National standards for language arts require elementary students to recognize sentence structure and use it properly in written and spoken language. By recognizing parts of speech such as nouns and verbs, students will have the skills to understand and construct meaningful sentences. Providing students with games and mnemonic devices related to nouns and verbs will help them easily remember the parts of speech when reading and writing texts.

Songs and Rhymes
Presenting information through songs and rhymes gives students a memory tool for learning new materials. While studying nouns and verbs, recite or sing rhyming sentences about the parts of speech. Describe a noun with a line such as, "Every name is called a noun, as field and fountain, street and town." Review verbs with a phrase such as, "The verb means action, something done, to read, to write, to jump, to run." Sing these rhymes often to ensure students will remember them. You can then ask students to create their own rhymes that illustrate the nature of nouns and verbs.

Guessing Games
To help students tell the difference between nouns and verbs, play guessing games in class based on the specific parts of speech. Students can play hangman on the board and use the clue of either "noun" or "verb" to set up each round. They can also use noun and verb clues while drawing pictures to play a game of "Pictionary" or giving hints in a game of "Password." Students observe the differences between nouns and verbs while playing these interactive games.

Movement Games
Play a fill-in-the-blank movement game to review nouns and verbs. Give students nouns such as "the dog," "the baby," "the clock" or "the snake" and ask them to make sounds or perform movements that finish the sentences with verbs. Students can also play a game of charades by choosing words from noun and verb bags. They will learn that the action qualities of verbs make them easier to perform.

Card Games
Students will learn to distinguish parts of speech by playing matching, sorting and sequencing games in class. Give students bingo cards containing pictures of nouns and verbs. As you draw the words "noun" or "verb," students will cover the corresponding pictures on their cards. Students can also sort the picture cards into noun and verb piles or sequence them to create simple sentences.