Lights. Camera. ACTION (words)! 🎬

Verbs are the movement makers of language—literally. They tell us what the subject is doing. They drive a story. They provide a sentence with its energy and purpose. 

In short, verbs are the elevators of language. In this activity, students will read the verbs and match them to the picture to complete the puzzle.  

Get to Know Verbs with Our Verbs Puzzle

To play, students will read each verb and cover the matching picture to complete the puzzle. This puzzle includes the following verbs:

• sing
• sleep
• cry
• jump
• run
• drive
• drink
• write
• skate
• throw
• crawl
• read
• climb
• eat
• dance

The great thing about this resource is that it is self-checking: when students have finished placing the pieces onto the board, a complete picture is revealed!

More Verb Activities

Draw It! 

Use this activity as a formative assessment. Pick a random assortment of puzzle pieces and project them on the board for the whole class to see. Have each student pick 3 verbs and write them on a separate sheet of paper. Then, have the students draw a picture for each word, showing they’ve read the word and understand what it is.  

Charades

Use the cards as charades prompts. Divide your class or small group into 2 teams. Teams will take turns sending up 1 student to act out the verb on the card for their team while you keep score and hand the cards to the players. If after 30 seconds their team guesses the correct verb they get 1 point. Once every student has had their turn to act out a card, the game is over and the group with the highest points wins. 

Upcycle into Playing Cards

When students tire of the puzzle element, turn this game into a deck of cards! Break out your scissors and cut up the board so that you have an equal amount of words and pictures. Students can play card games like Match It, Go Fish, or Snap!, to name a few.  

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Print on cardstock for added durability and longevity. Place all pieces in a folder or large envelope for easy access. Use the drop-down icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or Google Slides version of this resource. 

---

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and a Teach Starter Collaborator. 

---

More Verb Practice!

Get up and get going with even more activities to practice identifying and using verbs!