may remember growing up with the rhyme, “i before e, except after c, and in words like neighbor and weigh.” Well, today we get to focus on the part that says, “in words like neighbor and weigh”

You may notice that both those words have the “eigh”. And that is true, words that have “eigh” make the long a sound. But you will also see that words with just “ei” make the long a sound too.

Some are more common words, and others may need a little explanation. Here are a couple of fun ones that your child may need help understanding.

vein – We have veins in our body that carry blood toward the heart.
rein – Be sure to rein in your spending.
reign – Peter reigned over Narina in The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe.
feign – In basketball, the offense fell for the defense’s feign.
neigh – Did you hear the horse neigh while we were in the field.
deign – Will the king deign to make an appearance at our party?
veil – The bride looked for the perfect veil to complement her dress.
beige – The uniform requires you to wear beige pants.

ei Sound Phonics

This requires very little work before it is ready to use.

First, print off the pages you want to use.
Next, get some crayons or Do-A-Dot markers.
Finally, get a die.

And you are ready to go.

ei Words

Playing this “ei” game is super easy. Have player 1 roll the die. Whatever number the die lands on, they will find that number on one of the apples in the apple tree. For example, if the die lands on 1, then they would find the 1 on an apple and reads that word. For one of the appletrees that is heirloom.

Player 2 then rolls and repeats the same process.

The same pattern continues, roll, read, and color (or dot) until one player has colored in all of the apples.

It is that simple to play this “ei” game that gets children reading “long a” words.

Long A Vowels

If you are looking for more ways to work on reading and spelling long a words, we have a lot of free printable worksheets and activities to make it easy. There are lots of common Ways to Make the “Long A” Sound, so I’ve seperated printables and games by spelling on long a phonics words. Identifying long and short vowel sounds worksheets pdf