Action words for kids with pictures

Action Words in English and Hindi with pictures

25 words · tap 🔊 to hear each one.

Picture	English	Hindi	Say it	Listen
	Run	दौड़ना	Daudna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Jump	कूदना	Koodna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Eat	खाना	Khaana	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Drink	पीना	Peena	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Sleep	सोना	Sona	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Clap	ताली बजाना	Taali bajaana	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Dance	नाचना	Naachna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Sing	गाना	Gaana	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Walk	चलना	Chalna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Sit	बैठना	Baithna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Stand	खड़े होना	Khade hona	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Cry	रोना	Rona	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Laugh	हँसना	Hansna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Play	खेलना	Khelna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Hug	गले लगाना	Gale lagaana	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Wash	धोना	Dhona	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Brush	ब्रश करना	Brush karna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Read	पढ़ना	Padhna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Write	लिखना	Likhna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Draw	चित्र बनाना	Chitra banaana	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Swim	तैरना	Tairna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Throw	फेंकना	Phenkna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Catch	पकड़ना	Pakadna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Climb	चढ़ना	Chadhna	EN 🔊हि 🔊
	Cook	खाना बनाना	Khaana banaana	EN 🔊हि 🔊

Action words for kids are the "doing words" of language: run, jump, eat, sleep, clap. A child who knows them can move from naming things ("ball") to making sentences ("throw ball!"). This page gives your child 25 everyday action words with pictures, each spoken in Hindi and English with clear audio, and gives you ideas to turn every word into something your child actually does with their body.

What are action words for kids?

An action word, or action verb, tells us what someone is doing. A simple definition for kids: "An action word is something you can do. If you can act it out, it is an action word." Jump is an action word because you can jump. Table is not, because you cannot "table". Grown-ups call them verbs; for young children, "action words" or "doing words" is easier. In Hindi, many action words end in -ना: दौड़ना (to run), खाना (to eat), सोना (to sleep). That little ending is a handy clue for a bilingual child.

The 25 action words on this page

The word list above shows each action word with a picture, the Hindi and the pronunciation, and prints as an action words chart. Here they are grouped so you can pick a theme for the day.

A fun Hindi puzzle for older children: खाना means both "to eat" and "food", and सोना means both "to sleep" and "gold". The picture tells you which one you mean.

How to use the action words game

• Listen: tap a picture and hear, for example, "Clap, ताली बजाना" with a short fact. Then do the action together. This is the most important step.
• Find it: Golu asks "Where is swim?" and your child taps from 2 to 4 pictures. The game never says "wrong": a mistaken tap hears the name of what was tapped, then the right picture glows, then Golu points.
• Memory: turn cards to find matching action pictures, a good action words game for 4- and 5-year-olds.

Every game ends with a marble in the Goli Jar; tap the jar and count the marbles together. The अ+A button switches between Hindi first, English first, or one language only. Settings, behind a grown-up check, let you set your child's age (2-3, 3-4, 4-5 or 5-6), which changes the number of choices, and turn on calm sound, calm motion, captions and fewer choices.

Action words for toddlers, preschoolers and class 1

Most 2-year-olds put two words together, and many of those pairs contain an action: "more milk", "go park", "daddy run". If your child is not combining words by around age 2 and a half, talk to your paediatrician; early help works well.

How to teach action words to kids at home

Action words are learned with the body, not the eyes. Five to ten minutes a day, mixed into ordinary routines, is enough.

1. Narrate your day: "I am cooking. You are drinking. Dadi is reading." Children learn verbs by hearing them attached to real actions, many times.
2. Golu says: play Simon says with Golu: "Golu says clap! Golu says sit! Stand!" Switch between Hindi and English.
3. Park walk: spot actions around you: a dog running, a boy climbing, a bird flying. Ask "What is he doing?"
4. Action charades: for 4- to 6-year-olds, act out an action without words and let your child guess, then swap. It is a great family game and works well for a class.
5. Action songs: sing "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands", then change the action to jump, hug or laugh. Hindi action rhymes like "हाथी राजा कहाँ चले" work beautifully too.
6. Picture talk: look at a family photo or a picture book and ask "Who is eating? Who is sleeping?"

Add opposites once your child knows the words: sit and stand, laugh and cry, throw and catch. The opposite words game builds on exactly this.

Action words in sentences, worksheets and fill in the blanks

For preschool and class 1, the next step is putting an action word in a sentence. Start with the "-ing" form, which children hear most:

• The girl is running. लड़की दौड़ रही है।
• The baby is sleeping. बच्चा सो रहा है।
• Papa is cooking. पापा खाना बना रहे हैं।
• We brush our teeth every morning. हम रोज़ सुबह ब्रश करते हैं।

To make an action words worksheet, print this page from your browser. Cover the English names in the word list and ask your child to write the action word under each picture, or write sentences with a blank ("The fish can ___") and let your child fill in the blanks. Keep the answers on the back for self-checking. We do not offer a PDF file, but the word list prints with pictures on a single page. For drawing practice, ask your child to draw one action a day; stick figures running or jumping are easy action words drawing for kids and great for talking.

Calm, inclusive learning (including action words for autism)

Praise effort: "You showed me swimming with your arms!" If your child gets frustrated, stop the screen game and just move: jump, clap, laugh together. For children with speech delay, doing the action counts as understanding; words often follow. For autistic children, action words are often easier when the child does the action first and hears the word at the same moment; short, predictable routines and pictures help a lot. Some children prefer to point rather than act, and that is fine. In bilingual homes, use the अ+A button to hear one language at a time. Keep screen sessions short and play together; for children under 2, a grown-up saying "jump!" and jumping with them beats any screen. If you are worried about language, talk to your paediatrician.

Action words link naturally to body parts name in Hindi and English (we clap with our hands), emotions for kids (laugh, cry), good habits for kids (wash, brush) and sports name (throw, catch, swim).

How to use this page at home

Say it, then find it

Play for a few minutes, then look for the same thing away from the screen: action words on the shelf, in the kitchen, on the way to school. A child learns a word properly when they meet it twice, once on the screen and once in their hand.

Ten minutes is enough

Short and happy beats long and tired. Stop while your child still wants more, and come back tomorrow: the same page on five short days teaches far more than one long sitting. Nothing here is scored, so there is no reason to push.

Use both languages

Tap the language button at the top to hear the words in your home language first and the second language after. Hearing the same picture named in two languages is one of the few things research agrees builds attention as well as vocabulary.