Playing a game of name that sound is a fast, easy way to teach listening. Make the sounds yourself or use prerecorded sounds from animals, sirens and other everyday noises. Begin the game by making sure all of the kids are quiet and ready to listen. Wait until they are quiet to play the next sound -- they will listen with anticipation for the next sound to come. Draw out the silence between each sound and play only a snippet of a few sounds to make this game more exciting and promote stronger listening skills.
Place a blindfold on one child. Let the other kids take turns making sounds using objects in the room like slamming a cabinet door, pulling out a chair or writing on a chalkboard. The child with the blindfold on must then try to guess what the sound is. To make this game more advanced, create a series of sounds for the child to guess in chronological order. Allow the other kids to give clues if the sound is too difficult.
Memorizing requires listening, which make this game effective for developing those skills. Create a grocery store in the classroom by placing empty food containers on a shelf or table. Take turns with a shopping cart and tell each child what to get from the grocery store. Only tell them once or twice and see if they can remember all of the items you asked for. Start off by asking for only a couple of items, and increase the list to make it harder.
This exciting listening game is played throughout the day. It helps kids to stay alert and build listening skills. Choose a word that will become the buzz word of the day. Whenever the teacher says that word, whoever yells out "buzz word" gets a ticket. Use the word casually while talking or reading to test the kids' listening skills. Whoever has the most tickets at the end of the day gets a prize.