Play-Based Activities for Irregular Past-Tense Verbs

One of my most common goals for patients is mastering irregular past-tense verbs like drove (instead of drived), swung (instead of swinged), flew (instead of flyed), and ate (instead of eated).

I always start this target with flash cards and use a least-to-most cueing hierarchy (unless the child needs a consistent level of support in which case I’ll start there and then gradually give them less). So I’ll show them the card with the present tense and say “He’s eating.” then switch to the past-tense card and say, “Yesterday he…” If they need help I’ll ask, “Is it eated?” If they need more help then I’ll ask, “Is it eated or ate?” and switch the position of the target so that I either say it first or second.

I always start addressing irregular past-tense verbs with flash cards including these ones from Super Duper.

Once a child masters the flashcards I switch to play-based activities because they’re more effective and keep kids motivated to keep working. Here are a couple activities I use for irregular past-tense verbs.

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