These are easy activities to help very young children with their listening skills. Children learn through play, so make sure these activities are full of fun!
Learn to: listen to sounds
Listening Walk: Take a walk around your house or outside your home. Stop. Ask your child ‘What can you hear?’ Praise them often for efforts at listening.
Listening Sit: Sit down with your child and both shut your eyes – listen for sounds. Give your child time to listen to the sound for at least 30 seconds – ask them ‘What can you hear’ and praise every effort they make.
Action Noises: Have your child shut their eyes or sit where they can’t see you. Make a familiar noise (for example clap your hands). Encourage your child to copy you.
Animal Noises: Take animal toys and encourage your child to make the animal sounds with you. Do one noise at a time and give your child time to process what they’re hearing.
Learn to: listen to sounds & signals
Hide and Seek: This is a good game to get your child used to listening for signals – call to them, use a whistle or handclap to cue them to where you’re hiding. Gradually make the game harder.
Using Pictures: Point to pictures of familiar things and ask your child ‘Who says Woof’ ‘What goes brmmm brmmm’.
Listening for No Noise: Using a toy car or truck, sit opposite your child and encourage them to push the car when you make the noise (‘brmmm’ ‘brmmm’). When you stop making the noise the child stops pushing the car. Extend on this by using several types of vehicles, so the child has to choose which one makes what noise.
Learn to: listen to sounds & instructions
Simon Says: This is a game with some quite complex concepts. The adult uses ‘Simon Says…’ as a command for simple movements; the child not only has to follow these instructions, but at the same time work out when not to do it!
At the farm: Take some toys and make a scene, for example a farmyard. Give your child directions – ‘Make the farmer feed the cows’ ‘Make the boy ride on the truck’. Next time change one component of the sentence ‘Make the farmer feed the sheep’ ‘Make the girl ride on the truck’.
Stop and Start: Have your child stand down one end of the room. Tell them this is a stop start game and they need to listen for when you clap your hands – their cue to stop. Call a direction to run, hop, or crawl to you. Stop their movement by signalling a clap – the child must stop exactly where they are. Call a different direction and stop them again.
Courtesy of Liz Donnelly.
Liz Donnelly is a Children’s Media Specialist and the founder of The Eardrops Company; she produces CDs for children aged 0-4 years that help develop better listening skills. For more listening information plus free online activities for young children see www.eardrops.co.nz or phone Liz on 0508 EARDROP (0508 327 376)