In this game, students race to divide nouns and verbs into appropriate lists. Divide students into pairs of groups of three and offer each group a collection of nouns and verbs printed on paper. Instruct groups to divide a sheet of paper into two sections and have them label one section "nouns" and one section "verbs." On your mark, groups must work together to divide the words into the appropriate column. Upon completing the task, students raise their hands and the teacher checks their work. The first group to separate the words into correct lists wins the game.
Have your students compose creative sentences or stories by filling in missing nouns and verbs. Write a series of sentences or short stories and omit the nouns and verbs. In place of the nouns and verbs, draw lines with a label under each one that indicates what part of speech should be written on the line. Distribute the sentences or stories to students and instruct them to write nouns and verbs on the lines. After filling in the missing words, invite children to share; the results are likely to be rather comical.
Play a game of toss to teach your students nouns and verbs. On a large bouncy ball or beach ball, write a variety of nouns and verbs. Instruct the class to stand in a circle and have students randomly toss the ball to another student. Upon catching the ball, the student must state whether the word under her right hand is a noun or a verb. After stating the part of speech the word falls under, the student tosses the ball to another person. Continue tossing the ball until everyone has caught it a few times.
Play a game of noun and verb trivia to familiarize your students with these parts of speech. Divide the class into two teams and instruct each team to form a single-file line. State a sentence to the first two players on each team and ask them to identify the nouns or the verbs in the sentence. The first player to correctly identify the nouns and verbs earns a point for his team. The first two players step to the back of the line and the next two players have a turn. Continue playing until all students have had a turn. The team that earns the most points wins the game.