24 Fun Verb Activities and Resources for Teaching Verbs INSIDE: 24 Fun and Easy Verb Activities for teaching verb tenses {Plus FREE Printable} I was browsing Pinterest this morning over a cup of coffee looking for a creative way to explore verbs and their three main tenses. With three different ages and stages of grammar going this year, I thought a hands-on craft would be more engaging than a fill in the blank worksheet. It can often be challenging to teach the same concept to kids of different ages and abilities. I find that if I can incorporate scissors, glue and the potential to get ink on their skin, the boys become a captivated audience. Lesson + Scissors = a win, win. Because boys are verbs personified! Younger kids get to cut and paste while listening to a new concept while older kids can exercise their knowledge in a hands-on way. Verb tenses can be overwhelming for kids. FREE Printable: 114 Action Verbs Prinable {freebie} I’m still a firm believer in allowing language to wash over our kids in their read-aloud stories and I don’t make a big deal about things like past, present, and future tenses. Nothing impacts their grasp of the English language better than a well written and engaging story! Language, including the elusive present perfect verb tenses, become a natural part of a child’s vocabulary. What are verb tenses? Grammarly has a great simple explanation of the three verb tenses. Yes, practice makes perfect. As kids get older, well-structured sentences make fantastic copywork or handwriting practice activities, again relying on a story to teach the lesson naturally. Resource: Abeka’s Oral Language Exercises does a fantastic job of modeling confusing language clearly. It takes a little effort, but even learning action verbs can be a fun activity. Fun Hands-on Verb Craft Materials A list of action verbs (you will create this together) 4 colors of construction paper: red, orange, purple, yellow white paper scissors glue markers (each color represents a different tense of a verb) red for the base verb purple for past tense orange for present tense yellow for future tense Brainstorm action verbs together. This is when I remember how much I LOVE my whiteboard and dry erase markers more than Tuesdays… I’ve got nothing against this day of the week, I just love my whiteboard more. Next: Each child picks 6 verbs. Discuss the difference between yesterday, today and tomorrow and identify the different tenses of each of the chose verbs together. Verb Craft Time Full directions included in FREE 114 Action Verbs Prinable {freebie} Preparation: Cut red paper into larger rectangles, about 2 x 3″ Cut purple, orange, and yellow paper into strips, about 3/4″ x 5″ Write each of the base words on the red rectangles Kids write the proper forms of the verbs onto the appropriate strip: purple for past tense, orange for present tense, yellow for future tense. Next, the kids write a sentence for each form of the verb, on the appropriate color. finally, they glue the red square and the strips onto their white paper. One paper for each verb family. See it in action: Watch the video of this verb activity here. My boys liked trying to create unique configurations with their verbs and sentences. Overall it was a success and more fun than the worksheet I have originally planned. The worksheet would have been faster and created less mess, but the kids LOVED this and really learned their verb tenses. I would encourage you to look for crafts and hands-on activities a few times a week to spice things up! Related: Improve your writing with verbs 24 Fun Verb Resources {Printable} Action Verb Craft 114 Action Verbs Prinable {freebie} {Printable} Grammar Task Cards for 2-3rd grade include verb agreement activities I created these task cards to print and carry in my purse for those days when we spent more time in the car than at the kitchen table. Waiting in the doctor’s office? No worries, let’s do a grammar card or two. {Printable} Free Verb Activities by Amy Lemons A quick easy verb printable to help fill in some blanks. {Printable} All About those Verbs by Amy Lemons This is a blend of activity, worksheet, and craft~ 4 Flapbooks with sorts included: action verbs, juicy vs boring verbs, linking verbs, verb tenses 4 Verb Hunts with cards and recording sheets: Strong vs Weak Verbs, Identify the Verb, Find the Verb in the Sentence, Fill in the sentence with the correct verb tense -Verb Writing Craftivity: Where do your shoes take you? {BOOK} It’s Hard to Be a Verb Louis is a verb! He has a lot of trouble focusing and he is always doing something, but the problem is usually it s the wrong something. It s hard to be a verb! My knees start itching, my toes start twitching, my skin gets jumpy, others get grumpy. When it comes to sitting still it s just not my deal. Haven t you heard… I am a verb! Louis mom teaches him how to focus by showing him a few hands on ideas that anyone can try. A must have book for all who struggle with paying attention! {BOOK} Kites Sail High concept book explicates and celebrates verbs of all kinds, in ebullient verses which themselves sail and soar. Children will find it a painless and concise grammar lesson as well as a visual treat…A boon for language arts teachers as well as for all children and adults who love to play with the language. {GAME} The Great Verb Game Players pick a card illustrating a verb in the infi nitive and throw one or more of the three dice: a pronoun dice, a tense dice and a dice with the affi rmative, negative and interrogative forms. Players then conjugate the verb according to what is shown on the dice. {Games} Whoosh! Action Verb Game WHOOSH! your way to perfect verb skills with this all inclusive action verb game! This unique verb game with 2,880 sentences targets singular and plural forms of 40 regular and 80 irregular verbs in six essential verb tenses: {Printable} Verb Tenses NO PREP Packet 26 pages of action verb practice {Active Games} 14 Verb Games Verb Charades, Verb Relay, Pantomime Verbs, Mother May I?, Verb Shouts!/Verb Acting, Verb Scavenger Hunt, What do I like to do? Verb Snip, Verbtionary, Verb toss, Robot, Verb Conjugation Relay Race, Verb Tic-Tac-Toe, Hot Verb-tato {Activity Book} Mad Libs- Because they never get old!! Mad Libs is a phrasal template word game where one player prompts others for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story, before reading the – often comical or nonsensical – story aloud. Preview of the Heart of Homeschooling God’s Way Master Class. We need to STOP measuring success by grades, achievements, awards, and worksheets. Enroll in the sneak peek class here.