Nouns Teaching Resources

Save time on creating noun lesson plans with printable worksheets and digital activities, handy noun lists, parts of speech games and more from the teachers of Teach Starter.

Aligned with both TEKS ELAR and Common Core ELA Curriculum standards, the teacher resources in this collection are all teacher-created. You'll find printables to help students learn to differentiate nouns from verbs, digital activities to help teach kids about common, proper and possessive nouns and more!

Whether you're working on singular and plural forms of nouns with your 3rd grade class, exploring the functions of nouns in phrases and clauses with your 5th graders or starting at the very beginning with a noun introduction to your 1st graders, we've got you covered!

Are you new to teaching this part of the ELA curriculum or just looking for new ways to engage students as they learn how to use nouns? Take a peek at this primer from our teacher team, including a breakdown of the different types of nouns, a kid-friendly definition of nouns, explanations of how to teach kids about possessive nouns and plenty more!

What Is a Noun? A Kid-Friendly Definition

Sure, you know the definition of this part of speech yourself, but we've filled the Teach Starter site with handy definitions and tools you can use to explain the various parts of speech to your students.

So, let’s start with a kid-friendly definition of noun!

A noun is a word that is used to identify a person, place, thing or idea.

Nouns are just one of the eight parts of speech that we use to create sentences when we are writing, but it's an important one. Most sentences that we write or say out loud will contain a noun.

Singular and Plural Nouns — What's the Difference?

Singular nouns refer to just one person, place, thing or idea. Plural nouns, on the other hand, identify multiple people, places, things or ideas!

How to Make a Singular Noun Plural

The challenge for most students is learning how to properly adjust a singular noun to its plural form.

Here are a few rules to help your students make the changes:

1. -s Rule

Many nouns can be made plural by simply adding the letter s to the end.

For example if you change "book" to "books," you've used the -s rule for plural nouns.

2. -es Rule

Nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, or sh require adding -es to the end in order to make them plural nouns. For example, box becomes boxes when it is in the plural form.

3. -ies Rule

If a noun ends in a consonant + y, teach your students to change the y to i and add -es. For example, baby becomes babies when it is made plural.

4. -ves Rule

Do you have a noun ending in f or fe? To create the plural form, change the f or fe to v and add -es. For example leaf is changed to leaves.

5. Vowel + -y Rule

If you have a singular noun ending in a vowel + y, it can be written in plural form by adding -s. For example, key becomes keys.

6. Irregular Plural Nouns

Some nouns have irregular plural forms and don't follow specific patterns. For example, mouse becomes mice when it's made plural, and child becomes children. These irregular plurals often trip students up, so teaching word pairs is important to help build their understanding.

8 Singular Nouns That Don't Change When They're Plural — A List for Kids

Some nouns are tricksters that remain the same in both singular and plural forms. Here's a handy list for kids to help them keep track!

1. deer
2. scissors
3. pants
4. pajamas
5. fish
6. moose
7. sheep
8. rice

2 Different Types of Nouns (With Examples) and What They Do

Considering how important this part of speech is in sentence writing, it's hardly surprising that there are different types of nouns that we can use to communicate. The two main types of nouns are common nouns and proper nouns. Let's break down common nouns vs. proper nouns and look at a few examples!

Common Nouns

Common nouns are the nouns we use to identify general people, places, things and ideas. For example, if we say the city, we are referring to a general place. In this case, "city" is a common noun.

Common nouns only begin with a capital letter if they appear at the beginning of a sentence.

Examples of common nouns for kids include dog, pizza, girl, and post office.

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are different from common nouns because they are used to identify specific people, places, things and ideas. For example, New York City is a proper noun because it refers to a specific city.

Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter, even if they appear in the middle of a sentence or at the end.

Examples of proper nouns for kids include Mrs. Jiminez, Roosevelt Elementary School and LEGO.

Common Nouns Lists – 4 Different Kinds to Teach About

There may be two different main types of nouns, but the variation doesn't stop with common and proper. Common nouns can be broken down into a variety of different categories.

Here's a list of common nouns most kids learn about in elementary or middle school!

Concrete Nouns

A concrete noun is a word we use to identify things that we can perceive using our five senses. Concrete nouns can be touched, tasted, smelled, felt and heard.

Examples of common nouns for kids include wind, pineapple, flowers, cotton and music.

Abstract Nouns

Unlike concrete nouns, abstract nouns refer to things we cannot actually sense with any of our 5 senses. These nouns are identifying things that are not physical.

Things like our ideas and our feelings are considered abstract nouns.

Examples of abstract nouns for kids include bravery, friendship and happiness.

Collective Nouns

A collective noun is a type of common noun that is used to identify a group or collection of people, places, things or ideas.

Examples of collective nouns for kids include team, family and class.

Countable Nouns vs. Uncountable Nouns — What's the Difference?

Another way to break down the main types of nouns is to look at whether they're countable or uncountable. So what's the difference?

Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are just what the name implies. These are nouns that identify things we can count! We can apply a specific number to a countable noun.

For example, if you look around a classroom, you can count the number of desks or tables. That makes both desks and tables countable nouns.

Uncountable Nouns

If countable nouns can be counted, it makes sense that uncountable nouns identify things that can't be counted.

For example, we can't count water or sadness. These are both uncountable nouns.