I have always been a bit of a grammar nerd, but I realize that not all students share my love of all things grammar. To be fair, many grammar activities can be less than engaging. However, National Grammar Day is the perfect time to show your students that these activities don’t have to be boring! Here are a few National Grammar Day activities, but honestly, any time is a great time to add a little fun and creativity to language arts or ESL lessons.
1. Grammar Jokes, Cartoons, and Videos
There are so many grammar cartoons out there, and they can make a great class opener for a little humor and discussion. Try showing a cartoon and discuss what the joke is about and why (or if) it is funny, etc. Your students may even recognize some of their own mistakes through the jokes, and making the humorous connection can help them remember in the future. You can search for grammar cartoons or memes, but I have also created a Pinterest board with a collection to help get you started.
You can also find many grammar related videos, some of which can be very funny, with catchy songs. One of my favorites is Weird Al’s Word Crimes. This is a great video that covers a wide range of grammar and spelling mistakes that people frequently make. Beyond just showing this for the comedic value, it could be a perfect video to analyze for further discussion. Students could identify some of the “word crimes” that they are guilty of making, or the ones they most frequently see. They could also work in a group to compile a Top 10 list of “crimes” that should send someone to the Grammar Slammer. Download a worksheet for this activity HERE. There are lots of possibilities for ways to use this video, so get creative with it!
2. Grammar Fails on Signs and More
Search the Internet for “Grammar Fails” and you will find many examples of truly terrible, but often hilarious, grammar mistakes. These can be used just like the grammar cartoons to inspire discussion, and probably some laughs along the way. I’ve already started a list, so check out this Pinterest Board for some examples to share with your students.
3. Correct a Celebrity Tweet
This can be a fun way to combine grammar and pop culture. Tweets with mistakes are relatively easy to find, and this will get students looking carefully to find any mistakes that they might have otherwise overlooked. Because some celebrity tweets could contain questionable content, you might prefer to print out examples yourself for students to proofread and edit.
4. Social Media Grammar Fails Bingo
This is actually more like a scavenger hunt activity. Students search social media posts (or something else) to find specific examples of grammar fails. This is a great way to become more aware of and realize the importance of correct usage and spelling. Grab this FREE no-prep Grammar Fails Bingo Card that you can use with your students today. There is even a fillable Google Slides and editable version so you have options to do the activity digitally, and also tweak any or all of the categories!
5. Word Puzzles
Celebrate National Grammar Day with a fun puzzle! Most students love crossword puzzles, so it’s an easy and engaging way to get students to practice grammar. You can create your own puzzles and customize them with clues to practice verb tenses or other grammar concepts. There are many sites you can use to do this, but my favorite is from Discovery Education. If you want to have some ready-to-go activities for your classroom, try these no-prep verb puzzles and activities.
If you want to use puzzles and games in your classroom for homophone practice, see this blog post on engaging ways to teach homophones, which includes FREE activities!
6. Grammar Escape Room Games
By far, one of the most engaging ways to practice grammar is with escape rooms, and one of my top picks for National Grammar Day activities! Students love the challenge of an escape room and working together to solve the clues to the puzzles. It’s actually quite a bit of work to create an engaging escape room, but the good news is that there are so many of them already available on Teachers Pay Teachers. They are reasonably priced, and you can find them to practice just about any grammar point you are looking for.
I have two digital escape rooms for mixed grammar skills review, and students absolutely love playing these games! Check them out here:
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7. Mad Libs
This classic game is always a favorite among students! It’s also a great way to practice using parts of speech, verb tenses, and other word forms. This is another type of activity that can be found on Teachers Pay Teachers, but you can also make your own so you can customize it for your own students. There are several online Mad Lib generators, such as the one HERE and HERE.
Love using puzzles and games in your classroom? Grab this Games and Puzzles Mega Bundle with tons of fun and unique activities you won’t find anywhere else. Save up to 50% by purchasing the bundle, and I am continuing to add to it, so the earlier you purchase, the bigger the savings!
8. Sentence or Story Building Activity
Here’s a fun collaborative activity: first give students a very simple sentence to write down on a piece of paper. For example: “I saw a cow.” Then each student passes the paper to another student, who then adds a word or phrase to make the sentence longer and more descriptive. Each time the paper is passed, instruct the students to make a specific type of addition. For example, one time they might add an adjective, and another time, they might add a prepositional phrase. Each time, the result should be a single sentence, and it should not lose any of the previous changes. After a series of changes (about 10 or so) go over the final sentences! If you would like a print and go copy of this activity, check out Chameleon Sentences.
Similarly, you could make it a story building activity. Give a starter sentence, and then tell the students to continue adding to the story sentence, by sentence. You could announce something that needs to be included in the next sentence: for example, a sentence that includes “a type of forest animal” and two adverbs or “something in the refrigerator” and a complex sentence. Each group would work together to come up with a sentence that fits the criteria but also logically connects to the previous sentence. This could also be written on cards, with students drawing a card to determine what comes next in the story.
9. Investigate a Grammar Rule and Teach It
I strongly believe that the best way to learn something and really make it stick is to have to teach it to someone else. There have been times when I needed to teach a topic that I had struggled with myself, so I had to learn about it and then create a lesson. After that, I completely understood the topic and it stayed with me. This also works in the classroom where students have to learn about something to teach it to their peers. Put students in small groups and either assign a topic to each one to investigate, or give them some choice. Then they would teach the lesson to their group. They could even create a quiz to give to their group after their lesson. You might even consider having them teach a grammar “hack” and create a video like they might find on Tik Tok.
10. Controversial Grammar Rules Debate
There are a lot of grammar rules that not everyone agrees on. (Like ending sentences with prepositions!) This is a great time to discuss some of those rules and debate whether it’s really a rule we need to keep or if we should drop it and accept that language is changing. Some other possible topics:
Do we really need “whom”?
Should it be ok to use singular “they”? (ex: Somebody left their keys on the desk.)
Is it ok to say, “I’m good.” in response to “How are you?”
Is it ok to say, “It’s me.” in response to “Who is it?”
11. Catch the Teacher Making a Grammar Mistake
This can be a fun way to encourage your students to pay attention to what you’re saying and writing in class. Assign students to groups of 3 or 4, and throughout the day, make a series of intentional grammar and spelling mistakes. Students will act like detectives and quietly take note of the mistakes they hear/see. Then at the end of the day, the groups get together and collaborate to compile a list of everything they found. The group who catches the most mistakes gets a prize.
12. Text Quest
This is another scavenger hunt type activity. Take any text, and give students a sheet with various grammar and language conventions listed. Students read the text and write down examples for as many categories as possible. This could also be expanded into a longer project, where students collect examples for every grammar point they have learned. The completed pages then can be used as a reference sheet to review throughout the year when they need to refresh their memories. You can find a no-prep version of this activity with this Language Arts Text Quest Grammar Review.
13. Song Lyric Grammar Activities
Students love music, and any just about subject can be made engaging by connecting it to music! Grammar is no exception. The possibilities for using music and songs to teach and review grammar points are endless. For ideas on how to use songs in your classroom to teach grammar and other language arts topics, see my blog post, 17 Creative Ways to Teach English with Songs.
14. Do a Creative Arts Project
The possibilities for this truly are endless, and students can choose a medium that they feel comfortable with and create a project that highlights their strengths and talents. Depending on their choice, they would also have the option to do an individual or group project. Best of all, they will have fun with it! Assign a specific grammar point (or give students some choice, but so that everyone is doing something different) and ask students to discuss or explain it through art. If you wanted to do a short project, you could assign a different point to each student and have them write and recite a haiku.
Here are just a few possibilities for longer projects:
create a song, rap, or cheer
write a poem
make up a short story
create a poster
write and perform a scene from a play
write and perform a commercial
make a comic strip (templates can be found on TpT, many of them free)
Most of all, have fun with it!
The point of National Grammar Day is not only for my fellow grammar nerds out there to celebrate the importance of grammar, but also to show students that it doesn’t have to be boring. I hope you have found some helpful ideas here for activities to use with your students.
Grammar activities your students will love!
Try these fun grammar resources with your students; perfect for National Grammar Day activities, but are also great for any time of the year to spice things up!
