Incorporating key words into your daily activities with the children can make for a fun ongoing game. Write one or two key words at the front of the room at the beginning of the day. Tell children to stand up right away whenever they hear either of the words throughout the day. You can choose to reward the first one or two people to stand up each time, or, you can keep a running tally of the first to respond throughout the day and reward the students with the most points in the end. This will encourage the children to pay close attention to all that you say, by introducing a bit of friendly competition.
Have children create a visual representation of what they are hearing. Choose a story to read. Tell them to just listen to you read the story through carefully the first time, not explaining what the end activity will be. Then give each child a piece of paper and some drawing utensils. Read the story one more time, and have children draw a comic representing what they hear while you are reading. This will give students a chance to exercise their creativity, and display their understanding of the subject matter. They will have to listen carefully, and students who did not pay as close attention throughout the first reading may struggle a bit more with their comic, encouraging them to pay closer attention in the future.
Students' listening skills can improve greatly when they have to rely on one another for instruction, without use of one of their other senses. Divide students into groups of two. Give each pair a blindfold, and have one of the two cover his eyes with it. Set up two or three obstacle courses, including things like a chair, a ball on the ground and a glass of water. Have the pairs take turns going through the course. Have the non-blindfolded guide the blindfolded through the course, instructing the impaired partner on how to pick up the glass of water and drink it, pick up the ball and sit down on the chair. They cannot touch the partner, but they can tell them to go left or right or whether to turn around or sit down. The blindfolded partner will have to get in tune with her listening ability as it is her only other source of guidance. Once one partner has completed the course, have them switch roles until everyone has had a chance to be guided.
Having children create a story together encourages them to exercise their listening skills in pursuit of creativity. Have one student start things off by inventing and telling the introduction of a story to the class. This introduction can be as short as two sentences. Then call on another child to continue the story, incorporating what was said by the first student. Continue throughout the class until everyone has added to the story. Students will have to pay close attention to be prepared to contribute when they are called on. At the end of the game, assign students to write an ending to the story for homework, wrapping things up. This will display whether or not they listened past their turn in class, allowing them to call on the story elements added by others.