Past Simple Activities – Games to Teach the Past Tense

Looking for engaging past simple activities to help students practise the past tense? These tried-and-tested classroom games are easy to set up, fun to play, and designed to help learners internalise both regular and irregular verb forms.

Was & Were – Kim’s Game

I often use the memory game Kim’s game as an introduction to the past tense. Start with the classic version using there is / there are as students memorise items on a tray or in a picture. Later in the lesson, once everything’s been packed away, ask them what they remember – this time prompting the use of there was and there were.

Regular and Irregular Forms

Letter Dictation

Dictate a question like What did you do at the weekend?—but as a string of letters:
whatdidyoudoattheweekend

Students try to parse the sentence, then discuss their answers with a partner. Follow up with whole-class feedback. It’s a quick and effective way to highlight verb forms and question structure.

A Normal Day vs. Yesterday

Draw two columns on the board: “Usually” and “Yesterday.” In the first, write a typical daily routine in the present simple. In the second, elicit the same activities in the past tense.

Now students describe their yesterday to a partner.

Tic Tac Toe

Draw a 3×3 grid and fill it with irregular verbs in their base form. To claim a square, a team must use the correct past tense verb in a complete sentence. See the Tic Tac Toe post for more ideas.

Past Tense Crosswords

On our Crosswords Page, you will find printable crosswords for a variety of grammar structures including one for past simple irregular verbs. There’s also instructions and tips on how to quickly produce your own puzzles.

Past Tense Stories

Use the handy set of 50 Verb Cards to practise making past tense stories. If you’re teaching online you can use this random verb generator.

Give groups of students a set of base form cards.

Optional step: Have students write the past tense form on the back of each card first. Monitor and correct as needed.

When all the decks are complete get the groups to place the deck face up on the deck. They should now take it in turns to make a story by adding sentences using the verb which is facing up. If the student is not sure of the past tense, they can turn over the card to check. Each card is removed as it is being used.

You might want to set up the story by giving an initial prompt. For example I went to New York last week or yesterday was my birthday, etc.

Backwards day

A short, fun review activity. Tell students what you did yesterday – but backwards:

I went to sleep. I read my book. I went to bed. I cleaned my teeth. I drank some cocoa…

Challenge students to describe their own “backwards day” in pairs. Great for reviewing sequencing and sentence structure.

Past Simple Board Game

This printable past simple board game uses prompts like last week, three days ago, and when I was on holiday in France. You’ll need a dice and some counters.

Students move around the board making past simple sentences or answering questions related to each square. It’s a relaxed but effective way to consolidate verb forms in context.

For more English grammar board games see the grammar games section. There is also an online past simple board game at our sister site LearnHip.com.

Four in a Row

A Connect 4–style game for irregular verbs. Two players take turns trying to connect four boxes in a row by correctly identifying the past tense of each verb. A third student can act as referee to check answers. You can find further instructions and a copy of the Connect 4 game board as well as boards for other grammar structures in the Four in a Row post.

Past Tense Questions

What’s the Question?

Write a short personal story or list of details on the board, then ask students to work out the questions.

Example info:

• I went to the cinema
• Terminator 5
• €10
• 7pm Saturday
• Not really. I didn’t like it.

Elicit the questions:

• What did you do?
• What did you see?
• How much did it cost?
• When did you go?
• Did you enjoy it?

Students then repeat the activity in pairs using their own experiences.

Find Someone Who

I love mingling activities like this. Even reluctant groups usually warm up quickly, and it’s a great way to break the ice in new classes.

Give each student a copy of the Past Simple – Find Someone Who worksheet. Go through the prompts together and elicit the correct question forms. Then students mingle, asking questions and filling in their sheets.

Encourage them to ask follow-up questions if they discover something interesting.

For more worksheets and tips on how to do this exercise, see the complete Find Someone Who post.

Find the Lie

Students write three sentences about their weekend — two true, one false. In small groups, they read them out. The others ask follow-up questions in the past tense to guess the lie.

Encourages both fluency and question formation:

What time did you go?
Who did you go with?

Teaching Online

You can find online past simple exercises and activities at our teaching-online focused site LearnHip.com.