Listening games are useful for developing speech and language skills in children.
The following games are simple, quick and fun ways to increase children’s awareness of sound.
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Sit quietly for a minute and ask your child to whisper or draw anything they could hear, e.g. neighbour breathing, aeroplane, clock ticking, a person coughing etc. This can be carried out in groups and can be repeated in different environments - inside or outside.
Sit in a circle and nominate a leader. All the children must watch the leader and copy the actions they do. Try and wait until everyone is doing the same before changing the action. Call children’s names to prompt them to look and copy. Change the leader after a few turns. Ensure that it is clear to all children that the leader has changed and who the new leader is. This can be varied where an action is passed around the circle. Each child must wait until their neighbour looks at them to pass on the action.
You will need different shakers/instruments for this game, e.g. rice, pebbles, maracas, drum, triangle etc.
You will need different shakers/instruments for this game, e.g. rice, pebbles, maracas, drum, triangle etc. Demonstrate an action for each sound (e.g. drum = clapping, triangle = jumping etc). Play an instrument sound and ask your child to do the action.
Game One
Child listens to a sound and identifies the sound they hear by placing a token, holding up, or jumping on the appropriate picture.
Give instructions to your child for them to do. Start off with one and build up to two instructions.
The children dance to the music, when it stops they must sit down. The last one to sit is out. This game can be varied in several ways, for instance, the children walk around and sit down when they hear a whistle. If they hear another whistle they stand up, but if they hear a bell they must lie down.