Nouns for Kids | Learning All about Nouns and How to Identify Them

Nouns for Kids Every day when we talk, we say thousands of words. In fact, the average adult says about 15,000 words each day. This video uses about 2,000 words. Some words we use describe things. Other words help us make sentences. Some words help us express strong feelings. So, what is a noun? Nouns are all the words that we use for people, places, or things. Let's look at nouns for people. Your name is a noun. It identifies who you are. Your friends and family members also have names. Their names are nouns as well. In addition to everyone's names, we all have different titles, too. Titles are words like grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, cousin, friend, niece, and nephew. So, you're not just Eli. You're also a brother and a son. You might be a nephew, too. There are many titles that people go by. Some people are firemen, doctors, or mail carriers. Some are artists, entertainers, astronauts, and bakers. All those titles are nouns used for people. Now that we've talked about people, let's talk about places. You live in a home, and you go to school. Some other places you might go to are stores, the library, movie theaters, the mall, theme parks, farms, and more. All those words are nouns, too. That leaves one more category for nouns. Things. You write with a pencil, and you read books. You might have a car or a phone. You have a backpack, shoes, clothes, toys, and many more items that you use every day. All those items are also nouns. They fall into the things category. There are millions and millions of nouns because there are millions and millions of people, places, and things in this world. Understanding and recognizing nouns will help you become a better reader and writer. In fact, in English, there aren't many sentences that don't include at least one noun. Let's see if you can pick out the nouns in this sentence. Remember, you're looking for words that name people, places, and or things. The teacher gave candy to the kids at school. If you said teacher, candy, kids, and school, then you're right. The teacher and kids are people. Candy is a thing, and school is a place. In sentences, some of the parts of speech that come before nouns include a, an, and the. When you see one of these words in a sentence, that is a good clue that there is probably a noun that comes after it. Look at this sentence. My mom gave me an apple. Do you see the word an in this sentence? Is the word that comes after an a noun? Is apple a person, place, or a thing? An apple is a thing, isn't it? And the word an helped us know that apple is indeed a noun. Now that you understand that nouns are people, places, and things, there are two different types of nouns, common nouns and proper nouns. Most of the nouns we have talked about so far are examples of common nouns. The word common means often, which means it's a word that we hear and use a lot. Common nouns are the ordinary words for people, places, and things. For example, you are a kid, and the noun kid is a common noun. We use that noun a lot. Nouns that are not ordinary or common, which means they are used less often, are called proper nouns. We use proper nouns to name something specific. The word kid is a common noun, but your specific name, Tom, is a proper noun. Your name is not as common as kid, so your name, Tom, is a proper noun because it is specific to you and not as common as the word kid. We could call every single child in the world a kid, but we can't call every kid in the world Tom. So kid is a common noun, and Tom is a proper noun. It works the same with places and things. You go to a school. School is a common noun. We use that noun often, but the name of your school is specific, which means it is not common. So the name of your school is a proper noun. The word movie is a common noun that we use a lot as well, but the movie Despicable Me is a proper noun because it is the name of a specific movie. Remember, a proper noun is a specific person, place, or thing. Look at this group of nouns. Some of them are proper nouns, and some of them are common nouns. See if you can place the proper nouns and the common nouns into the correct column. By the way, did you notice that all the proper nouns were capitalized? That's because proper nouns are always capitalized, but common nouns are only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence. For example, the word kid is not capitalized, but your name, Tom, is. Library is not capitalized, but Colorado City Library is. Grocery store is not capitalized, but Walmart is. If you get confused between proper and common nouns, see if the person, place, or thing in a sentence is capitalized or not. That can help you know if it is a common noun or a proper noun. Remember that a proper noun is more special or specific, and it isn't used as often as common nouns. Let's take a look at a sentence with some proper nouns in it. Can you spot them all? Emma was walking down Main Street and saw her teacher, Mr. Williams. Did you find all three proper nouns? Well done! Here's a bonus question. Can you find the common noun in that sentence? Did you say teacher? Great job! Now that you've mastered nouns, you are ready to learn about the other parts of speech. Hope you had fun learning with us. Visit us at learnbright.org for thousands of free resources and turnkey solutions for teachers and homeschoolers.