Need some fun activities to teach nouns to your 1st or 2nd grade students?

These activities and ideas are great for teaching common nouns and/or proper nouns!

They’ll help students make connections to real reading and writing AND have fun learning about nouns.

Activity #1: Have students identify examples of nouns in real sentences.

Effective grammar instruction involves having students making connections to real reading and writing!

Once my students know what a noun is, I always have them practice finding examples of nouns in sentences.

Activity #2: Have students sort common nouns into the categories of people, places, and things.

To reinforce the idea that nouns name people (and animals), places, and things, I like to have my students do a picture sort, like this one from First Grade Grammar Alive curriculum.

Activity #3: Have students do a “noun hunt” in the books they’re reading.

I like to have my students search for nouns “in the wild!” Again, this is a great way to help them connect grammar concepts to real texts.

Students can search for proper nouns, common nouns, or both. This half-sheet scavenger hunt list comes from my Second Grade Grammar Alive curriculum.

Activity #4: Have students sort common and proper nouns (and categories of proper nouns).

Once my students understand what common and proper nouns are, I have them complete a simple sort, like this one from First Grade Grammar Alive:

I also like to do proper noun sorts, where students sort names of people, names of days of the week, names of places, etc. (like in this “cookie jar sort” from Second Grade Grammar Alive):

First Grade Grammar Alive has its own variation, with a “crayon box” theme:

Activity #5: Have students brainstorm matching pairs of common nouns and proper nouns.

As a class, we’ll brainstorm matching pairs:

Or, in this board game from First Grade Grammar Alive, students give a proper noun example to match a common noun.

For example, if they land on “cereal,” they might say “Cheerios” or “Fruit Loops.”

Need more materials for teaching grammar?

I hope these noun activities are helpful!

For complete grammar lesson plans and many more grammar activities (including the ones featured in this blog post), check out my Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade Grammar Alive programs:

Or, if you’re looking for grammar activities that students can do independently, check out my BoomCards^TM Grammar Games! They work well with my “Grammar Alive!” program or ANY grammar program you might be using.

These games are super engaging, include audio directions, and can be used on any device with internet. If you’re pressed for time when it comes to teaching grammar, this is a great way to provide self-correcting practice without taking up more class time.

To learn more about each bundle (for Kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade), click one of the images below:

Happy teaching!