One activity improves listening skills is having students create something that is read to them where they do not know what the image is. Find a picture you want the children to draw -- simple pictures such as a snowman work best -- and place it in front of you. One by one, describe the part of the image you want the children to add to their pictures until they are complete. For example, tell them to draw a circle the size of your poem in the bottom center of the page to make the snowman base. If the children listened carefully, their pictures will look like your image.
Improve listening skills by reading stories aloud. As you read, stop occasionally and discuss what has happened or ask the children to make a prediction on what will happen next. If the children cannot answer your questions, start again and allow them to listen again for the elements of the story that answer the questions. This not only improves the child's listening skills, but also builds vocabulary and knowledge of stories and their elements. This activity is also possible with stories on audio book, since they may be paused, backed up and listened to again.
Rhyme is one way to make sure children understand patterns with words and hear them correctly. Improve listening skills by reading rhyming poems or tongue twisters and discussing the rhyming words and patterns. Another idea is to make up silly rhymes, giving the child the chance to demonstrate her own ability to choose words. For this activity, it is more important that the phrases rhyme than it is that the students use real words.
One easy way to help children develop listening skills while accomplishing other every day tasks is to give them lists without writing them down. Children, especially young children, struggle with multi-step directions, so it is important to develop these skills early. For example, send a child to a different room to collect a series of four or more items and bring them back. At first you may need to repeat the list, but the child should become skilled at remembering the items after only one explanation. Another variation on this activity is to cook something together, tell the child each step in the recipe and have him complete each task.
If multiple children are together, the game of telephone is very entertaining and easy to play. Telephone urges children to listen carefully to what someone is telling them. It is usually a quiet game that is played quickly with little prior arrangement. This is a great game for an extra minute here or there with no other planned activity. Play telephone by thinking of a phrase and whispering it into a child's ear. That child turns to the person next to her and whispers the same thing. The process continues down the row until the last person says aloud what she heard.
Take the child to a crowded place, such as a restaurant, and have her listen to the conversations around her. This activity works better with older kids as they are able to be less obvious about listening to conversations they are not a part of, and you cannot control what is being said. Encourage them to listen to people speaking as far away as possible. This activity helps to develop the skill of blocking out other noises, such as the conversation happening next to them.
The main reason for developing listening skills is for communication, so always encourage children to communicate effectively with others. Engage the child in conversation regularly and at an early age. Talk to the child and ask him questions that require him to listen to what is being said, then move the conversation into longer pieces of information he must listen to in order to answer the questions. This develops active listening skills while also improving conversational skills.
Playing music around a child encourages her to listen to rhythm as well as the words in songs. Play music together with instruments or simply listen to recorded music on the radio or a CD. Encourage children to learn the words to songs as they listen and sing the songs back. Make this into a fun activity by putting on small concerts where children perform the songs they learned to a group or the rest of the family.