What made that sound?
Play a CD or music app of well-known sounds like those heard in a house, (e.g. toilet flushing, vacuum cleaner), as well as those made by animals, vehicles, etc. Give the children a chance to figure it out, without having them call out the answer. Turn it into a game by having them vote on two possible choices, with images of both choices posted on the Interactive White Board. Or make it a movement game by having them go and stand on the right side of the room if, for example, they think the noise was a cat, or stand on the left side of the room if they think it was a baby crying. Then reveal the answer.
Sound Matching
Fill two small, dark containers with identical small items such as toothpicks, paperclips, buttons, rice, cotton balls, etc. Make sure you have two of each sound. Let the children shake them and try to match the two identical sounds.
Take a Listening Walk
Walk around the school quietly and have the children listen for all the sounds they hear during the walk. Bring a clipboard and paper to keep track of the sounds they hear. Perhaps each child can have a clipboard and they can quickly draw or sketch what they hear. Before going on the walk you may want to read the book The Listening Walk by Paul Showers. You can listen to the story here:
Doggy, Doggy, Where's Your Bone?
Use a set of keys or other small item that has a small jingle sound to it. This will act as the dog bone. Have the children sit in a circle with one child selected to be the dog in the middle. The child will pretend to be a sleeping dog by sitting on his knees and crouching forward on the ground, placing his head in his folded arms, to cover his eyes. The keys are placed on the floor near the child's feet. Another child is quietly and discretely selected to be the bone thief, by the teacher pointing toward that child. The bone thief will go retrieve the bone as quietly as possible and bring it back to her seat, placing it behind her back. All the children now put their hands behind their back and chant, "Doggy, Doggy, where's your bone? Somebody stole it from your home!". At this point the dog wakes up and has three chances to try and guess who stole the bone. Careful listening can help the dog figure out who took the bone, by listening for the direction of the footsteps and the jingle of the keys as the bone is being stolen.
Broken Telephone
Have the children sit in a circle. The teacher or a student begins this game by creating a sentence and whispering it in the ear of the person to their right. That child must listen carefully to the sentence, and repeat it in a whisper voice to the person on his right. Play continues until the sentence has made its way back to the originator. At that point the sentence can be said aloud, and the person who created it can let the class know if it is the sentence that they started with or not. Often this game ends in giggles as the sentence said aloud is usually quite different from what it started out as, but it can be a fun challenge to try and keep the sentence intact.
Copy My Picture
This game promotes listening skills and also helps develop vocabulary, incuding preposition words such as below, next to, etc. This is a game for chilldren to play with a partner. You will need each player to have matching pieces (such as attribute blocks or pattern blocks) to play with, as well as something to use as a divider to be placed between the players so they cannot see each other's picture.
While hidden behind the divider, one child will make a a picture using some of the shapes. Next, he will describe the picture to his partner and his partner will try to copy the picture using the oral clues alone. E.g. "Put the yellow square in the centre." "Put the small, red triangle on top of the square." And so on. Once complete, they will remove the divider and compare pictures to see how close they match. The listener has an important role to listen carefully, and the speaker has to describe the picture in careful detail. A poster can be placed nearby or on each side of the divider listing shapes, colours, and position words to assist.
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Another fun version of this game that was shared by a speech therapist uses magnetic characters placed on a background (such as a metal cookie tray). Each child has a matching set of background image and characters. One child places each character on the magnetic board/background, and tells his/her partner where to place the character using some images in teh background as markers. The second child places the matching character on his/her board in the specifid location. After all the pieces have been placed, have been paced, they compare magnetic boards to see how accurate they were. The children can play again switching roles.
This game encourages clear verbal instructions and careful listening skills, all the while developing vocabulary.
Click here for a printable version of this game with an Ocean theme, as pictured below.
