Talking sticks are an excellent way to teach young children to listen to others when speaking. Preschoolers will learn to patiently anticipate this game in hopes of being called on and holding the stick. Sit in a circle and begin your lesson. Children raise their hands to answer your question. The person called on gets the talking stick. All other students must look at the child with the stick while she is speaking. Only the child with the stick can speak. This can also be used during show and tell or anytime you want to enforce good speaking and listening skills.
Puppet shows and cooking are fun activities for self-regulation. Whether at school or at home, an adult can read children a story and encourage the children to use the puppets to act out the sequence of the story. Children must decide who will play each character and how they will act out the story. This kind of play allows children freedom to explore and be creative while encouraging teamwork, self-reliance, decision-making and organization skills as well as enhancing listening skills and the ability to follow directions. Cooking with an adult allows the child to practice reading recipes, sequencing and reducing impulses. Children must be patient while ingredients are measured, the oven heats up and the item cooks.
Freeze Dance, Red Light, Green Light and Simon Says are appropriate games to teach self-regulation to preschoolers. They are fun for young children and enforce listening skills and self-control of their bodies and minds, and encourage them to follow directions. Parachute games require preschoolers to listen to instructions regarding whether to slow down, speed up, go under the parachute or let it go. Memory and puzzles improve self-regulation in preschoolers. Singing games such as Bingo, Itsy Bitsy Spider and The Wheels on the Bus improve memory, impulse and the ability to listen and follow directions.
Library centers can include audio books that encourage children to turn the page when the bell sounds. Block building requires the preschooler to decide what to build, how to build it and who she wants to help her build it. The children will organize and plan their building. When they are finished, they can look at their building and decide whether to knock it down and build something else or put the blocks away and move onto something else. This organized thinking helps preschoolers develop self-regulation, self-control and teamwork.