Children love talking about themselves and sharing information with their friends. A fun activity to encourage children to pay attention not only to their teacher, but also to their peers while they are talking is to sit in a circle and play games. For example, use a bean bag or a ball. The person holding the bean bag or ball is the person who is allowed to talk and everyone else must listen. Ask, "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?" and roll a ball or throw a bean bag to someone in the circle. That child will give their answer and roll the ball to someone else.
Pair up a student with attention problems with another student who displays good attention skills as a way to help influence the student with problems. This is called modeling. The two can talk quietly to each other during classroom projects and be "buddies" throughout the day. This method will not work for every child, so if it is ineffective, move on to another technique.
Use classroom instruments that you may have, such as drumsticks, drums, cymbals or bells. If you do not have these, make drums out of coffee cans. Each child should have an instrument, but this activity might work best when performed one-on-one with the child with the attention problem. Sit in front of him and ask him to repeat after you. If you tap once, he is to to tap once after you do and so on.
Games such as "Simon Says" are good ways for preschoolers to learn to pay attention. Because this game allows children to pay close attention to the words and the person speaking, they can increase attention skills. At the same time, children will be having fun and playing with peers. When it is his turn to be the leader, a child with problems paying attention can also watch and learn as his friends pay attention to him.