For he/she:

Matching pairs - Find pictures of people carrying out different activities e.g. a boy brushing his teeth, a girl washing her hands etc. Make two copies of each picture. Turn the pictures face down onto the table and play a game of pairs. Turn over one picture at a time and ask “Who’s brushing their teeth?”. Encourage the child to answer: “He is” or “She is”. If you find a matching pair you get to keep it.

Barrier game - Find/draw pictures of people carrying out different activities e.g. a girl washing a teddy. Put a screen between yourself and the child, ensuring that you have the same pictures/drawing materials. Start by describing a picture to a child and ask them to find/draw the picture for you, without looking over/around the barrier. Then remove the screen to reveal both pictures to see the outcome. You will then need to reverse the game, so that the child describes the picture to you.

Sorting game – Sort pictures in to groups of he and she, asking the child to describe them as you go e.g. ‘He is jumping’, ‘She is running’.

Stories – Read/make-up a story about a boy or a girl (or both), stressing the pronouns. Using puppets/pictures will help reinforce the concept e.g. ‘Mary went to the shops and Tom went to the park’. Then ask questions e.g. ‘Here’s Tom, where did he go?’

Daily Diary – The events of the day at school or at home can be recorded in a picture diary. The adult re-tells the child’s news, modelling the use of the pronoun forms and then asks the child questions e.g. ‘What did Kelly do at the weekend? She went to the shops. Where else did she go?’

Spinner – Collect together pictures of people doing different activities and arrange them around a spinner. The child spins the spinner and has to describe the picture the spinner lands on using the correct pronoun.

Activities for developing use of pronouns

For him/her:

Match up - Cut out pictures of people with different occupations, along with the tools, objects they may use e.g. a fireman and a hose, a doctor and a stethoscope etc. Encourage the child to match the person with the item and then use the sentence ‘The hose belongs to him’, ‘The stethoscope belongs to her’ etc. You will need to model this sentence structure to them first.

Teacher - Use pictures or boy and girl puppets/dolls, plus everyday objects e.g. cup, ball, teddy etc. Start the game by giving the child instructions e.g. ‘Give the ball to him’ then swap roles. The child has to give instructions to the adult.

Family pictures - Ask the child to bring in family pictures/holiday pictures and tell you about them. Use the pictures to talk about ‘him’ and ‘her’ e.g. ‘This is Tom’s dad and this is his mum’, ‘Whose book is this? This is her book’.

Who shall we pass it to? – Play a game passing different objects round the group. The adult asks the question “Who shall we pass the ___ to?” (fill the gap with the name of the object). Encourage the child to use the phrase “Pass it to him” or “Pass it to her”. When the child has the object they have to say something about it e.g. “It’s green” or “It’s soft”.