ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF ATTENTION AND LISTENING AT LEVEL 5

 

Level 5

The demands placed upon children when they start school require them to attend at Level 5.

Following a series of instructions:

• Carry out ‘barrier games’- set up a screen or divider between two children. Give them both identical sets of beads and a string. Ask one to thread them and at the same time tell the other what they are doing e.g. “yellow, then blue, then red”. The second child has to do the same. At the end the two strings should be identical. If this is difficult, pair the child with an adult.
• Encourage the child to carry out two and three step instructions, for example ‘pick up the pencil and give it to Mrs Smith’.

 

Identifying four to five named objects:

• Play the washing line or shopping game (see Level 3-4) but with an extended list of four to five items. Introduce a fantasy element, for example ‘Pretend you are going on holiday and you need to take…’

 

Joining in and interacting with a story:

• When reading a story with animals in it, ask the child to listen for one animal and make the noise or mime the animal when they hear it.
• During group time, set out a range of objects in the middle. Make up a story, for example about a child’s birthday, and the child needs to collect the appropriate object or picture when the object is named.
• Give the child a set of pictures or objects involved in a story. Ask them to hold up the items as they hear them. The activity can be extended by adding more objects or pictures and putting them into a row as they hear them.

 

Listening for a given sound and recalling a linked action

• The child has to remember the ‘code’ for different musical instruments. Introduce two instruments and link them to an animal, for example when they hear the drum they pretend to be a dog, when they hear a tambourine they pretend to be a snake. Extend the activity by introducing more instruments and animals/vehicles/actions.

 

TOP TIPS:

• Carry over the skills practised in these activities to everyday classroom situations.