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Verbs Worksheets

Eat, run, jump, sing and sleep. Action verbs are the words that bring sentences to life, and they're easy to teach because students can act every one of them out. Pick a worksheet below and it is ready to print in one click, using the 20 words shown.

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Words used in these worksheets (20)

cook count cry dance drink eat fly jump laugh listen play read run sing sleep study swim talk walk write

Need different words? Remove words or add more from the full Verbs set. Your saved custom list is not changed.

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Mark's noteFrom the teacher behind Tools for Educators and MES English

I teach the first verb sets only in the present continuous: "What's he doing?" "He's jumping." That's how we describe pictures, and it's what we're showing children on the cards.

Young children have a strong sense of what's happening now, but present and future can feel vague to them. So I introduce tenses in this order: present continuous, then past, then future, then present simple.

Useful phrases for Verbs

Pair the vocabulary with one sentence pattern at a time. Each level builds on the one before.

Starting out

First lessons, once students know the words
  • What's he doing? He's jumping.
  • What are you doing? I'm reading.
  • Jump! Run! Stop!

Next step

Building on the basics
  • Can you swim? Yes, I can. / No, I can't.
  • I like to dance. I don't like to cook.
  • Yesterday, I played with my friends.

Challenge

For older or more advanced students
  • Did you ___ yesterday?
  • I'm going to ___ after school.
  • The boy that is singing is my brother.

Teaching tips for Verbs

Act everything out

Verbs are made for movement. Call out an action and students do it, then switch roles. It's the fastest way for the words to stick.

Start with -ing

"He's running" describes exactly what students see on the card. Starting with the present continuous makes sense to children before any grammar explanation.

One verb, many uses

The same 20 verbs work with can, like to, the past tense and going to. Keep the list and change the sentence pattern as students progress.

Single words first

This list keeps to single-word verbs, which work best in word searches and crosswords. Longer actions, like ride a bike, can be added with Edit this list.

Verbs lesson ideas

Teacher says

Play a version of Simon Says with the verbs: "Teacher says jump!" Students only move when they hear "Teacher says."

Freeze!

Students do different actions to music. When the music stops, everyone freezes, and classmates describe what each person is doing.

Can you...?

Students ask each other "Can you swim?" and "Can you cook?" and report back: "Ken can swim, but he can't cook."

A verbs week

Flashcards and actions on day 1, word search on day 2, Freeze! on day 3, then bingo or the board game with "What's he doing?" to finish.

More Verbs resources from MES

All Verbs images (164)

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