Engage preschoolers in an activity that requires them to repeat sounds. Invite children to sit in front of you. Explain to them that you are going to make a series of sounds and that you want them to repeat the sounds you have made, but in order to do so, they must listen. Begin by making a few simple sounds, such as two claps or two foot taps. After making the sounds, invite children to make the same sounds. After making a few series of simple sounds, progress to more complex patterns of sounds; clap, tap, clap, clap or tap, tap, tap knee slap. You could turn this activity into a game by having children who repeat the wrong sounds sit out of the game.
Children must try to name different sounds in this activity. Fill bags or covered bowls with items that make different sounds; pennies, dried rice, dried beans and sand, for example. Set out bowls filled with the items that children can see and use to compare the sounds that are made. Shake the covered bowls or bags for children and invite them to guess which items are in the bowls or bags based on the sounds that they make.
Telephone is an ideal game to use for building listening skills. Have children sit in a line and whisper a simple message in the ear of the child sitting next to you. Children whisper the message in the ear of the person sitting next to them, passing it along down the line. The last person in the line must state aloud the message that she hears. Compare the message that the last child states to the original message. If the message changed, talk about how it changed and why. Continue passing different messages until the same message is passed along down the line.
This activity promotes listening skills, as well as reading comprehension. Tell a simple story to your children, either from a children's book or from memory. Print out or draw pictures that illustrate the events that occurred in the story. After telling the story to children, offer them the pictures. Instruct children to arrange the pictures in the correct order in which they occurred in the story.