Punctuation Teaching Resources

Teach students how to use punctuation marks in their writing this school year with printable worksheets, fun writing games, instructional slide decks and more primary school teaching resources designed to help extend and help students learn how to punctuate their writing to be more clear and understandable.

Our teacher team has created this extensive collection of teaching resources for teachers like you to teach these important writing tools. Aligned to the Australian curriculum, this grammar collection includes editable worksheets and teaching presentations and more to save you time on lesson planning.

Created by expert teachers, each resource in this punctuation collection has been carefully reviewed and curated by our team. That means it's ready to use in the classroom! You'll even find editable resources, plus differentiated options.

New to teaching this part of the curriculum, or just looking for fresh ways to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teaching team, including some answers to tricky punctuation questions from kids!

What Is Punctuation? A Kid-Friendly Definition

Teaching punctuation may matter now more than ever as texting and other digital forms of communication become ever more common. So here's a way to explain what punctuation means to your students in a kid-friendly manner with a definition from our teacher team.

Punctuation is a set of marks we use to help make our writing clearer and easier to read.

When we speak, we pause, change our tone of voice or take a breath. Writing is a lot like that, but instead of the quiet that comes when a speaker pauses, punctuation marks are the tools a writer uses to tell readers when to pause.

What Are Punctuation Marks? A Kid-Friendly Definition

The symbols we use for punctuation are called punctuation marks, and there are more than a dozen different ones in English.

Each of these marks or symbols has its own name and important use in writing, but primary students only learn about 14 to 16 as they embark on their early writing adventures.

10 Common Punctuation Marks And How to Use Them Correctly

Let's take a look at some examples of common punctuation marks that students can use in their writing, along with some examples of how they can be used!

Full stop (.)

Sometimes called a period, a full stop looks like a little dot. We use this punctuation mark to end a sentence that is a statement or a command.

• Example: 'My favourite food is pizza.'

Question Mark (?)

The question mark looks like a full stop with a squiggly line on top of it. We use a question mark to end a sentence that is a question.

• Example: 'What is your favourite colour?'

The full stop with a squiggly line on top of it is the symbol for punctuating a question.

Exclamation Point (!)

The exclamation point looks like a full stop with a straight line on top of it. We use an exclamation point to show strong emotion or emphasis.

• Example: 'Our netball team won the game!'

Commas (,)

Commas look like little hooks next to a word in writing. Writers use commas to separate items in a list or to separate clauses in a sentence.

• Examples: 'I need to buy apples, bananas and oranges.' 'After I finish my homework, I will play outside.'

Apostrophe (')

An apostrophe looks like a comma suspended in the air. This symbol can be used in writing to show possession or to shorten a word.

• Example: 'The cat's toy rolled under the table.'

Quotation Mark (')

Quotation marks look just like apostrophes, but they are used differently. This punctuation mark is used to show that someone is speaking or to show the title of a book or movie.

Example: 'I'm hungry,' the girl said to the boy.

Colon (:)

The punctuation mark symbolised by two dots on top of one another is the colon. Writers can use a colon to introduce a list or an explanation.

• Example: 'I need three things for my science experiment: a battery, a wire and a nail.'

Semicolon (;)

The semicolon looks like a comma with a dot on top. This symbol is used to separate two closely related independent clauses.

• Example: 'I like playing soccer; my brother prefers netball.'

Round Brackets ()

Also called parentheses, round brackets are used to set off additional information within a sentence.

• Example: 'My dog (Max) loves to play fetch.'

Hyphen (-)

Represented by a short line, writers use a hyphen to connect two words to make a compound word or to separate syllables at the end of a line.

• Example: 'short-sleeved shirt'

Confusing Punctuation Rules Explained for Kids

Some punctuation rules are straightforward and relatively easy, but others can get complicated — even for the most attentive students. Here are some of the rules that tend to trip up students!

Does Punctuation Go Inside Brackets?

This is a tricky one for students because there is no tried and true answer! The rule comes down to context and the punctuation mark used.

Whether punctuation goes inside or outside parentheses depends on the context and the type of punctuation.

• When Punctuation Goes Inside the Bracket — Commas, full stops and other punctuation marks generally go inside when they are part of the sentence within the parentheses.
• When Punctuation Goes Outside the Bracket — Punctuation marks go outside when they are part of the sentence outside the brackets. For example, when brackets are used at the end of a sentence, the full stop (if there is one) goes outside the brackets.