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Listening Skills Games for Kindergarteners

Many children are naturally attentive; however, others can use some work to improve their listening skills. When you teach your kindergartners to listen, prepare a variety of games to help them sharpen their listening skills. Games offer an exciting and enjoyable approach to teaching young children how to become active and effective listeners.

Simple Games
- Give the students a list of tasks to complete. For example, ask them to ̶0;Get out a sheet of paper and color a red apple on the paper.̶1; Award each child who does this correctly a sticker or small prize. Make the game harder by adding more tasks like ̶0;Get out a sheet of paper and draw a red apple with a brown stem.̶1; The children must listen carefully to each task. Add a task each time to see who can remember the most tasks. Play this game daily to build your kindergartners' memory and listening skills.
Sound Games
- Record a variety of different sounds on a tape recorder or MP3 player. Some sounds include keys rattling, a bell ringing, someone writing on a chalkboard or a baby crying. Play each sound and have the children identify the sound. Award a small prize to each child for a correct answer. Alternatively, play this game in teams and have the teams take turns guessing the sounds. The first team to guess five sounds correctly wins the game.
Story Telling Games
- Read a short story to your kindergartners and tell them to listen closely to the story. After the story, go around the room and let each child share something they remember from the story. Award a small prize to each child who correctly identifies something from the story. For a harder game, select one child to retell the story and see how close he comes to telling the story correctly. Allow the children to work in groups to make this game easier. Working in groups will also enable the children to develop social skills.
Other Games
- Other games include ̶0;Simon Says̶1; and a verbal scavenger hunt. Have the children stand and call out the tasks. Say, ̶0;Simon says touch your head,̶1; and the children must touch their head. If you say ̶0;Touch your head̶1; without first saying "Simon says," any child who touches their head is out of the game. The last player standing wins the game. Conduct a scavenger hunt for your kindergartners by taking them outside. Give them a verbal list of five items they must find outside, such as a black rock or brown twig. The first player to find all five items wins the game. Repeat the list every two minutes to refresh their memory.

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