Please note this section is not for children with social communication or interaction difficulties or for autistic children - please look at resources under Social communication and interaction.
What do we mean by attention and listening?
We’re always asking children to listen, but they don’t always know how to do it. Many children find it difficult to wait, share and take turns. Sometimes it may appear that your child is being naughty but perhaps they are finding it difficult to listen or understand. Being able to listen is an essential skill to help children develop their sounds, words and sentences for conversation. There are many ways that we can help children develop their listening skills.
- Attention and listening activities for pre-school children
- Strategies for supporting attention and listening in younger children
- Attention and listening activities for school-age children
- Activities for supporting attention and listening in older children and young people
- What is active listening and how can i support this for older children and young people
- Top Tips for helping your child to listen
Toys to support attention and listening
- Sound puzzles
- Orchard Toys – search for ‘First Games’ which are ideal for developing early listening and turn taking skills.
- Sound bingo – there are lots of commercially available games but there are also some listening games on YouTube (www.youtube.com) and search for ‘Listening Game 1 - Guess the Sound’ and ‘Phase 1 Phonics Listening Activities and Guess the Sound Games’ (6 games in total)
- Turn taking games such as marble run, fishing, pop up pirate, building blocks
- Picture books with repetitive sentences e.g. Room on the Broom, We’re going on a bear hunt, The Gruffalo
Online resources available to support with attention and listening
- Twinkl Ltd www.twinkl.co.uk
Sign up for a free account and search for attention and listening games. There are lots of free resources that you can download and print.
