How to Teach Prepositions: Easy, Simple Ways

One of the earliest things a child will learn when trying to string words in the English language are prepositions. It can be confusing when first learned, and even as an adult, I admit also having difficulties distinguishing really close ones. Thus, it is important that we teach prepositions early on to develop mastery. However, as a parent or educator, you may run out of ways on how to teach prepositions to your children.

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How to teach prepositions: My personal experience

At present, I have a 2.5 year old who is just starting to learn prepositions in the English language. He uses the common “on”, “in”, “under” and all the usual location-based prepositions, but in my years of being an SLP and early educator, I have come to discover that it isn’t just limited to that.

There are in fact, a lot of prepositions one can teach to help in sentence structure and comprehension of the English language. So, I will be sharing tips on how to teach prepositions to ESL students, preschoolers, special needs, and all other learners in this post.

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How to teach prepositions: Easy, simple steps

Using actual objects

One of the easiest, hands-on ways on how to teach prepositions to preschoolers and other early learners are through the use of actual objects. For example, you can use a ball and a box to help the learner differentiate between different prepositions of location such as “on”, “in”, and “under”.

The sameness of the object can help the learner focus on the location rather than the changes in the object. I recommend using the same example until mastery is achieved, and then you can gradually move to other objects such as a table, shelf, or any other furniture against another stationary item.

Workbooks and worksheets

Another way on how to teach prepositions in speech therapy or special needs students is through workbooks and worksheets. Skill-based workbooks help in the mastery of prepositions which extend beyond those based on location.

For example, in the workbook “Prepositions for Kids”, you will see that the material tackles the prepositions of location, time, movement, and others. This encourages mastery on all areas of preposition use and understanding.

To learn more about the “Prepositions for Kids” workbook, you can check it out on Amazon.

Preposition games and activities

Learning about language elements can sometimes be boring. When I was in elementary school, it was quite a struggle for me to keep my attention as English exercises can be repetitive at times. Thus, some ideas that can help you in how to teach prepositions for grade 1 and beyond is through games. Here are examples:

• Egg hunt: Placing eggs in certain locations and asking where it was found
• Hide and seek: Giving each student a preposition and they will be hiding using the preposition they got. Afterwards, students will identify where each hid using the correct terms.
• Painting: Asking students to draw and paint objects based on their assigned preposition of movement

Doll house

I specifically singled out doll house because I believed it is one of the most useful materials I had when teaching children. I had a gender-neutral doll house toy where I taught different location-based prepositions, where questions, and verbs of activity.

By using a doll house, you can teach a lot of things to children by also integrating them to familiar daily activities.

You can find a neutral doll house that I recommend in Amazon.

Hope this post helps you out on how to teach prepositions to children! As always, you can check out the “Prepositions for Kids” workbook in Amazon to improve mastery on all types of prepositions.

Prepositions For Kids

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