Teaching Singular and Plural Nouns to Kids

In this blog, we will learn about the building blocks of sentences – nouns! Simply put, nouns are words that name people, places, animals, things, or ideas. For example, cat, pen, trees, houses, or postman.

Kids often get confused about whether to use “a cat” or “many cats,” “my brother” or “my brothers.” By learning the difference between words like “cat” and “cats” or “tree” and “trees,” kids can improve how they speak and write. It is very important for them to learn about singular and plural nouns to name things correctly. It also helps them to express their thoughts clearly.

So let’s take a look at how to teach kids about singular and plural nouns!

What are singular and plural nouns?

Singular nouns refer to one person, place, animal or thing. We use “a” or “an” for a singular noun. “a” is used before words that start with a consonant sound and “an” before words that start with a vowel sound.

For example: a bat, a doctor , an ant, an orange.

Plural nouns refer to many, that is, more than one person, place, animal, or thing.

For example: toys, monkeys, parks.

Rules for forming plural nouns:

1. The basic rule is to add ‘s’ to most of the nouns to make plural:

cap → caps

lamp → lamps

nest → nests

pen → pens

2. Add ‘es’ to nouns that end in ‘ch’ , ‘sh’, ‘s’, ‘x’ or ‘z’:

dish → dishes

box → boxes

watch → watches

bus → buses

3. If a noun ends in -y with a consonant before it, then drop the y and add ‘i’ and ‘es’:

Story → stories

Fairy → fairies

Lady → ladies

Candy → candies

4. If a noun ends in -y with a vowel before it, then simply add ‘s’:

Toy → toys

Key → keys

Boy → boys

Day → days

5. If a noun ends in ‘f’ or ‘fe’, drop the ‘f’ or ‘fe’ and add ‘v’ and ‘es’:

Leaf → leaves

Half → halves

Wolf → wolves

Knife → knives

6. If a noun ends end in ‘o’, add ‘es’ but some just add ‘s’ :

Tomato → tomatoes

Hero → heroes

Photo → photos

Kilo → kilos

Note - Some nouns can have plurals formed either by adding ‘es’ or ‘s’, and both are correct:

Buffalo → Buffalos or Buffaloes

Volcano → Volcanos or Volcanoes

Tornado → Tornados or Tornadoes

Mosquito → Mosquitos or Mosquitoes

7. Some nouns do not follow any rule, their spelling changes completely when turned into plural. These are known as irregular nouns:

Mouse → mice

Ox → oxen

Goose → geese

Man → men

8. Some nouns are lazy and remain same in both singular and plural forms:

Sheep → Sheep

Deer → Deer

Fish → Fish

Jeans → jeans

Teaching strategies for understanding singular and plural nouns for kindergarten kids:

It is very important for kids to learn to see patterns in how words change from one to many. Learning singular and plural nouns helps them understand how sentences are made. When they know these concepts, their thoughts are clearer. Hence, they can make more accurate sentence

Here are some of the strategies for teaching kids understand singular and plural nouns:

Sort the pictures :

Have kids sort the pictures (one and many) in two different bowls.

Story time :

Read a simple story and ask kids to listen for nouns. Emphasize on nouns in the sentences. When they hear a noun, they can clap once for singular and twice for plural nouns.

Trip to ‘Nouns park’ :

Take the kids to the park and ask them to identify objects that are singular or plural. For example, many swings, one bench, many flowers, one gate, etc.

Tune in to the songs:

This is the best way to make kids understand the concept of one and many. One of my favourite songs is “Old McDonald had a farm”

Engaging Online activities:

The exciting activities in online classes are the simplest way to get the child learn something quickly. Some of the fun activities are, drag and drop the singular nouns to their plural forms or spin the wheel and say singular for ‘one’ and plural for ‘many’.

Classroom Bulletin Board :

Create a bulletin board with sections for singular and plural nouns. Encourage kids to add to it as they learn new words.

Worksheet activities for revising singular and plural nouns:

1.Colour the Nouns

Provide a list of mixed singular and plural nouns. Kids can colour the singular nouns with res and plural nouns with blue.

2.Match the pictures

Provide pictures of one and many objects. Kids can match each picture to the correct word: singular or plural.

3.Paste the Plurals

Provide stickers of some objects and have the words written in a table. Kids can read the words, pick the stickers and paste them next to the correct plural forms.

4.Choose the correct one

Show a picture and give two words (singular and plural) ask the kids to identify the nouns from the picture and tick on the correct option.

5.Box of words

Provide a box containing singular nouns. Ask kids to recognise the picture, pick the word from the box and write it’s plural form.

Advanced strategies for understanding singular and plural nouns for older kids:

Noun detective:

Give them passages or stories and have them list all the singular and plural nouns they find, explaining the rules used.

Fill the blanks:

It can be done by giving some advanced sentences with missing nouns. Then asking the kids to fill in the blanks with the appropriate singular and plural nouns.

Interactive games:

Use some digital tools for some interactive games that focus on grammar practices. “Wordwall” offers interesting quizzes and activities such as ‘spin the wheel’ or ‘flip the cards’ for singular and plural nouns.

Storytelling:

Ask students to narrate short stories or sentences using a mix of singular and plural nouns. It will also help them improve their creativity.

Noun quiz:

Divide the class into teams and hold a noun quiz. Ask questions about simple, irregular, and other types of nouns, along with their rules. Assign points to the teams for correct answers.

Noun hunt and swap:

Create sentences and ask the kids to read them and find the nouns. Then, have the kids change the noun form from singular to plural (or vice versa) and restate the sentence.

Worksheet activities for revising singular and plural nouns:

1.Provide a list of singular nouns and a list of their irregular plural forms. Kids match each singular noun to its correct plural form.

Example:

Child → Children

Mouse → Mice

Tooth → Teeth

Foot → Feet

2.Provide sentences with singular nouns. Kids rewrite each sentence, changing the singular nouns to their plural forms.

Example:

The cat is on the mat. → The cats are on the mats.

The child is playing with a toy. → The children are playing with toys.

3.Create a crossword puzzle with clues for plural nouns. Kids fill in the crossword with the correct plural forms based on the clues.

Example Clues:

More than one dog (Dogs)

More than one mouse (Mice)

More than one person (People)

4.Provide a list of singular nouns. Kids write the plural form of each noun in the space provided.

Example:

Goose → Geese

Knife → Knives

Woman → Women

5.Provide sentences with incorrectly formed plural nouns. Kids find and correct the mistakes.

Example:

The mouses are running fast. (mice)

She has two babys. (babies)

The foxs are clever. (foxes)

6.Provide sentences with blank spaces for plural nouns. Kids complete each sentence using the correct plural form.

Example:

She has many ____. (toys)

The ____ are flying in the sky. (birds)

They saw several ____. (geese)

Conclusion:

Understanding singular and plural nouns is an important part of learning English. With fun activities and regular practice, kids can learn to use these nouns correctly. This helps them speak and write better, and makes future learning easier.

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Article Author

Ashita Gunjikar

Ashita Gunjikar is an M.Tech graduate, a dynamic educator with over 8 years of teaching experience. She is passionate about writing and content creation.She has received awards like 'Best Mentor' , 'Wow Teacher' and 'Educator of the month' for her great work in education. She has a unique way of making even the most complex topics easy to understand. Her ability to bring fun and excitement to each session is remarkable.

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