Finding grammar activities that are fun and engaging is important. Why? Because I have friends (grown adults, mind you) who still crab about the time they had to learn the parts of speech and then diagram sentences. I mean these are people who are decades out of school, yet they continue to remember those experiences negatively. And, kind of like I used to say after geometry class, they wail, “Why did we even have to learn that? When will we ever use that?”
Ok. They may not realize it, but the answer is daily… like every time we speak and write.
And, admittedly, yes… I do use geometry from time to time.
FUN WAYS TO PRACTICE PARTS OF SPEECH
We’ve been working on different parts of speech lately, specifically nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Understanding these different words doesn’t have to be complicated, at least not at the K-2 stage. In fact, it isn’t a lot different than the thinking required for other sorting activities we do throughout the year.
Our main goal is to make it fun. If, at first, the instruction is active and engaging, we have way less resistance when we begin to practice using worksheets.
What we love about these grammar activities is that they’re so doable. Not only are they perfect for classroom plans, but many of them can be done at home with family members. Pick your favorites and share them in your next parent newsletter or during Family Literacy Night.
GRAMMAR GAMES AND ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS
- NOUN HUNT: Create a SCAVENGER HUNT where children search for objects around the classroom or house… it can even be done outside on a nice day. They can label the objects they find, reviewing nouns along the way!
- STORY BUILDING BLOCKS: Use blocks with parts of speech written on them (such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, etc.) and challenge children to combine the blocks to build complete sentences.
- NATURE ADJECTIVE WALK: Take a nature walk and encourage the children to describe what they see using adjectives.
- VERB CHARADES: Play a game of charades where children act out different actions. Others guess the verb based on their actions. We have a set of GAME CARDS in this resource for K-1 teachers, but you can easily make a set by writing verbs on slips of paper.
- VERB SNOWBALL TOSS: We LOVE this grammar activity! Write verbs on copy paper (one word per sheet) and crumple them to make “snowballs.” Have children toss their snowballs to each other and act out the verb they catch.
- VERB FREEZE DANCE: Who doesn’t love a freeze dance?! Play music and let children dance. Every now and then, pause the music, call out a verb, and have the children freeze in a pose representing that action.
- MAD LIBS: Who remembers Mad Libs? We loved doing these on long road trips. Now they make a version that’s perfect for younger kids, MAD LIBS JUNIOR. After the kids fill in the blanks with the prompted parts of speech, they can read the silly stories together!
- ADJECTIVE RAINBOW HUNT: Give each child a color word and have them find an object in the room that matches the color they were given. As each child shares their object, challenge them to describe it using additional adjectives.
- NOUN SORTING BOX: Provide a box of mixed objects. See if the children can sort the objects into groups based on different criteria, such as animals, toys, food, clothing, school supplies, etc.
- ADJECTIVE MYSTERY BAG: Fill a bag with various objects. Without looking, children take turns reaching in and describing one object using adjectives. When they are done, let children guess what the object is.
WHEN THEY’RE READY TO START WRITING
After setting the foundation with grammar activities, we move to PRINTABLE RESOURCES for continued skill practice. Worksheets don’t have to be dull. When possible, we tend to use paper activities that are open-ended and allow for unique responses from each child.
And we love anything that looks like a book! These little books define each part of speech for our students, but double as GRAMMAR WORKBOOKS too.👇
Some of the pages define and explain the terms and others are interactive, providing spaces for children to think and respond in writing.
(Sample Pages from “What Are Nouns?”)
(Interactive Page Samples from “What Are Verbs?”)
Something about these feels less like a worksheet and more like a fun little book the kids can keep and read over and over again. Plus, they can color the pictures… and we all know that’s a bonus for most kids.
GRAMMAR WORKSHEETS
Obviously there’s a time and place for WORKSHEETS. Practicing skills is one way we learn, so we sprinkle them around here and there. There are so many contexts for worksheets… whole group instruction, small group remediation, or as assessment pieces to see how we’re doing and what needs to be retaught.
OTHER GRAMMAR ACTIVITIES & RESOURCES
To round things out, we always look for children’s books, songs, and simple games to supplement our teaching. If you take a look online, you can find a variety of grammar songs by groups like TeacherTube Studios, Jack Hartmann Kids Music Channel, Grammaropolis, and MC Grammar.
For a few children’s books, check out Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What Is an Adjective? by Brian P. Cleary, If You Were a Noun by Michael Dahl, and It’s Hard to Be a Verb! by Julia Cook. Many of these books are part of a larger series covering many different parts of speech, so if you prefer one of these authors or series over another, know that you can get a cohesive set.
And finally, don’t forget to prep a few games. Each set in my shop includes simple games like Bingo, Memory Cards, and Trading Cards like the ones pictured below.👇 You can print them in color, but a less expensive option is to print black and white copies on brightly colored paper. By laminating them, you can be almost sure they’ll last a long time.😂
Until next time, happy teaching!
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