Let's start with the Present Simple. The ability to use Present Simple verbs is a fundamental skill for each young student. Do you have habits or things that you have to do every day? Undoubtedly, you will refer to this tense when talking about them. Do you like to walk or read books every day? Or do you have a habit of waking up early and doing some sports? You may share it with your friends. You can say: I walk in the park every day, or I read books three times a week. 

Some words can help you recognize the Present Simple tense: always, often, seldom, twice or three times a week, etc. Ask your kids what they do every day, and then pay attention that all the verbs they use are in the present form: walk, eat, run, play, sleep.  

The pronouns “he, she, it” are special. They always require the -s or -es after verbs. Thus, we say: She sings, he plays, it sleeps. 

You can practice this topic in the following way. Here are some cards. Tell your kids the story about Bobby the Cat and his family.
  

You can see Bobby's family: it is Bobby and his brother Bob. They like playing with a ball. It is their mother, and she enjoys her breakfast. Finally, it is their daddy. He drives a car. 

When having told this story, ask your kids to retell it. Show them cards and ask questions: Who is it? What does he do? Then pay attention that we say they like, she enjoys, he drives.  

We use "do" and "does" to make questions and "don't" or "doesn't" for a negative form. For example: 

Do you want a glass of water? Does Mary play guitar? 

Ben and Alex don't like playing football. July doesn't play the piano. 

Do you want your kids to practice using verbs in the Present Simple with different pronouns? Offer them a quiz using two boxes. The first one will be for "I, you, we, they." The second one is for "he, she, it." Write down the pairs of verbs on small pieces of paper. For example, drink - drinks, swim - swims, do - does, don't - doesn't, sleep - sleeps, run - runs, etc. Ask kids to pull out cards and put them in the correct boxes. Thus, we put the word sleep in the box with "I, you, we, they." And the word sleeps in the "he, she, it" box. 

Now we are going on. Would you like to have a magical machine to travel in the past or to the future? Past Simple and Future simple can fulfill this magical role. 

For example, we use the Past Simple to tell that something happened yesterday, last week, or years ago. The regular rule for creating the past tense verb is adding -ed to the word, for example, play - played, walk - walked, travel - traveled. But some verbs are a bit naughty, and they change their spelling form. For example, be - was, were, go - went, come - came, etc. To check their spelling, use the list of irregular verbs. If you need to practice using these verbs, find the article about irregular verbs on our website. 

What can you offer kids to identify the difference between the Present and Past Simple? 

Propose them to play a game called usual and yesterday. Split the board into two sections. Write on the top of the first section Usually, and the top of the second one - Yesterday. We need to write some everyday activities in the Usually section. Then write down the same statement in the Yesterday section using the past tense. Ask your kids to tell you about their routine, but clarify if they did the same actions yesterday.
  

One more activity - to create the Past Tense stories. Get ready the cards with different verbs and put them in front of kids. Children can use dice to pick a card. When having found a card, children need to create a story using the verbs provided there. You may also use hourglasses to set a time limit for each tale. Here are some examples of cards. You may use them or create your own.   

We have reached the final point of Simple tenses. It is the Future Simple tense. 

What is the Future Simple? 

We use this tense to talk about actions that will happen in some time or making predictions. For example, I will go to the cinema next week. 

The Future Simple is very easy to build. We add "will" before the verb. 

Thus, we say: I will go, she will travel, he will buy, etc. 

If you want to use a negative form, write will not (won't).  

For instance, Jim won't go to the cinema next week. Sue won't play tennis tomorrow.  

To ask the question, use "will" as well: Will you go to the cinema next week? 

This tense is as easy as a piece of cake. Are you ready to practice using the Future Simple? To play this game, children need to find a pair. The point of the game is that one kid says some predictions, and another says what he will do in this case. For example: 

Student A: I will go to the picnic next Sunday. 

Student B: Wow, it is a great idea. I will bake cookies then. 

Student A: It will be sunny tomorrow. 

Student B: Then I will put on sunglasses. 

Here is an activity to sum up the difference between these three basic simple tenses: Past, Present, and Future.

Ask your kids to write down the names of these tenses. Then read some sentences and ask children to identify what tense it is and show the suitable card. For example: 

• I went to school yesterday. What tense is it? The Past Simple Tense. 
• I have lunch at 12 every day. What tense is it? The Present Simple. 
• I will go to the park tomorrow. What tense is it? The Future Simple. 

We wish you happy studying. We hope that by using our activities, your kids will have a bundle of fun.