What is the practice?
You can help your toddler develop listening skills all throughout the day by playing games that encourage her to listen to both words and individual sounds. Providing her with lots of opportunities to practice these skills will help her with both listening and speaking.
What does the practice look like?
Playing games like Simon Says and Follow the Leader, acting out the movements in songs, stories, and fnger plays, and demonstrating the differences in sounds that are fast, slow, loud, soft, etc., all help your toddler start paying attention to what he hears.
How do you do the practice?
As with all skills, toddlers learn listening best when they are actively engaged in a fun activity geared to their interests. This is particularly true when you, as the parent, eagerly and enthusiastically participate in the games with your toddler.
- Simon Says is a game that has lost of possibilities for toddlers learning body parts, directional words (‘up,’ ‘down,’ ‘over,’ ‘under,’ etc.), and descriptive words (‘fast,’ ‘slow,’ etc.). Give your child the chance to take turns playing the role of Simon as well as listening.
- Play games that encourage your toddler to listen to variations in speech, such as whispering and shouting, talking quickly and slowly, and making his voice high and low. Help him practice identifying the differences when he hears them.
- Recite short poems, songs, or nursery rhymes with your child while encouraging her to act them out. Finger plays with movement are also good for encouraging listening skills and keeping toddlers interested.
- Does your toddler enjoy playing listening games like Simon Says?
- Is he beginning to identify the difference between loud and soft noises, and other opposites?
- Does she participate in acting out movements corresponding to the words in stories, poems or songs?
- Help your toddler listen for individual sounds by draw- ing out words very slowly and then asking her to speed the words up, or say them just as slowly. Emphasize rhyming words in songs or poems and point out the sounds that are the same or different as you read together.
How do you know the practice worked?
Take a look at more “Listen Up!” activities
Rhyming Song
Ada, who is nearly 3 years old, loves music and dancing. She likes to have her mom help her sing Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, while they go through the motions together. They start slowly, with Ada remembering where to put her hands for each word she hears, and then once she gets it right all the way through, her mom says, “Great job! Should we do it faster?” Ada laughs and nods, and they speed up the rhyme a little bit more each time until Ada hardly has time to touch the right body parts. Sometimes her mom makes a mistake on purpose to see if Ada will catch it, and Ada always does—she knows the rhyming song well by now, and loves being able to correct her mom.
Listen and Ride
Two-year-old Tyrell and his big brother, Eric, are playing on the sidewalk in front of their house with their mom. The boys are riding their tricycles around wildly, so their mom decides to make up a game. “Okay, boys,” she says. “I’m the police offcer. You have to start and stop your bikes when I tell you to. Here’s the starting line.” She calls out instructions for them: “Ride fast! Peddle as fast as you can!” or “Peddle very slowly, this is a danger zone.” Sometimes she makes them stop or start, and the boys laugh, seeing how quickly they can obey the “police offcer’s” instructions. After a few minutes, Tyrell says “I get to be the policeman,” and they take turns being in charge, with the other players listening to instructions.
Listen and Seek
Sean, a toddler with language delays, loves playing a special game with his mom. They pick a few of Sean’s favorite toys—a stuffed kitten, a dog, a ball, and a book— and take them into a bedroom. Then Sean has to close his eyes for a minute while his mom hides one of the toys. “Okay,” his mom says, “look for the spotted kitty.” Sean runs around the room searching behind shelves, under pillows and quilts, and in the closet for the stuffed kitten, while his mom gives him hints: “Look under the chair.” When Sean fnds the kitty, it’s his turn to pick the toy to hide while his mom closes her eyes.
