ThinkingToddlersKindergartners17 Comments
A listening activity was much needed… I hate to admit how bad my kids have been at listening lately.
They totally either tune me out completely or just plain ignoring me unless I’m yelling at them. And I hate that.
Completely hate it.
I figured it was time we actually work on their listening skills with a simple activity.
I intentionally chose to do an activity that they know. It’s not new skills (besides listening itself). It’s not learning something new. I did this so that there wasn’t a question about whether they knew the correct thing to do, instead the question would be if they listened to the directions.
However, this activity would be great for learning colors and beginning counting (just to two), my boys both know those very well so it was not the focus of this activity.
I used our colored blocks (affiliate link) for this with Candy Land cards. The cards had colors that matched up with all of our block colors. Perfect!
(If this isn’t the case for you, you can either make up cards quick that fit whatever you have on hand, or you can just rattle off directions without drawing something. You could also use Legos.)
I drew a card and gave Henry a direction.
Place one red block on the tower.
And then drew another and gave George a turn.
Place two orange blocks on the tower.
The special cards from Candy Land are pink (we don’t have pink blocks) and since they’re ‘special’ cards in Candy Land, I made them special cards for our listening activity. I made these cards a ‘remove a block’ card.
I realized as we went along, I was showing the boys the cards as I told them their directions. Whoops! I stopped doing that since this is a listening activity and we’re trying to get them to listen to the directions I give them as opposed to seeing what they’re supposed to do.
That changed up the game!
Henry listened very well. I know he can when he wants, or needs, to. Very well done.
George… wow… George has some listening skills he needs to work on! When he didn’t listen and I’d repeat the direction, he ended up throwing (his usual) tantrum when something doesn’t go his way. This happened several times and he was put in a timeout to regroup himself.
He came back to the game and played again. He usually caught one part of the direction either the “one” or “two” or it was the color of block that he got right… past that it was merely a guess until I repeated the directions again. This was tough for him. So we’ll be doing more listening activities like this. Probably working the listening part into more of our usual activities.
I knew we had to work on listening… it was getting pretty bad. I’m hoping a few more of these activities will help turn things around.
The trick to this listening activity? I used an activity that I knew would be a hit. BLOCKS!
Click the image below for Blocks of Fun with 40 block activities for kids!
WANT TO SAVE THIS ACTIVITY?
Enter your email below & we'll send it straight to your inbox so you can access this activity later! Plus, you'll get simple activities from us every week!
Heidi says
The link for the Forty Activities to do with blocks doesn’t seem to work. Can you help?
Thanks!
Tabitha Lightfoot says
Thanks for letting us know! That’s fixed now. Here’s the link! https://handsonaswegrow.com/lots-of-blocks-activities/
Julia says
As a teacher, I would say get Georges hearing checked at the doctors. If he was hearing part of the instruction but not all of it it could indicate a hearing problem or blockage of some sort. Just a thought! I did see his age is quite young so it could just be a learning thing :)
Sarah says
This is a brilliant idea and I love the idea of re-purposing Candyland cards! Thank you for sharing.
Sarah says
Thanks, what a great activity, will be trying this with my boys, they are terrible listeners at times too :)
Jamie Reimer says
hehe– I wish there was a magic cure ;)
Katherine Collmer says
Jamie, This was such a creative way to teach listening skills. I really need to use techniques like this more often in my work with children. Thanks for the ideas!
Jamie Reimer says
Thanks Katherine. I think you’ll see more of these coming (hint: at least one more… since we’ve already did another one…) — but I have a feeling its going to take quite a few more to get the point across to the boys….
Jeanette Nyberg says
I’m loving this activity! We desperately need to work on our listening skills around here. Honestly, we could all use a refresher on listening skills… hm. And look at that awesome blonde hair on your son! Beautiful.
Jamie Reimer says
Thanks Jeanette! I’m glad we’re not the only ones with non-listeners. What’s with that?!
Blair says
I just tried this with lacing beads instead of blocks with my almost-3-year-old daughter. It was fun, and it was a great way to practice her listening skills! Thanks for the activity idea. I think we’ll be doing this again soon.
Jamie Reimer says
Great idea with the lacing beads! Those would work perfectly! Thanks Blair!