Category: School Activities

Listening Games

Listening skills are critical for speech and language development. We learn language by hearing. Children learn new vocabulary and expand their sentences and grammar all from listening. Poor listening skills might result in difficulties when it comes to following directions, difficulties in learning new words and in constructing grammatically correct sentences. Listening skills help children progress in literacy, for example children need good listening skills to learn the sounds of the letters of the alphabet, which is a basic requirement for learning how to read and write.

 

Listening involves paying attention to environmental sounds, music, conversations, and stories. Below are five listening activities and games that target the components of listening. The more you practice the more you can help your child develop his/her listening skills.

 

Game 1: What was that sound?

1. Ask your child to sit with his/her back to you.
2. Make an animal sound.
3. Your child must guess which animal makes that sound.

Variation:

Play this game with real objects too.

1. Ask your child to sit with his/her back to you. It is important that your child does not see what you are doing. To make the game more fun you can cover his/her eyes with a scarf.
2. Make a sound, such as shutting a door, switching on the blender, sweeping, shaking keys etc.
3. Your child must guess which object makes that sound.

Game 2: What sound is missing?

To play this game you need pictures of various animals.

1. Choose three pictures (for example a cow, a duck, and a pig) and put them on the table.
2. Tell your child that you are going to make two animal sounds (for example that of the cow and that of a pig), and explain that s/he has to listen carefully to these sounds and find out which animal sound you left out (that of the duck).
3. Ask your child to tell you which animal sound you left out and to give you its picture/card (in this case the picture of the duck).

Variation: This activity could be played with different musical instruments and other common objects that make sounds, such as keys, paper, etc.

Tip: You can make this game less challenging or more challenging by adding or removing the number of objects/pictures you present or by adding or removing the number of sounds, etc.

 

Game 3: I spy with my little eye

 

Describe different objects in the room and have the child guess what they are.

 

Game 4: Green light, red light

 

Ask your child to move, run, or jump around the room. When s/he hears red, s/he needs to stop moving, running, or jumping. As soon as s/he hears green s/he starts over again.

 

Game 5: Did I get it?

 

Ask your child to tell you a sentence or phrase that he would like you to say. You will then have to repeat exactly what your child said. Your child must then tell you if you said it exactly the way s/he did.

For example:

Parent says: “What do you want me to say?”

Child says: “Keys in the box”

Parent says: “Keys in the shoe” (instead of box)

Then ask your child: “Did I get it?”

In this case your child should answer no.

 

Ms. Maria Camilleri

K 2.2

Using our senses to learn

The first experiences children have about the world around them is by using their senses. Sensory experiences enhance children’s cognitive development. At school we make sure that we provide children with opportunities to use their senses to learn, since sensory experiences develop and strengthen their cognitive skills.

What’s in the box is a fun sensory game that helps children use their sense of touch and feel to learn about the different feels and textures of objects. This will stimulate their imagination. This sensory activity involves a mystery box. The children must try to guess what the objects inside the box are by using their hands and their sense of touch.

This activity will help children develop their observation skills, increase their verbal communication, and help them practice using other skills they will need for learning.

What’s in the box activity

For this activity you will need:

1. a box

2. a pair of scissors

3. objects to put inside the box

· Cut 2 holes on the sides of the box. Make sure the holes are big enough for your child to fit his/her hand in, but not too big to see what’s in the box.

· Find, from three to four, familiar objects from around the house and put them in the mystery box.

· Ask your child to put his/her hands in the box, grab an object, and try to guess what the object is.

Check for understanding: To promote language growth, ask your child questions such as:

“What do we use this object for?”

or

“Where in the house do we keep this object and why do we keep it there?”

Attached please find the link to help you make the mystery box https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax7ujAm5Gr8

Ms Natalie KGE

Measurement – Comparing length (Long and Short)

Aim:  These activities provide a hands-on opportunity for children to indirectly measure a range of objects and pictures and learn the concept of long and short.

Activity 1:

For this activity you need:

• long strips of coloured paper
• a pair of scissors
• glue
• a ‘Longer and Shorter’ handout (as seen in the picture below).

 

1. Provide your child with the coloured strips of paper and a pair of scissors, and, under your supervision, encourage him/her to cut or rip each strip of paper into two different sizes.
2. Once each strip of paper is cut into two, ask your child to compare the strips. It is important to discuss the concept of long and short.
3. Once your child has grasped the concept, give him/her the handout you prepared.
4. Encourage your child to glue the strips of coloured paper onto the appropriate side of the handout.

Variation:

You can also use containers and pipe cleaners (besides the strips of paper). Choose containers which are ‘long’ and ‘short’ and encourage your child to put the long objects in the ‘long container’ and the short objects in the ‘short container’. This is a concrete activity and is aimed at helping children reinforce learning.

 

Activity 2:

For this activity you need:

• a piece of yarn

 

1. Give your child a piece of yarn.
2. Go around the house and ask your child to point to different objects, such as toys, furniture, household objects etc.
3. Ask your child to measure the objects chosen and find out if the yarn is shorter or longer than the object chosen. While measuring the objects encourage the use of the words longer and shorter.

 

Activity 3:

In this activity, the children are encouraged to compare the lengths of several pictures using the language associated with measuring length such as longer and shorter.

 

For this activity you need:

• A print-out of the this pdf file: measure. These are pictures of various objects, and a measuring mat.
• Plastic cubes or interlocking cubes. If you do not have plastic cubes you can use either bottle caps or buttons. However, if you are using bottle caps or buttons it is important that they are of the same size.

1. Print the pictures attached. Each picture has either a horizontal or a vertical line drawn on it.
2. Ask your child to measure the length of the line by placing the blocks (or any other object chosen) along the line and count the number of blocks used to cover the line (as seen in the picture).
3. Print the measuring mat attached. Encourage your child to write the number of blocks measured onto the measuring mat next to the corresponding picture.
4. Ask your child questions such as: “Which object/picture is the longest?”, or “Which objects/pictures are of the same size?

 

To make the activity more challenging you can encourage your child to predict which object/picture s/he thinks is going to be the shortest.

 

Mr Rodianne

KG 2.1