One of the most popular activities to promote listening is the classic children's game "Simon Says." An adult leader plays the role of "Simon" and stands at the front of the room, while the players face him. The adult then begins a command with the phrase "Simon says" and follows the phrase with an action, such as "Simon says clap your hands." The children follow this command, in this case, clapping their hands, until the leader announces a new action. Whenever the leader precedes an action with the phrase "Simon says," the children must carry out that action. Whenever the leader commands an action without including the phrase "Simon says" beforehand, the children do not do the action, but instead continue to do the action that came before it. Any player caught doing the action that is not preceded with the phrase "Simon says" is out of the game. As the game goes on, the leader can speed up the commands to make it more difficult. Players must listen very carefully to know when to perform an action and when to ignore a command.
"Red Light, Green Light" is a fun and active children's game that also promotes listening skills. In this game, an adult plays the "police officer" and stands at the front of the room or playing area with his back to the players. When he says, "green light," the children must begin to run forward. When he says, "red light," he quickly spins around and the children must stop immediately. If a child is caught moving after "red light" has been called, he is out of the game. As the game continues, the "police officer" can begin to alter the pace of the game to confuse the children and make sure they are listening carefully to the commands. The first player to touch the "police officer" is the winner.
"Everyone Who Has..." is a fun game for children and helps them practice their listening skills. The players sit in chairs in a circle and then stand up. One chair is then removed, so that there is one more player than there are chairs. An adult plays the role of the announcer. The announcer always begins by saying the phrase "Everyone who has" and then follows the phrase with something that several players have, such as "blond hair," "jeans on" or "glasses." Then, every player who fits that description must run to switch chairs with someone else in the circle. Players are not allowed to switch seats with the person next to them. If a player is left without a seat, he is out and another chair is removed. Play continues until only one child has a seat. That player is the winner. In this game, players must listen carefully to the instructions in order to know when to swap seats and when to stay in their seats.
"Telephone" is a classic party game that can be fun and silly while still teaching children the importance of listening when someone else is talking. An adult plays the role of the "phone operator" and stands or sits at the front of the playing area while all the other players form a line behind him. The "operator" then whispers a phrase or sentence into the first person's ear. That person then whispers that sentence into the next person's ear and on down the line until the last person receives the message. Once the last person hears the sentence, he announces it loudly. The "operator" then tells the children what the original sentence was. As the game continues, the "operator" can start to use long, winding sentences or tongue twisters to make the sentences harder to understand.