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Five Playful Ways to Work on Listening and Following Directions

February 12, 2018 by Katie Filed Under: How to Help Your Child Talk, Language Enrichment Activities for Parents, Playful Ways to.....Series, Therapy Ideas and Activities 31 Comments

I recently got an email from a parent who was wondering how she could work on her son’s listening skills. As I was responding to her email I realized that many parents would benefit from this information- so I decided to make this into a post. There are many FUN ways that you can work on your child’s listening skills. My recommendations can be used with preschoolers through school age…just adjust the difficulty level to match your child’s ability level and then slowly increase the difficulty as they build their skills.

Simon Says

You know this age-old game, right? Someone is “Simon” and he tells everyone what to do by saying “Simon says….” However if he tells you what to do without saying “Simon says” prior to the directions-but you do it anyway- you’re out!

This game is all about having to listen and follow directions. But for kids who might already struggle with this skill, I have a few recommendations to make this game fun and motivating for your child:

  • Rather than “Simon says” I recommend changing it up to a more motivating character. Does your child love superheroes? Play “Spiderman Says!” Does your child love princesses? Play “Cinderella Says!” If it’s around the holidays, you can do “The Scarecrow Says,” “The Mummy Says,” “The Turkey Says,” “The Snowman Says,” “Santa Says” etc. Be creative! You can even have the person who is “it” dress up like the character. This will not only give your child the opportunity to listen and follow directions but it will also give him the opportunity to give directions to others!
  • Only give directions your child can understand. Start simple. Jump. Turn around. Blink your eyes. Once he can follow simple one step directives, start to make them a little harder with two items of information like jump two times or turn around three times. You can then add three part directives like Jump three times then turn around. And so on. If your child is struggling, step back a bit.
  • When starting out you may want to give the directions and then show him what you want him to do. For example, tell him “Jump” and then physically jump. This will give him a visual. This is helpful as you start to increase the complexity of the directions.

Red Light, Green Light

Another classic childhood game. Here are some tips for using this game to work on your child’s listening skills:

  • Once your child gets the hang of the concepts of green-means-go and red-means-stop, add in another color “light” to the mix! They did this in a class my nephew took…I think it was Purple Light means you jump like a bunny! How fun is that!? Just some ideas off the top of my head: Yellow Light for crawling, Orange light for turning around, Blue light for clapping…you get the idea.
  • A tip to help him understand the directions at first: Make signs with the colors you will use in the game with pictures of the motor movements on them. So if you did purple-is-hop-like-a-bunny you can make a round purple “light” and put a picture of a bunny on it as a visual reminder. Then slowly take the signs away and have your child play JUST by listening.

I Spy

My kids LOVE to play this game in the car (along with 20 questions which…drives me crazy sometimes, haha). One person finds an object within view and begins to describe it one attribute at a time. “I spy something blue. I spy something with four wheels. I spy something that goes vroom vroom!” {Sidenote…apparently “vroom” is not a word. What a pity since my son used it constantly as a toddler 😉 } Anyway…the other players must listen to all the attributes and figure out what the item is. This game can even be done items not in view (like a backwards 20 Questions) but I would not recommend this with young children or any child that has difficulties with listening comprehension. Here are my tips for using I Spy with your child:

  • Start SIMPLE. To teach the  game, you may want to take three items and place them in front of you and your child to play the first few times, to help your child grasp the game and give him a smaller playing field, if you will. In fact you may need to play this way for a while depending on your child’s age and ability level. Eventually you can play in a small room, outside, in the car, etc.
  • To help your little one stay organized and remember the information he is being given, write down each attribute after you say it (even when it is HIS turn, write it down also). Then go back and review the attributes each time with him (do the same when it is your turn to guess so he is continually hearing the attributes over and over).

Obstacle Courses

I’ve written about obstacle courses before. Children usually LOVE them and they combine gross motor learning with language learning (providing a multi-sensory learning experience). Though I have a ton of info on my obstacle course post (be sure to check it out) here are a few recommendations on using them to target listening skills:

  • Again, start SIMPLE. Set up maybe only a 3-5 part course at first and then increase it as your child’s skills develop.
  • To target listening, you can two things. First, you can give him directions on exactly how to go through the obstacle course. This works best if at least a couple different steps can be manipulated differently. For example, one step could be a small table. But does he go under, over, or around the table? He will have to listen to find out! You could set up a station with blocks and tell him he needs to build a 5 block tower. Maybe a step with a hoola hoop that he could either jump in or actually try to hoola. Make sense?
  • Another way to incorporate listening is to have one step of the course be just that: following directions before he can go on. It can be like a “simon says” step where he has to follow whatever directions you give, and then he can keep going.

Follow the Leader

Wait….follow the leader? This is a visual game isn’t it? How can this work on listening? Well…yes this is more of a visual following-directions-game. However for little ones who are really struggling with listening this kind of game might be where you want to start. Even though we often talk about areas of development separately…speech development, gross motor development, cognitive development…they are all intertwined and work together. For example, with little ones with very few words one of the first things we might target is actually gross motor imitation. Yes…even in speech therapy. Why? Because this is an important cognitive skill that helps to lay the foundation for communication. Children learn to imitate motor movements before they learn to talk and they need to be able to imitate to learn.

So…if your little one is having a hard time listening and following directions, you may want to actually back up and just work on gross motor imitation like in Follow the Leader. You also can play follow the leader but incorporate verbalizations that need to be imitated…like saying words, phrases or singing songs. Plus…it’s fun 😉

So now I want to hear from you…what playful ways do YOU use to work on listening skills with your little ones or students? I’d LOVE TO learn some new games and activities!

The original version of this post was published on October 1, 2012. 

About Katie

Katie is a licensed, credentialed and certified pediatric speech-language pathologist and mom to four (8, 6, 3 and 6 months). Her passion for educating, inspiring and empowering parents of children with all abilities led her to start her blog playing with words 365 where she shares information about speech & language development & intervention strategies, parenting, photography and a little about her family life too. Katie has been working in the field of speech pathology for 12 years and is certified in The Hanen Centre’s It Takes Two to Talk ® and Target Word ® programs and holds a certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). In addition to blogging and being a mommy, Katie works part time in her small private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

Comments

  1. Trina says

    October 3, 2012 at 8:25 pm

    Great ideas! WE too play Simon says and Red light, green light at my house to work on these skills. I never thought to include characters for Simon says! That is brilliant! My boys are all into super heroes, so this will work great! Thanks for sharing! You are one smart gal and your blog is amazing!
    Trina recently posted..September HappeningsMy Profile

    Reply
    • Katie says

      October 3, 2012 at 9:18 pm

      Oh Trina you are too kind! Yes try having them play “spiderman says” and watch their faces light up 🙂 So fun!

      Reply
    • Amina says

      October 11, 2016 at 1:29 pm

      Hey katie
      Thanks for such a good post.. Can you guide how can I teach my 4 yr old to say alphabet R as he pronounces it as L. If you can help me it will be a great favor. Thanks in advance.

      Reply
  2. Lynn Simard-McMurray says

    October 4, 2012 at 7:39 am

    Thanks.. this just came up in my weekly pinterest. My exact cry to God last night.. and question in my groups board.

    Reply
    • Katie says

      October 4, 2012 at 10:51 am

      Lynn I’m so happy to hear Pinterest brought us together 🙂 I hope you find my site useful and I hope to do more posts on listening and following directions soon…but if you haven’t yet check out my post on barrier games (if your littles are at least 3-4 year old). Welcome!

      Reply
  3. Christie Kiley says

    October 7, 2012 at 9:31 pm

    Thanks for sharing these! I love to use the game Hulaballo to work on auditory processing/listening skills with my kiddos who are around Kindergarten age or older. Making it fun is key!
    Christie Kiley recently posted..Easy Pipe Cleaner BraceletMy Profile

    Reply
  4. Heather S. says

    November 2, 2012 at 8:49 am

    I found this post on Pinterest, and it is exactly what I needed to hear. My 3 year old and I have been at odds for a while, and I have been at wit’s end trying to make him mind me. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of this. We play I Spy, but I never thought of Simon Says or Red Light/Green Light. Extra super bonus points for suggesting cartoon characters instead! My 3 year old is OBSESSED with Spiderman of late. I hope this is the ticket I’m looking for. It’s certainly worth a try! Thank you for your creativity!

    Reply
    • Katie says

      November 2, 2012 at 9:18 am

      Hi Heather! I am so happy to hear you find these ideas useful! And let me tell you, three is the new 13. I have a three year old and I was JUST telling a friend of mine how I felt like I became a totally different karen at three (not one I liked, either). Another thing that had helped in our house behavior wise is making other things into games when we can, like cleaning up. Making it seem “fun” rather than a chore helps. Good luck and let me know how it goes! Have fun with Spiderman Says 🙂

      Reply
  5. LaKaye says

    November 11, 2012 at 5:24 am

    These are great and fun tips. I never know what to do when my nieces and nephew come to play. Now I have a great list of fun and educational games!

    Reply
    • Katie says

      November 11, 2012 at 9:59 am

      LaKaye have fun! I bet the kids will have a blast!

      Reply
  6. Tamara says

    February 1, 2013 at 7:33 pm

    Great stuff!! Another great ‘oldie but goodie’; Person-Place-Thing. Our family plays while waiting for restaurants, longer drives, and etc. You can adjust to simple common objects for the younger……historical people and places for the older. Whatever you select, this helps your children’s listening skills and auditory memory; as they must remember information, from their guesses, but others. Oh, and good turn-taking practice!!

    From a friendly School Psychologist

    Reply
  7. Kell says

    April 3, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    These are fabulous ideas which are used in classrooms, but I love that these ideas were the answers to a parent question. I’ll be recommending this post to my parents, especially over the holiday break. Thanks

    Reply
  8. kristina says

    May 7, 2013 at 11:50 pm

    Love this post! We are focusing on these skills this week (and always), so will be doing several of these activities. I shared your post on our site today http://www.toddlerapproved.com/2013/05/color-and-word-games-toddler-approved.html
    kristina recently posted..Color and Word Games {Toddler Approved This Week}My Profile

    Reply
    • Katie says

      May 8, 2013 at 9:08 pm

      Thanks so much Kristina! Loved the post!!

      Reply
  9. Jasmine says

    June 26, 2013 at 4:33 am

    Thank you for leaving this post up as it is a great one 😀

    Reply
  10. Katrina says

    August 7, 2013 at 10:45 am

    Thank you so much for this post. I love the ideas of games to teach listening skills. This is just what I was looking for!

    Reply
    • Katie says

      August 7, 2013 at 12:17 pm

      You are welcome! Have FUN!

      Reply
  11. Celeste says

    August 16, 2013 at 11:37 am

    My twins just started pre-k and have spent A LOT of time in time out because of not listening. I am so grateful for this list of fun ways to learn listening skills! We will defenitely play all of them this weekend! Thanks so much!!!

    Reply
  12. Cliodhna says

    October 28, 2013 at 6:50 pm

    These are great ideas and really well explained thanks!

    Reply
  13. Jenny Clarke says

    August 10, 2014 at 8:03 pm

    The “Silly game” – give your child according to age/development some instructions to do which are plain silly! Such as – touch the top of your head 3 times, put your big toe on the pot plant and sing happy birthday. They must wait for all instructions before starting. Really challenges children – you can simplify, add less steps or do it with them and remember to laugh a lot! They will want to challenge you back so join in too!

    Reply
  14. Rene weeks says

    June 25, 2016 at 12:33 pm

    I teach Sunday School and your ideas are so helpful. We are a very small church and I buy all the supplies so I look for fun and easy games and crafts am that are not too expensive

    Reply
  15. Namisha says

    February 18, 2017 at 4:13 pm

    Thank you Katie. Can’t stop reading your blogs! We have a 4 yr old that has language but lags in receptive language and following directions.
    Will keep you posted.

    Reply
  16. Trudy Morton says

    April 30, 2018 at 2:02 am

    Hi I am currently delivering speech and language sessions at a Secondary School and would love your opinion on which resources/tools would be particularly appropriate for 10+ years students.

    I have recently purchased photo cards, questioning and speech board games and I am looking to purchase further products.

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Kind regards

    Trudy

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 6 Following Directions Games for Kids - Coffee Cups and Crayons says:
    December 17, 2013 at 7:01 am

    […] 5 Playful Ways to Work on Listening and Following Directions from Playing with Words 365 […]

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  2. February Feature: Parent Involvment says:
    February 18, 2014 at 8:58 am

    […] Send home easy and doable homework for the children to do at home. Keep it simple. If the kids are working on articulation, send home cards or wordlists and ask that they practice only 3-5 minutes a day. That’s it. I have a list of games that can be played with cards and I send the list home and encourage they play one game a day. I try to keep the “homework” not so “homework like.” This is a way to involve parents and get the kids to make much faster progress. If the children are working on language concepts, send home ways they can work on the skills in real life situations. For example if a child is working on following directions I may suggest they work on this at home by playing games like I outline in THIS POST.) […]

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  3. 90 Summer Activities to Help Prepare Your Child for Kindergarten | Mommy on the Loose says:
    June 10, 2014 at 4:10 am

    […] Day 14 – Practice listening/following directions.  This is something we’ve had to really work on with my son.  This blogger has a cute card game with ideas.  Another simple game that you could make would be to have your child roll a dice.  Each number corresponds with a set of directions of your choosing (make sure your child identifies the number that they roll).  Your kiddo gets a point for following the directions correctly.  If you have more than one, whoever gets the most points wins!  This blogger has more great listening ideas. […]

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  4. Top 10 School Readiness Activities for Summer - LalyMom says:
    June 19, 2014 at 5:37 am

    […] Get outside and have some fun with it! Try an easy backyard obstacle course or these Five Playful Games to work on learning to follow directions. […]

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  5. Getting Ready For Kindergarten! Guest Post By Teacher Sarah | Mama in the City says:
    August 17, 2015 at 7:06 pm

    […] • Listen, follow and complete two to three step directions. Practice these skills at home with something simple as cleaning up after supper: “please put your plate and cutlery on the counter when you are done eating. Then make sure to wipe up any crumbs.” There are also a lot of great activities to reinforce listening to directions skills. A great website to look at is http://www.playingwithwords365.com/2012/10/five-playful-ways-to-work-on-listening-skills/ […]

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  6. Toddler Listening Hacks That Actually Work says:
    April 22, 2016 at 6:18 pm

    […] 4. Games are another really cool way to get toddlers to listen better. Use Simon Says, I Spy or Follow the Leader to help your toddler learn to follow directions. […]

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