Tense Time! Identifying Past, Present, and Future Tense Worksheet
This worksheet asks 5-7 year olds to read a full sentence and identify which tense it's written in — past, present, or future — based on the verb form and clue words used, which is a meaningfully harder skill than simply writing verbs in different tenses since it requires recognizing the grammar pattern rather than producing it. This kind of tense-identification practice is exactly what supports stronger reading comprehension and writing later, since understanding when something happens is core to following any story.
Part of the pack
Month 5: Essential English, Math, Science | Ages 6-7Curriculum
How to use this worksheet
Read the first sentence aloud together, paying close attention to the verb. Ask your child what clues tell them when the action happens — words like 'yesterday,' 'now,' or 'will' — or the ending of the verb itself. Have them circle or color the box for the correct tense based on those clues. Move sentence by sentence down the page, asking your child to explain their reasoning each time before confirming the answer.
Materials needed
- Pencil
- Crayons
Extension activities
- •Have your child write their own sentence for each of the three tenses.
- •Look through a favorite book together and find examples of past, present, and future tense sentences.
- •Play a quick game of tense charades, acting out a sentence and having others guess its tense.
- •Talk through your child's day using all three tenses — what they did, what they're doing, what they'll do.
- •Challenge your child to change a past-tense sentence into present and future tense versions.
Tips for parents and teachers
Ask your child to explain why they chose a particular tense, since this reveals whether they're reading the verb form itself or just spotting an obvious time word like 'tomorrow.' Use real-life examples from your child's own routine to illustrate the difference between the three tenses in a way that feels natural rather than abstract. Irregular verbs (go/went, eat/ate) remain tricky at this age, so expect and normalize some mistakes there.
Written by
Hemsweta Jain · Teacher Cheena
MBA and Early Childhood Educator, teaching since 2014 · Founder of RaisoActive, Mumbai
Every RaisoActive worksheet is designed and checked by the founder before publishing.
Published · Last reviewed
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