Listening and Attention
Children develop listening and attention skills by noticing and focussing on everyday sounds around them.
At school, it will help them to join in with activities and interact with their teacher, in small groups and as part of the whole class.
In Reception class children will:
- Reply when they hear their name e.g. when their name is called in the register.
- Follow simple instructions with two actions E.g. ‘‘Please can you get your book and put
it on the shelf’ or ‘Please can you put that
away and come and sit on the carpet.’ - Listen to a story and talk about things that have happened in the story.
Top Tip
Activities to Help Your Child
There are lots of fun activities you can do to help your child build their listening and attention skills.
Try the activities below!
Listening at story time
Ask them to choose a book and bring it to you to read. (This is a two step instruction).
Read the story, stopping every now and again to talk about what’s happening.
'Stop & go' games
Action games like ‘Simon Says’, or songs like ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ are great for developing your child’s listening and attention.
Or, children love the Stop and Go game, whilst moving around a space ask your child to “Stop”. They then freeze like a statue whilst they wait for you to say “Go”. This helps children learn to follow direction in a fun and exciting way!
Where to start
- Children create a listening cone that they can take on a walk. What sounds can you hear?
- Make your own instruments (could encourage to sing songs like shake and stop or nursery rhymes etc.) Let’s make music | HENRY
- Play throwing and catching games.
Things to try next
- Create a DIY story sack.
- Matching sounds – item hidden in eggs. Which one sounds the same?
- Read stories together and encourage your child to talk about what’s happening or think about what might happen next.
- Drawing games where children must follow 1- or 2-part instruction.
How to adapt
- Play games where children are encouraged to follow one instruction i.e. bring me games or Simon Says (could build but the more confident they get) or games like musical bumps or chairs to encourage listening.
- Ready stories more than once so children can pick up the pattern. Choose story with an easy-to-follow pattern, e.g., Bear hunt / Owl babies / Hungry Caterpillar / Monkey puzzle.
- Sing action songs, where children must follow the instructions.
- Stop & Go – whilst moving around a space tell your child to “stop” and they must freeze like a statue and wait for you to say “go” before they continue to move. This can be played at home, in the garden or out and about, e.g., the park, the supermarket, on a walk.
Top Tip
Helpful links
Books
- There’s a Dragon in Your Book by Tom Fletcher and Greg Abbott (Puffin, 2021)
- What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson (Pan Macmillan, 2018)
This page is part of our Ready Steady School series, helping you and your little one get ready for school.
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