Just as when we are teaching other grammatical markers, we need to focus on one thing at a time.  The first thing you must do is decide whether or not you need to teach regular past tense verbs (past simple) or irregular past tense verbs first. You really do need to pick one at a time as it can be confusing to target them all at once. Start with regular past tense verbs and once the child has a good handle on those, then you can move to the irregular ones.

The easiest way to teach past tense verbs is to have a collection of pictures that include before and after pictures of the same scene.  These will give you a prompt for asking the question “what happened”.  Here are some free ones you can download here.  Or, look around and see what you already have.

Once you have chosen present/past tense and you have collected your pictures, it’s time to teach past tense verbs using actions that have just happened (as opposed to something that happened a while ago).  Show the child one of your before pictures and describe what happened. Then, show the child the second picture and say “what happened?”  The child should be able to describe the action that was performed, even if he doesn’t know how to use the past tense yet. If not, you may want to go back and work on labeling actions before you work on the past tense of them. Model the correct past tense use of the word the child just provided and tell him that since it’s something that already happened, you have to change the word. Here’s how that might sound during the activity:

• Look, she is running! (Show second picture) Oh no! What happened?
• Child: Fall down!
• You’re right, she fell. Listen, that’s something that already happened, so we’re going to change it. Instead of “fall”, we’re going to say “fell”. Listen, she fell.
• Child: She fell.

Keep doing this activity until the child can appropriately use the past tense to talk about the actions that are represented.

Once the child understands the basics of how to change a verb to create the past tense, it’s time to use the past tense to retell past events.  These would be events that happened more than a few minutes ago.  Ask the child to talk about past events like recess, birthday parties, going on a trip, or event from his day. While he’s doing this, make sure he’s using the past tense. If he forgets, you can use the same cues as you did in step three by telling him that it’s something that already happened so we have to change the word. Keep doing this until the child can recall past events using the correct past tense verbs.

Now that the child is able to use past tense when describing pictures and when recalling past events, the only thing left is everyday conversation. Whenever you hear the child incorrectly use the past tense in conversation, help remind her in the same way you did in the other steps. Eventually, she’ll be able to do this on her own and not need reminders from you anymore.

Looking for materials to help you teach past tense verbs?  Our no-prep therapy kits are already made for you.  Includes pages for both regular past tense (past simple) and irregular past tense verbs along with before and after pictures for many different examples. Or, check out our grammar and syntax course to learn how to teach grammar skills to children.