Irregular Plurals

Prepare...
• Print out enough copies of the following pages to allow one set of cards for each group of
children (or for each child, if working individually).
• Blank cards have been included for teachers who wish to choose their own irregular plurals,
or for more able children who wish to make their own singular and plural nouns cards.
• Cut out and fold the cards; then glue the two halves together so that the singular noun shows on
one side of the card and the plural noun shows on the other side. Alternatively, if appropriate,
get the children to do this.
• Put some crayons, coloured pens and coloured pencils on the table(s).

Instructions
1. On each table, place one set of nouns cards, with the singular nouns face-up. Make sure that
the children are only given plurals that they have been taught. (The plurals for the words ‘child’
‘woman’ and ‘mouse’ (‘children’, ‘women’ and ‘mice’) are introduced in the spelling lists in
Grammar 2. The remaining irregular plurals are taught in Grammar 3.)
2. The children go through the cards and work out how the plural form of each singular noun
would be spelt. They check their answers by looking at the back of each card.
3. Encourage more able children to create plural and singular nouns cards of their own using the
blank template, or to write some sentences using the singular and plural forms of the nouns on
the existing cards.
4. If there is time, the children can colour the cards.
 irregular plurals
✂

children child
✂

women woman
✂

men man
✂

people person
fold ✂
 irregular plurals
✂

mice mouse
✂

geese goose
✂

feet foot
✂

teeth tooth
fold ✂
 identical singular and plural nouns
✂

deer deer
✂

sheep sheep
✂

moose moose
✂

fish fish
fold ✂
 ✂

fold ✂