Do you explicitly teach listening skills to your students? Did you know that 70-80% of our waking hours are spent in some form of communication? Of that, listening makes up about 45% of our daily communication! When I learned these statistics, I knew that I needed to be as intentional about teaching/practicing listening skills as […]
These following directions drawing activity ideas will teach kids to listen carefully to instructions and interpret them.
What’s inside? 120 listening activities that are especially designed to help students of all ages improve their listening skills. They are all followed by detailed directions as well as follow-up activities.
Check out the best ESL listening activities and games, along with tips and tricks for teaching English listening skills in style!
Teaching children listening skills is essential for their development. Explore these 17 fun and simple listening activities and games.
Listening and following verbal or oral directions is an important skill that many students lack. You may relate to Charlie Brown's teacher after going over step-by-step directions. Students often hear the sound the teacher's voice is making, but fail to tune into the meaning of the words. When students aren't actively listening, they miss important information that can impact their academic AND behavior in the classroom. One way you can help your students practice active listening so they will follow directions is with a fun activity called Listen and Draw. Listen and Draw is a great activity to do with your class at the beginning of the year when you are teaching class procedures. Include these with your plans after breaks as a warmup plus a good reminder about practicing listening and following directions. Grab a free copy of FREE Listen & Draw - Following Directions Activity. Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
Help your children listen better with these fun activities. Get your children to obey the first time you ask by playing one of these listening skills games
Lesson ideas and activities for listening skills practice and monitoring
Try these 10 activities to improve your students' speaking and listening - essential skills for the development of communication, speech and language.
Do you struggle with finding interesting ways to teach ESL listening skills? Maybe you have an activity or two already but you want to be able to mix it up and keep things interesting. By the end of…
Building listening comprehension skills doesn’t have to be boring! "Mashed Potatoes" is a listening game that promotes listening comprehension AND giggles!
Teaching children listening skills is essential for their development. Explore these 17 fun and simple listening activities and games.
Fun Listening Games and Activities for Kids (WHOLE BODY LISTENING worksheets included) / 27 Listening skills activities for children
Lesson ideas and activities for listening skills practice and monitoring
These simple active listening exercises help students focus on what is being said and to share their feelings about being truly heard.
Fun Listening Games and Activities for Kids (WHOLE BODY LISTENING worksheets included) / 27 Listening skills activities for children
Listening activities for kids can help lighten the mood and improve your child's listening. This is because everything is a game to kids. No really.
This is a great activity to do after your Second Step, Listen Attentively lesson.Students just need a paper and crayons. All shapes and images are easy to draw.Read the directions slowly, as students listen attentively and follow your steps.An example drawing is at the bottom of the page.For more li...
Help your children listen better with these fun activities. Get your children to obey the first time you ask by playing one of these listening skills games
The Draw My Picture Game is a fun way to get children to practice their speaking and listening skills.
Do you take time to focus on teaching speaking and listening skills? A lot of lessons and activities often focus on literature, reading, spelling, and writing. Sometimes the speaking and listening skills get lumped into lessons, or we realize we’ve really been lax on the speaking skills the first time we have students give a presentation. However, students need to have dedicated opportunities to practice speaking and listening. Read on for activities you can incorporate into your classroom.
Lesson ideas and activities for listening skills practice and monitoring
Listening to instructions Color pencils are required for the activity. Read the sentence once and complete the instructions. This activity develops: - Auditory processing skills - Working memory - Following instructions - Color identification
Speaking and listening skills for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade are so important! In this post, I wanted to share 3 fun ways to get students speaking publicly and listening respectfully in the classroom! Before I dive in, I wanted to let you know you can watch or listen to all this information in […]
Listening and speaking skills for preschoolers are crucial and are the building blocks of communication. They are one of the main avenues for a child’s learning. Being whole body listeners and active speakers will help preschoolers, learn better, develop relationships with others and contribute to their world. ✯✯✯This ready to use resource has everything you need to develop listening and speaking skills with your preschoolers using fun and engaging speaking and listening activities. ✯✯✯
Need ideas for teaching listening skills in the classroom? Try these whole body listening activities and books, class games, and daily practice ideas and a FREEBIE!
Have you been looking for a fun and educational way to engage your students and help them explore French listening comprehension? This set of differentiated French listening activities for primary is perfect for assessing your students’ listening skills. This school-themed resource comes with 8 unique prompts at 3 different levels, for a total of 24 French listening activities! Click HERE to preview the product!
Welcome to our series on social emotional learning in the elementary classroom! We are going to be chatting about some effective strategies and procedures you can easily and quickly apply to your classroom for improvement in student self-awareness, self-control, and social skills. During the month of January, we will cover four different SEL topics. January has always been my favorite month to teach, because I was always able to do a reset with the students I already had a relationship with. We could then really hone in and improve SEL skills to in turn take a deep dive into instruction. The less you are having to stop and redirect student behavior, the more time you have to teach. We know that is more important now than ever. This month, we will cover four topics that I felt were most needed right now that could cover the most behaviors: listening, making good choices, kindness, and resilience. Let's talk LISTENING and FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. Why is listening important? Active listening is a vital skill in the classroom, as well as in life. You listen to directions, announcements, instruction, conversation, and more. As a student, I was not always the best listener. I tried really hard to listen, but I lacked the strategies to comprehend what was being said. I was more of a visual learner, so auditory was difficult for me. I think we sometimes forget that our students need to be explicitly taught the strategies and skills we expect them to apply. I have found that students need explicit SEL instruction all throughout the year. The problem is that we don't have the time to do that. I tried to think of ways you could easily and quickly incorporate it into your day, because it's so important to keep your classroom running smoothly and to decrease undesirable behaviors. The best time I feel to teach these, if you can, is first thing in the morning, during morning meeting. I have come up with some quick mini lessons, along with quick and fun activities, to teach each SEL topic. This week, we are going to look at some strategies to increase active listening in your classroom. Listening Strategies and Tips Call and Response The first thing you need to have in place is a call and response. I would only do one or two at a time. One that I always do is: Teacher: 1, 2, 3 Eyes on Me Students: 1, 2 Eyes on You When I teach this, I practice it a ton. It is important that students STOP AND LOOK AT YOU. Do not let them continue what they are doing. They will not be actively listening if they are still doing something else or talking while you are talking. Be firm about that expectation and wait until everyone is focused on you. We want to establish a muscle memory of them stopping, looking at you, and listening until you are finished. It's so important to have high expectations here. There are many different call and responses out there to choose from. Just be consistent with one or two for a while before changing to a different chant. Voice Volume and Tone If you know me, you know that I am not loud at all! Ha! I am pretty quiet so I use that to my advantage in the classroom. The lower I talk, the more they have to really listen. I also make sure that I keep a calm tone when I speak. This is also very important to have a calming environment because they tend to mirror what they are seeing. Something that I have found that has helped a ton with listening is buying a microphone headset and speaker. I just got one off of Amazon. It saves my voice and my energy, and I can use a calm tone that students are more likely to listen to. Keep Directions Short and Direct Stick to one-step instructions. Be direct and clear with your instructions, as well. If you can also add a visual, that will greatly help students. As students get better with one-step instructions, begin to slowly introduce more steps. Echoing One of my favorite and most effective ways to give instructions is through echoing. I will say the instruction in a sing song voice. The students know to echo me when I use that voice. Not only does it help them better comprehend the instructions, they also are busy being engaged which cuts down on opportunities to get off task or misbehave. Read Aloud Books The best way to begin a discussion with students about an SEL topic is through a read aloud. We want them to understand why listening is important. It helps us to be a better friend, we learn more, we are more caring, we understand what to do next, etc. I really love the book, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! by Julia Cook. The character in the story is having a very bad day because he chose not to listen to others. Students get to follow along on how those choices affected his day. His mom gives him tips on how to be a better listener and how to follow instructions that students can also apply. (I have made a resource that contains all of the mini lessons for teaching students to be better listeners, along with quick activities for a week focused on this topic.) Two other good ones are Lacy Walker, Nonstop Talker and My Mouth is a Volcano. Songs and Videos I love to incorporate music to help students better remember a strategy. You will get a song I wrote in the unit call "I Am Listening", but I have also linked some classroom approved videos you can show before or during your mini lesson about listening. Be a Whole Body Listener I Am a Good Listener (begin at 1:00) Why is Listening Important? Listening Game The Dance Freeze Song The Listening Game: Cosmic Kids Listening Mini Lessons Incorporate mini lessons into your morning meeting devoted to listening. I like to focus on one topic or skill per week. These lessons are quick and to the point. I also like to create an anchor chart with my students so that they have a visual reminder to refer to. Students also make a mini anchor chart to add to their SEL notebooks. Listening and Following Directions Activities Practice the Strategy For each lesson, I review the anchor chart and sing the listening song to open the lesson and review what we have learned. I then read a portion of the read aloud, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! I do this similar to an interactive read aloud, including text dependent questions that also start discussions about listening. After the story, I teach a new strategy that we then practice. I will take you through each day of this unit. We already covered day one and the anchor chart, so let's move on to day two. On day two, we learn a new listening strategy and then students listen to the story Go Away Big Green Monster. I do not show them the illustrations; they have to draw the monster by listening to the description. This is a fun way to practice active listening! They love to share their monsters with one another. On day three, we learn another listening strategy and play Listen, Draw, Check. You can use this game in all content areas for review. The game is very similar to Battleship. They have to be really great listeners and follow the directions to match my game board, which we check at the end. On day four, I introduce the students to an SEL animal character. Each character is a different animal and has a poem. For this activity, students have to follow the oral coloring instructions and color their Listening Lion. They also get a copy of the poem to trace. Finally on day five, we read the whole story and then discuss what lesson the author was trying to teach the reader. I then assign a writing activity (differentiated sheets included) in which they have to apply what they have learned about listening and following directions. This is a great way to wrap up the unit and assess their understanding. Listening and following instructions are skills that apply to so many parts of the school day, so they are vital to a smoothly run classroom. When you are having to stop and address behaviors, it is draining. Let's set our students up for success by giving them the tools they need to thrive in the classroom. I would love to hear and share with others if you have any great listening strategies! Thank you so much for stopping by this week! Be sure to come back next week for our next SEL skill, MAKING GOOD CHOICES. The following two weeks will be all about KINDNESS and RESILIENCE. You can grab the Listening and Following Directions Activities below or by clicking on any of the photos!
Do you take time to focus on teaching speaking and listening skills? A lot of lessons and activities often focus on literature, reading, spelling, and writing. Sometimes the speaking and listening skills get lumped into lessons, or we realize we’ve really been lax on the speaking skills the first time we have students give a presentation. However, students need to have dedicated opportunities to practice speaking and listening. Read on for activities you can incorporate into your classroom.
33 Evidence-based (and FUN!) SOCIAL SKILLS ACTIVITIES for KIDS + 🎁 FREE PRINTABLE activity. Explore: starting conversations, respecting personal space, expressing emotions
⭐ CHECK OUT THE PRODUCT PREVIEW HERE TO SEE WHAT IS INCLUDED.⭐ Get to know your students and help them get to know each other with these 5 get to know you back to school activities. All about me bags, self portrait templates, a letter to my teacher on the first day of school, find someone who back to school activity and following direction activities are all included!! This product contains five products in one, all designed to be used those first few weeks of school as you are getting your students back into the swing of things and practicing behaviors such as speaking, listening and following directions. Why you need this: Get to know your students Students get to know each other Develops listening skills Students gain speaking & listening experience Easy to print and use Meaningful time fillers for the first week of school Activities Included: Summer Share or All About Me Bag - students share about one activity from their summer vacation with the class or they can share 5 items that describe them. Students end by playing Class Bingo using clues from what each student shared. Works on speaking, listening and remembering. Who Am I Self Portrait - a project where students share about their favorites (sports, food, drinks, etc.) and draw their self portrait. The clues go on top so classmates can read and guess and then lift the page to see the portrait and name. Following Directions - This includes 10 pictures. For each picture, there are 10 simple directions to follow. The teacher reads the directions orally and students must follow directions on the page in front of them just by listening. The directions include direction words, left/right, circling, crossing out, writing name/letters/words, drawing basic shapes, knowing colors, etc. Great activity to do when you have a few minutes to fill. Provides great evidence of who is listening and following directions. Letter to My Teacher on the First Day of School - Have students write a letter to you introducing themselves. 5 different types of handwriting lines in letter format included. Great first day of school writing assessment. Find Someone Who - Students talk with classmates to learn more about them and fill their board with signatures who fit the description in each box. ⭐ CHECK OUT THE PRODUCT PREVIEW HERE TO SEE WHAT IS INCLUDED.⭐ Please note that this is a digital resource, so you can start using this resource immediately. Have a question about this product? Please contact me using the form at the top of the page. To use - You will need to have an up to date version of a PDF Reader like Adobe Reader installed on your computer to open this resource. If this is a zip file, you will need to unzip or extract the files before opening the PDF files in Adobe Reader or a similar program.
Pair Work exercise useful for practising speaking and listening skills and giving/following instructions. Put students in pairs and give each half of the worksheet. Student B tells student B where to go on the grid and what to write or draw. Make students can not see each other´s sheet. This ws allows the whole class to practise simultaneously. At the end of the exercise, Ss should compare their answers to the teacher´s answer sheet. Enjoy. - ESL worksheets
Listening skills can be sometimes challenging to little ones, especially with the short attention span they have. The great news is, this skill can be practiced! These listening games for preschoolers are a fun way
33 Evidence-based (and FUN!) SOCIAL SKILLS ACTIVITIES for KIDS + 🎁 FREE PRINTABLE activity. Explore: starting conversations, respecting personal space, expressing emotions
Color by Listening is an activity where students listen to oral directions and must follow directions to match. These no prep worksheets are also great for positional word practice and color recognition. Would make a great first week activity to practice active listening skills and following directions! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would love to hear from you, please leave me a rating & comment! Let's Connect! Follow Me on: ★Pinterest ★Facebook Click the "Follow Me" button by my picture to be the first to know about my newest products and freebies.
