For the “short” sound of “u” I told a stoy about a baby who wanted to be picked up, and he held his arms up and said “uh”.

For “q” I used the sound of the wind making strange sounds in a storm.

“N” is a tough one. How about the sound someone would make if something is hurting?

You may be able to think of a similar story if these won’t work for you,

I hope these help and that you get more suggestions.

n – nose, nut

q – queen, quilt

u – up (arrow pointing up)

I made a sound sheet for my low reading group of first graders. It had each letter with a sound picture. We recited it daily and it worked really well. Once the kids have a sound/picture associated with the picture, they have a better chance of learning the sound of the letter.

Ok–I just read the addition to your question.

I’m not sure about the i but the n could be a long nnnnnnnnnn sound before a child yells NO! Q could be associated with the quack of a duck and the u could be the uh, uh, uh before the choo when someone sneezes.

Do you mean short or long vowel sounds? Do you want a word or a machine or animal that makes the sound the letter represents? Many letters have more than one sound. I really cannot tell what you are talking about.

Q does not have a sound of its own. Q either sounds like K, as in clique, or like KW, as in quick.

I – ??

N – ??

O – Ouch, Owl sound,

Q – Quack,

U – Uh-oh sound (every child would be familar with this sound)

Noisy Nodosaurus (this is a dinosaur) says, “No, no, no!”

Quivering Quail

Ukulele Under an Umbrella