Prepositions for kids: prepositions of place and time

What is a preposition?

A preposition is a word that shows how a noun or pronoun connects to the rest of the sentence. Most often it shows where something is or when something happens. In "The keys are under the mat," under shows where the keys are. In "We swim on Saturdays," on shows when.

A preposition never works alone. It is followed by a noun, a pronoun or a noun phrase, called its object. Together they make a prepositional phrase: under the mat, on Saturdays, with her.

Prepositions of place

Prepositions of place tell you where something is. Picture a ball and a box. The ball can be in the box, on the box, under it, behind it, in front of it or next to it. Put two boxes side by side and the ball can be between them.

• in: inside something. "The milk is in the fridge."
• on: touching a surface. "The book is on the table."
• at: a particular point or place. "Meet me at the gate."
• under or below: lower than something. "The cat is under the car."
• over or above: higher than something. "A plane flew over the town."
• Others: behind, in front of, next to, beside, between, among, near, opposite.

Some prepositions show movement rather than position: into, onto, through, across, along, toward, past. "She walked into the room" shows movement from outside to inside, while "She was in the room" only says where she was.

Prepositions of time

• at for clock times and exact moments: at 7 o'clock, at noon, at night.
• on for days and dates: on Monday, on July 4, on my birthday.
• in for longer stretches: in May, in 2026, in the summer, in the morning.
• Other prepositions of time: before, after, during, until, since, for, by.

Two pairs cause trouble. For gives a length of time ("for three years"), while since gives a starting point ("since 2023"). By means no later than ("Finish by Friday"), while until means up to that time ("Stay until Friday").

Preposition, adverb or conjunction?

Some words change job depending on what follows them. In "We met before lunch," before is a preposition, because a noun follows it. In "We met before the bell rang," it is a conjunction, because a whole clause with its own verb follows. In "I have been here before," it is an adverb, because nothing follows it. The test is always what comes next.

Prepositions examples at different levels

• Kindergarten: "The frog is on the log." On tells where.
• Grade 1: "Nobody talked during the movie." During tells when.
• Grade 2: "The puppy ran across the yard and under the fence." Across and under tell where it went.
• Grade 3: "My birthday is in April, and the party is on a Saturday." In goes with the month, on with the day.
• Grade 4: "The girl with the green backpack waved." The prepositional phrase with the green backpack tells you which girl.

How prepositions are taught in school

In the US, Common Core starts in kindergarten with the most frequently occurring prepositions, such as to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by and with (L.K.1e). Grade 1 adds words such as during, beyond and toward (L.1.1i). Grade 4 children form and use prepositional phrases (L.4.1e), and grade 5 children explain what prepositions do in general and in particular sentences (L.5.1a).

In England, Year 3 pupils use prepositions such as before, after, during, in and because of to show time, place and cause, and "preposition" joins the grammar terms that year. Year 4 pupils expand noun phrases with prepositional phrases, such as "the dog with the muddy paws". Prepositions are tested on the KS2 grammar, punctuation and spelling test at the end of Year 6. A small spelling difference: British English usually writes towards where American English writes toward. Both are correct.

Prepositions practice at home

• Hide a toy and give clues using only prepositions: "It's under something soft, next to something cold."
• Build a pillow obstacle course and narrate it together: over the cushion, under the table, around the chair.
• Ask where and when questions at dinner and listen for at, on and in.
• Try the practice set below. It asks your child to choose the right preposition of place or time, find the preposition in a sentence, pick out the prepositional phrase and say whether it tells where, when or which one. Then print a fresh prepositions worksheet with an answer key.