Countable and Uncountable Nouns Activities and Games for ESL

Do you want some fresh, new ideas for teaching countable and uncountable nouns, along with worksheets, lesson plans and online practice recommendations? Then you’re certainly in the right place! Keep on reading for all the ESL nouns games and activities that you need!

Let’s get into the count and noncount nouns ESL. Also, be sure to check out these ideas for there is/there are as these two things are very closely related.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns Activities for ESL

Are you ready to get into the best ESL games and activities for these kinds of nouns? Then keep on reading because we’ll get into all the details that you need to know!

#1: Countables and Uncountables Nouns Game Go Fish

One of my favourite activities to do with my students on the unit for this grammar concept is Go Fish. Except that instead of regular playing cards, you’ll want to make your own cards. I’ll often do it with food as this is associated with this grammar concept most often in ESL textbooks.

I’ll make cards with the following:

• apple (1)
• apples (group)
• bottle of water
• water (general)
• rice
• bowl of rice

Do you see where I’m going with this? Some are singular, others are plural  (check out: singular and plural noun games) and finally, some are uncountable nouns. Then, students play in groups of 3-4 with the standard Go-Fish rules. Except they must ask the questions in the right way, depending on what kind of noun is it. For example:

• Do you have an apple?
• Do you have some apples?
• Etc.

Then, students must answers appropriately with either yes or no.

#2: Dialogue Substitution

A common way that countable nouns and uncountable nouns are introduced to students is through a dialogue. If you ask students to read it with a partner, you may notice that they don’t really pay close attention to what they’re actually reading. It’s not our students fault, it’s mostly that they just don’t have a reason to read.

Instead, consider removing some of the words (in this case, some of the nouns) and ask students to fill in the blanks as they read. This turns it from a very simple reading exercise to one that focus on grammar and meaning as well. Find out more about it here:

ESL Dialogue Substitution Activity.

This also makes a nice activity for teaching ESL online.

#3: 10 Things

In 10 things, students have to race to think of 10 things that they might need in a certain situation. 5 are countable nouns while the other 5 are uncountable. Some examples of situations you could include are:

• English class
• At the beach
• Hiking
• At a music festival
• Picnic
• Mount Everest

For English class, students may need to bring a pencil, pen, eraser, textbook and dictionary. They may also need some water, air to breathe, common sense, etc.

In some cases, students will have to get a little bit creative with the uncountable nouns. For beginners, you may want to make this game in 6 things and students have to think of 3 for each category.

#4: Class Party

This is a simple exercise that get students to plan an imaginary class party. Put students into groups of 4 and ask them to think of 10 things they’d like to eat or drink. And, a few other things they’d like to bring in terms of activities, decorations or party favours.

After that, students have to divide the list into countable and uncountable nouns. Finally, you can compile a master list together as a class.

#5: Flashcard Sentences

In our opinion, flashcards are a seriously under-utilized teaching tool and they lend themselves so well to teaching countables and uncountables nouns. Here are some of our best ideas for using them in your English classes:

Flashcard Games and Activities.

These ideas will also work well for common and proper nouns when used as writing activities.

#6: ESL Hot Potato Game

If you want to create some fun and excitement in your class, then you’ll want to try out Hot Potato. The way it works is that students pass around an object, either a potato, potato with a timer from the game you can find on Amazon, or any object. When the timer goes off or the music stops, the person holding it has to do something.

In this case, show the student a flashcard and they have to make a sentence with a countable or uncountable noun. Do you want to try it out? Learn more here: Hot Potato Game.

#7: Countable/Uncountable Nouns Listening Activities

Most ESL textbooks introduce this grammatical concept by using a reading. However, you can easily use a listening activity as well. One easy way to do it is to give students a quick primer about what these nouns are. Then, you play the listening passage and have them take notes about what they hear. Finally, they can divide the nouns into countable or uncountable.

Do you want to know the steps to follow when planning an ESL listening lesson? Then you’ll want to check this out: How to Plan an ESL Listening Lesson. 

#8: Task Based Language Teaching Activities

Task based teaching and learning is basically where students have to complete a task of some kind. The main advantages to this of styles are that students have a little bit more freedom to learn what they want to learn and also that the definable task to complete can serve as a serious motivator.

In this case, there are lots of tasks you can do related to uncountables and countables, especially related to food. Students could think of a dream meal they’d like to prepare and then make a shopping list, menu and steps to follow to complete the meal. Or, they could plan a class party. There are lots of other situations related to this as well—get creative and think of something that your students would find engaging and is of course appropriate for their age.

Do you want to find out more about this and get some additional ideas? Check this out: ESL Task Based Teaching.

#9: Rocks-Scissor-Paper

This is a fun mixer game where students get some strips of paper with questions and others with answers and then have to mingle with their classmates to find a match. Once they do, they do rocks-scissors-paper to see who gets both papers and 1 point. In this case, you’ll want to focus your questions on countable/uncountable nouns, with a mix of singular and plural.

• Do you have any apple?
• Yes I have one.
• Are there any apples?
• Yes, there are some.
• I’m so thirsty! Do you have some water?
• Yes, here’s some.

At the end of the activity, the student with the most matches is the winner. Be sure to check that they’re correct. Find out more about this ESL mixer activity here: ESL Rocks-Scissors-Paper.

#10: How to Teach an ESL Grammar Lesson

Even experienced English teachers are sometimes a little bit shaky on the steps involved in teaching an ESL grammar lesson like one on contable/uncontable nouns. If that’s the situation that you find yourself in, don’t worry! Help is here.

You’ll want to check out this step-by-step guide for teaching English grammar right here:

How to Teach ESL Grammar.

#11: ESL Board Games

I love to use board games with my students because they’re fun, interactive and can be used with a ton of grammatical points, including this one. The way is works is that you can write various words in each square, either a quantifier of some kind (any, some, an, etc.) or a noun (pen, clock, people).

When the student lands on the square, they have to make a true sentence with that word in it. For example:

• There aren’t any animals in this room.
• There are some extra desks.
• There’s a pen on my desk.
• There are many people at school.

Do you want to find out more about how to use board games in your classes? Then you’ll want to check this out: Board Games for ESL.

#12: More Ideas for Teaching English

#13: Quantifier Activities

English quantifiers like some, any, much, etc. go hand in hand with countables uncountables and many of the activities that you might consider using to teach them also  work well for this grammar point. Here are some of the best ideas that you might want to try out:

ESL Quantifier Activities.

#14: Picture Prompt ESL Warmer

A way that I like to introduce this concept of countable and uncountable things is to show my students a picture with lots of things in it. Then, I ask my students to tell me some of the things they see and I add the appropriate quantifier (a/an/some/many, etc).

For example:

• apple (some apples)
• water (bottles of water)
• people (many people)
• igloo (an igloo)
• Etc.

Do you want to try out this no-prep activity with your students? You can learn more about this activity right here: ESL Picture Prompt Warm-Up.

#15: Songs and Chants

I love to use songs and chants when I teach kids. You can easily find one for every level and age of student on YouTube.

#16: ESL Role Plays

If you teach beginners, then get familiar with role-plays! They’re ideal for helping students have “conversations” with each other, even though their language skills may be a little bit weak.

The way it works is that you give students the start of a conversation with some blanks sprinkled in. Then, students work in pairs to fill in the blanks and finish the conversation. Of course, the role-play you choose should lend itself to these kinds of nouns.

Find out all the details you need to get started with this activity here:

ESL Role Play Activity.

#17: Running Dictation

If you want a fun, 4-skills ESL game to try out with your students, then consider running dictation. Students have to work together to dictate a conversation and then put the pieces of the conversation in the correct order.

Want to try out this fun ESL activity? You can see all the details here:

Running Dictation. 

This activity is also ideal for holidays. For example, as a Black Friday Game.

#18: Telephone ESL Game

I’m sure you’ve heard of this game before. The way it works is that students have to pass along a message down the line. At the end, compare the message to the original one. The result are usually hilarious!

Of course, you’ll want to sprinkle in a bunch of these kinds of nouns. Learn more about it:

ESL Telephone Game.

#19: Error Correction Relay

#20: What are you Cooking?

This is a fun activity you do for the food unit, common in most ESL textbooks and that lends itself particularly well to countables uncountables. It’s fun because in groups, students have to make an interesting 3-course menu from ingredients given to them by another group. Sounds cool, right? It is!

The key is to require students to add a word like some, one, a at the beginning of each word they give to the other group. You can find out the details here:

ESL What are you Cooking?

#21: Countables Uncountables Reading Lesson Plan

It’s certainly possible to plan an entire reading lesson on just about any grammatical point, including countable and uncountable nouns. Just find a reading passage with lots of examples of the target vocabulary or grammar, plan your lesson and then don’t forget to include a post-reading activity or two to get the most value out of it.

Want to find out how to do this? Have a look here:

ESL Post-Reading Activities.

#22: Dictogloss ESL Listening Activity for Count Noncount Nouns ESL

Try out this challenging listening activity your higher-level students. Find, or write a passage filled with examples of count and noncount nouns.

Then, put students into pairs and read it out at a faster than normal pace for the level of the students in your class. Students can take notes and then compare with a partner to try to recreate what they just heard. Repeat the process one more time. Finally, students can compare what they have with the original. Sounds like something you want to try? Check it out:

Dictogloss.

#23: Memory Circle

Try out this quick and fun memory game for kids as a nice way to review countables and uncountable nouns. Students take turns adding countable and then uncountable nouns to the list as it goes around the circle. Here’s an example:

Student #1: an apple

Student #2: an apple, air

Student: #3: an apple, air, a car

And so on it goes until someone can’t remember what is next. They sit down and are out of the game. The winner is the last person standing. Find out more:

Memory Circle Game.

#24: Vocabulary Auction

This is a fun sentence-building game for all ages. It does take a fair amount of preparation time so I’ll generally only do it if I can recycle the activity with multiple classes.

Make up a bunch of sentences using lots of count noncount nouns. Then, cut out each word. I recommend laminating them if you plan to use them lots.

To play, put students into teams and give each of them some play money. Each team can bid on words in an auction. Then, there’s a trading time with other teams. The goal is for each team to make as many grammatically correct sentences as possible.

Sounds like fun? Try it out with your students:

Vocabulary Auction ESL.

#25: Menus and Ordering Food

Check out this simple activity for English learners:

#26: Drilling Games

A nice way for students to work on countables and uncountables is with a drill. It can help these things become more automatic for our students. Have a look here for some ideas:

Drilling Games.

#27: Sorting Game

Prepare a list of countable and uncountable nouns on separate cards. Have students sort the nouns into two categories. This helps them visually distinguish between the two types.

#28: Shopping List

Create a shopping list with a mix of countable and uncountable nouns. Students take turns reading items from the list and the class must decide if the noun is countable or uncountable.

#29: Tic-Tac-Toe

Create a tic-tac-toe grid with countable and uncountable nouns in each square. Students play in pairs. To place their symbol, they must correctly categorize the noun as countable or uncountable.

#30: Story Building

Provide students with a starting sentence that contains either a countable or uncountable noun. Each student adds a sentence to the story, incorporating a countable or uncountable noun correctly.

#31: Grammar Bingo

Create bingo cards with different countable and uncountable nouns in the squares. Call out definitions, and students mark the corresponding noun on their bingo card.

#32: Collective Nouns

Closely related to this concept are collective nouns (groups of things). Have a look here at this handy list

List of Collective Nouns.

Countables and Uncountables Nouns Worksheets

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel! There are lots of top-notch worksheets for countables and uncountables. Here are some of the best ones:

Agenda Web

ISL Collective

My English Pages

Online Practice for Countable and Uncountable Nouns

If you want to give your students some additional practice opportunities for this important English grammar concept, worksheets are certainly one option. However, you may also want to recommend some online practice. Here are some of our top picks:

ESL Games Plus

Turtle Diary

English Club

ESL Lesson Plans for Countable Uncountable

Are you a busy teacher just looking for lesson plans for countable/uncountable nouns that you can print and go? Who isn’t, right? It’s a huge time-saver and you’ll definitely want to check out our top recommendations here:

ThoughtCo

LinguaHouse

TEFL Handbook

Count and Noncount Nouns ESL FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about countable uncountable nouns ESL. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

What is a countable noun?

A countable of count noun refers to a single thing, person, or place that can be counted. For example, teachers, cities, or pencils.

What is an uncountable noun?

An uncountable or noncount noun refers to general things that can’t be made plural or counted. For example, water, salt, peace,  sand, or joy.

What are some noncount noun examples?

Some noncount noun examples include the following:

• A mass (money, transportation, clothing, traffic)
• Natural substance (air, water, dirt, blood, silver)
• Food (rice, coffee, water, meat, bread)

These words cannot be made plural by simply adding an “s.”

How do you teach countable and uncountable nouns ESL?

You can teach uncountable and countable nouns most easily by giving students some examples of each of them. Then, have students list some more nouns for each category. Finally, do some practice activities to reinforce this concept.

Is rice a count noun?

Rice is an uncountable noun. However, if you want to make it countable, then you can say for example, “10 grains of rice.”

Is water a count noun?

Water is a noncount noun. However, you can make it into a count noun by saying the following:

• Many drops of water.
• Some bottles of water.
• 4 glasses of water.
• Etc.

Did you Like these Countable and Uncountable ESL Activities and Games?

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Yes, it really is that easy to level up your teaching game. Head over to Amazon to pick yourself up a copy today, but only if you want to get yourself a serious dose of ESL teaching awesome in your life:

Have your Say about Countable Uncountable Nouns

What do you think about these ESL activities for uncountable and countable nouns? Have you tried out one of them from this list or do you have another recommendation that you’d like to share? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

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Last update on 2025-04-16 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API