The Borrowed Hat — Personal Pronouns (Grade 1)

About this activity

At Hattie's Lost-and-Found Hat Shop, a sentence shows up with a gap — "___ ran to the den" or "Pat saw ___ at the park" — and the child taps the pronoun that fits its job: he, him, or his. It's a free, interactive Grade 1 grammar activity that runs in the browser with no account.

The big idea is that a pronoun changes shape depending on what it is doing: he when it is the one acting, him when the action is done to it, his when it shows belonging — and the same for I/me/my, they/them/their, and we/us. The wrong choice is always the same pronoun in the wrong job, so a child cannot pick by 'which word sounds familiar'; they have to read the sentence and decide whether the pronoun is doing, receiving, or owning. Compound subjects like 'Sam and ___' add the trickiest case.

It is aligned to Common Core L.1.1.d — using personal pronouns correctly. No timer, no score — just calm, playful practice.

What's inside this activity

• Designed for Grade 1 learners (ages about 6–7)
• Common Core strand: Language
• Aligned to Common Core standard L.1.1.d

How to play

Read the sentence with the blank in it.

Tap the pronoun that fits the job — the one doing, the one it is done to, or the one it belongs to.

A warm check confirms a correct fit and offers an easy retry, with no timer and no score.

What your child practices

• Choosing he, him, or his to match a pronoun's job in the sentence
• Telling a doing (subject) pronoun apart from a receiving (object) one
• Picking the right pronoun in compound phrases like 'Sam and I'
• Using possessive pronouns to show belonging

Learning goals

Use personal pronouns correctly in sentences — the focus of Common Core L.1.1.d

Understand that subject, object, and possessive pronouns take different forms

Build the grammar foundation for clear speaking and writing