Past Detectives

🎂 6 + years ⏱️ 30 min 📍 Home ⭐ medium

The past is the time that has already gone by. If you ate a cake yesterday, that's 'the past'. In our game, we learn how to talk about things that have already happened. For this, we use special words called 'verbs'. If you eat an egg, we say 'You are eating an egg'. But if you ate the egg yesterday, we say 'You ate an egg'. Here are some examples and tips.

What you'll need

Paper and pencil
Picture book

How it works

The cow 'eats' the grass (Now). -> The cow 'has eaten the grass' (Past). The pig 'digs' in the mud (Now). -> The pig 'has dug in the mud' (Past). The sheep 'jumps' over the fence (Now). -> The sheep 'has jumped over the fence' (Past).
Write different verbs on pieces of paper and hide them around the house. When you find a piece of paper, say the verb in the past tense.
Memory game: Create cards with verbs in the present and past tense. Shuffle the cards and place them face down. The goal is to find matching pairs, like 'jump' and 'has jumped'.
Look at picture books and pay attention to verbs in the past tense. Afterwards, you can talk about the story together and repeat the verbs.
Take a walk in the past: Think of a day and tell each other about it. Use verbs in the past tense. For example: 'I brushed my teeth this morning and then had breakfast.'
Practice, practice, practice: The more you practice, the better you'll get. Try to use a few verbs in the past tense every day.
Be patient: Sometimes it takes a little while to learn something new. That's perfectly okay. Be patient with yourselves and don't give up! With these tips and tricks, you'll soon be great experts in verbs in the past tense. Have fun learning!