39 Communication Games and Activities for Kids and Students
Kids spend astounding amounts of time on their electronic devices and with this shift, they are losing their skills in how to communicate their needs—with their own voices.
Picture the kids you know having no access to wi-fi. There might be a revolt when you start to ask them to communicate with you without a phone or device.
With the availability of alternative sources of social support (Leung, 2007), reaching kids in a one-to-one setting is difficult. The skill of self-expression in real life and face-to-face interaction has far-reaching implications.
Improving communication skills in children of all ages today could benefit generations to come, salvaging the power of verbal communication in a world buzzing with technological alternatives.
Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free . These science-based tools will help you and those you work with build better social skills and better connect with others.
This Article Contains:
What are communication activities, exercises, and games, the importance of teaching kids communication skills, 5 tips on how to teach communication skills to children, how to spot communication difficulties in all ages, 6 games and exercises for toddlers and preschoolers in kindergarten, a look at communication in the classroom, 4 ways students can improve communication skills, 6 communication games and activities for elementary students, 7 games and activities for middle and high school students, 5 communication games and activities for college students, 5 nonverbal communication activities and games, 5 active listening games and exercises, 5 assertive communication activities for teens, a take-home message.
Certain activities, exercises, and games can teach children to communicate better. In most settings, adults decide the communication style and social norms. The rules of etiquette are also decided by adults.
These days, it is revolutionary to teach communication skills in “kid terms” with room to advance the skills as children develop. Imagine a world where every adult practiced their face-to-face communication.
The following are effective communication fundamentals (Stanfield, 2017):
- Conversation skills;
- Established listening and speaking procedures;
- Respectful vocabulary;
- The power of the pause;
- Practice speaking and listening in natural settings;
Any activities, exercises, and games that include these fundamentals can improve skills in communication. Interactive games encourage kids to express their needs. Plus, when kids see these activities as fun and engaging, the more likely they are to participate.
There are profound psychological implications for underdeveloped communication skills. Conversely, more effective communication skills result in a higher quality of life.
Communicating well enables people to know and ask for what they need, and can result in higher self-efficacy (Nørgaard, Ammentorp, Ohm Kyvik, & Kofoed, 2012). With higher self-efficacy, there are lower instances of violence (Khoury-Kassabri, 2012), bullying (Clark & Bussey, 2020), and self-destructive behaviors (Forman & Kalafat, 1998).
Research with people who are hearing impaired revealed the impact on feelings of loneliness and depression (Knutson & Lansing, 1990). Now, the same effect is showing for children who are not severely hearing impaired.
When there is difficulty in basic communication, there is a barrier to a fundamental human need, thus resulting in emotional and psychological problems. We are hard-wired to connect and belong with other humans (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
For example, when a toddler cannot communicate their needs, a tantrum might follow. When a pre-teen child cannot effectively communicate, frustration might ensue. When a teenager cannot effectively communicate, a perfect storm might occur. And when adults cannot understand and state their needs, lives can fall apart.
Everyone benefits from practicing good communication. Right now, children are in desperate need of effectively communicating with their peers and with adults.
Good communication is a habit, and it needs to start young.
Effective communication skills equip children with the ability to have their needs met. As children age, their skills need to increase as difficult situations occur. In school and social settings, a child’s peers play a significant role in how these skills develop.
Communication Skills in Children. Image by Bessi from Pixabay.
Any parent of a teen is aware of how these skills are a part of a teenager-parent relationship. Modeling appropriate communication skills is a great way to show children (and teenagers) how people use kind communication to get “what they want.”
Basic communication skills are needed for basic survival. Something as basic as eye contact can be difficult to maintain for many children, even though it is the most critical part of nonverbal communication (Zeki, 2009). Looking people in the eye is a skill. It takes practice to understand the importance of eye contact for the development of good manners and social connection.
So how do we begin teaching kids communication skills? Every setting offers learning opportunities. When children know how to listen and respond, they also develop deeper understandings of empathy and compassion .
When kids communicate well, they are more likely to recognize and pursue opportunities with confidence and self-efficacy (Nørgaard et al., 2012).
You can practice life-changing skills starting with these simple exercises below.
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These detailed, science-based exercises will equip you or your clients with tools to improve communication skills and enjoy more positive social interactions with others.
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Every day, if you work with kids or have them yourself, you model how to ask for what you need. Even simple moments where you ask a coworker for a pencil can be goldmines of modeling.
Here are five specific tips.
1. Be a Model
The old adage, “ Do as I say, not as I do ” rears its head once again. Kids are more likely to do “as you do” regardless of what you say. Parents who model good communication have children who are—shocker—better at communicating with others.
It is important to note that sometimes, difficulty in communication may have underlying factors such as the presence of autism, attention disorders, or auditory disability.
2. Create a Framework for Communication Procedures
Teaching children how and when to communicate is a foundational skill. Chronic interrupting and volume control are disruptions to communication everywhere, not just for children. Set boundaries for kids to know when it is appropriate to interject with their opinion. Positively reinforce kids or students who follow the known expectations.
Regardless of the framework specifics, teach kids how to get your attention—without inappropriate disruption.
3. Don’t Embarrass Children by Correcting Them in Public
Shame is powerful, and can negatively influence a desire to learn for anyone. Kids will make mistakes in their communication, as do adults. That two-year-old who called a stranger “fat” needs to understand why that is inappropriate, but they do not need to be corrected in front of everyone.
Gently correcting errors in private is a basic principle of positive discipline, and it helps promote a growth mindset where children feel safe. If a child is embarrassed in public, they will make fewer communication attempts in the future, or worse, continue the act for attention.
4. Teach Empathy
5. Show the Power of the Pause
The power of mindful communication is very important. Kids are especially unskilled with controlling their impulsive behavior, as are many adults. Simply teaching kids to think about the impact of their words and any other decision-making overall, can help kids reflect before they act.
It is equally important to value the pauses between statements and encourage a culture of pausing to also create space for others to speak who may need more processing time.
Apprehension in oral communication also can lead to difficulties in psychological well-being (McCrosky, 1977). There is an increasing rate of anxiety with regard to communication skills in children. A child suffering from Communication Apprehension will even avoid situations where oral communication is needed, just to avoid the pain and anxiety associated with that communication.
A great deal of research has been done in the development of emotional intelligence and its relationship to effective communication skills (Irvin & Richardson, 2002). Higher test scores exist in individuals with higher reported rates of emotional intelligence, this adds value to the need for improving skills as early as possible. Development of social and communication skills is important for kids, especially those entering Middle School.
While these present as difficulties, they are not in most cases complete barriers to effective communication. Altering skills to fit the obstacle in effective communication is paramount to a child’s success.
Infants and Communication Skills. Image by Lisa Runnels from Pixaby.
This is not to downplay the importance that a spectrum disorder, an attention disorder, or an auditory difficulty may play in communication in children. Children with these obstacles may find more difficulty with social communication than their peers due to their struggle with effective communication.
Current research is trying to link other obstacles children may have with these developmental differences.
Here are some concrete ways to spot difficulties in communication:
- Immature language;
- Speech that is difficult to understand;
- Struggling to talk and or listen in conversation;
- Avoidance of verbal communication.
Most of these games do not take long, and the skills they teach are foundational to future lessons.
1. Guess the Object
This is a fun game for kids to practice the power of description. Cut a hole in a box that is large enough for their hands. Make sure that they understand that they’re not allowed to peak into the hole. Place an object in the box. Have the child describe what the object feels like. Have the class take turns guessing what it might be.
2. Show and Tell
Many kids love to share at this age. Devoting time for children to share things is an encouraging way for them to hone their communication skills. Encourage classmates to think of questions about what their classmate has shared, as a way to develop active listening skills.
3. Feelings Corner
Many times, children at this age have trouble communicating how they are feeling. Emotions can be so abstract; they may not yet have the skills to recognize them at first. Have a designated area for kids to express these feelings, where a printout of an emotions wheel is on display. Have matching emojis that the child can silently hand to their teacher.
Create space during the day for the teacher to address these feelings with any participants. This creates a place for trust and understanding in an age group prone to outbursts when feeling misunderstood or wronged.
Taking turns in speaking is much like sharing a favored toy, and children need to learn the skill. An engaging exercise for this age group is color circle time. Each child gets a turn in the center of the circle speaking about a chosen subject.
For instance, the color yellow. The child would get 15 seconds to list all of the yellows he or she sees in the room. Then that child names another color for the next child in the center. Before the next turn, each new participant says two things that they heard from the previous sharer.
Have a variety of pictures for each child. Give each a time limit and let them describe what they see in story form. During this exercise, they are processing visual cues and utilizing their ability to speak them to the classroom. The other children practice their listening skills.
6. Finish-the-Nursery-Rhyme Story
Children need to be familiar with the particular nursery rhymes for this activity to be fun. Help kids imagine and express alternative endings to nursery rhymes in a fun and creative way. Have each kid add to the shared ending and as a class, develop alternative endings to various nursery rhyme stories.
Storytelling is a rich way to practice listening and communication.
Improve communication skills in children with highly effective games – Kreative Leadership
Classrooms are not for the faint of heart. Teachers deserve the credit for establishing the parameters for their students to learn basic communication. What a teacher tolerates and encourages from their students is one way that children absorb communication habits.
Kids are clever. They know what they can “get away with,” and they look to adult figures for examples of how to speak and act. Thus, classroom parameters are paramount, especially when students get to “make the rules” too. Adults always make the rules, but when students help with the process, they are likely to exhibit more buy-in.
Criticism and judgment from classmates should be avoided in classroom culture as much as possible. These issues must be addressed, while also recognizing students practicing clear and kind communication.
The language and tone used in classrooms are important. Teachers who berate and shame kids may speak of frustration with unhappy and critical students.
Kids are smart—they respond to respect.
As the leader in the classroom, teachers are in a position to influence positive language and tone. Congruent communication is one way for teachers to demonstrate skills in the classroom (Brown, 2005). The role of active listening and body language among adolescents can help create an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding between teacher and students.
Empathetic listening by the teacher creates a connection with the students that allows them to feel “heard.”
Social interaction among peers is also important in the growth of communication skills. The more inclusive the focus of a classroom, the more growth each student will experience.
We are hard-wired to cooperate with others. Fostering positive interactions will benefit the entire culture of the classroom, as well as teach children skills that will serve them throughout life.
Practice makes improvement—not perfection. Once kids are aware of these skills, the practice is available in every interaction.
- Active listening skills through reinforcement
- Group projects with collaboration
- Know the benefit of open-ended questions
- Developing empathy
Telephone is a common “playground game,” and also a powerful metaphor for teaching miscommunications and the practice of sharing information. The rest of the games, like Telephone, are also quite fun.
Have students gather together in a circle. The instructor will whisper one short topic, sentence, or phrase into the ear of the student next to them. This phrase will be whispered into the ear of each student around the circle until arriving back at the instructor, who will then compare the original sentence to the one that it became.
2. Emotional Charades
Write-out scenarios that might provoke emotion in participants. The scenarios should be generally light emotions like forgetting your lunch, losing your phone, hearing a rumor about you, waiting for a bus, or forgetting your homework.
Each student then gets a scenario and acts it out with no speaking. After the scenario is guessed, discuss the emotional response. The more easily students can verbally express their emotions, the more easily a teacher can communicate with them and reference confusing feelings.
3. Audio Book Interaction
Scholastic has many interactive books available to students for free. The benefit of this interactive experience is for the student to align reading with speaking the words of the book.
4. Internet Resources
www.creatubbles.com is one website that unites students around the world and offers a platform to learn about creative and effective communication skills.
This is a great way to expand empathy and perspective-taking. Setting goals for the roles is helpful, to guide the students toward vocabulary that will better facilitate cooperation.
For instance, assigning students as parents or teachers allows the kids to be creative in thinking of words that adults would use, and how it might feel to be in a situation from a view other than their own.
6. The Follow All Instructions Activity
Create a list of detailed instructions. The first instruction should be READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS FIRST. The last listed should be IGNORE ALL OTHER INSTRUCTIONS AND WRITE YOUR NAME ON THE TOP OF THIS PAPER.
The purpose of the activity is for students to communicate the importance of reading all instructions first before beginning any project. It offers a great conversation as well, for students of all ages.
So far we have covered a lot of games geared towards younger audiences, although they can be applied to older students too. Now we offer resources specifically for older students.
1. Famous Pairs
Create a list of well-known famous pairs. For instance, peanut butter and jelly, Romeo and Juliet, Superman and Lois Lane, etc. Each participant should receive a post-it-note with one half of a famous pair on their back.
Moving throughout the room, with only three questions per person, the participants try to figure out who the person is on their back.
Once the person has discovered who they are, they need to find their partner. If the other partner has not figured out his/her identity, they must not reveal themselves until they know.
2. The Best Parts of Our School
Many students are negative when it comes to their interpretation of school. In an effort to recognize what is good about your school, this activity is connective and a communication skills builder. This activity should be conducted over three days.
The first day is spent with each student listing 10 things that they consider the best parts of their school. The second day is spent in groups. The groups will create a coordinated list of agreed-upon best parts of their school. The third day is spent creating a class collective list after each group presents their best parts of their school ideas to the class.
3. The Enigmatic Self
We are often mysterious to others. This game promotes self-awareness about what you find mysterious about yourself. In this activity, students write down three things about themselves that no one else knows. In groups of 3 or 4 students, each read the mysterious aspects to each other.
Each group collects the mysteries. At a later time, each group reads the fact list and the remainder of the class tries to guess who the facts are from on the list. Encourage deep respect for these mysteries. Encourage students to celebrate the uniqueness of each other.
Classrooms with solid trust are often built on awareness and appreciation of each other.
4. Stand Up for Fillers
How many people use “like” or “um,” or “uh” or “so,” or “right” to fill a silent space? It is a nervous habit that is often rooted in the perceived discomfort of silence. This activity helps eliminate these fillers in conversation or in public speaking.
Each student is given a topic that they will speak about for 1-3 minutes (topic is not important; it should be simple). During their speaking time, the remainder of the class will stand when they hear any of these fillers occur in the speech.
The class is listening and the speaker is hyper-aware of the words that they use. It is a deliberate shock to the speaker to see the entire class stand when they hear these fillers and helps to be mindful about using precise vocabulary.
5. Blindfold Game
Create an obstacle course with everyday items in the classroom. Sort students into two groups. One person is blindfolded while the rest of the group decides how to communicate (from their seats) instructions on how to navigate through the course wearing a blindfold. Time each group and discuss which communication style was the most effective.
This activity builds trust and requires accurate communication to successfully navigate through the course. *Be sure to have at least one person to stand near the blindfolded student to help them stay safe during the course.
6. Drawn Understanding
Have two students sit back-to-back. One student has an object and the other has colored pencils and paper. The student with the object must describe it in as much detail as possible, without directly saying what it is.
The second student must draw the object as best they can, based on the communication of the student with the object.
7. Find It Together
Another blindfold is needed for this activity. Divide the group into pairs. One of the students is blindfolded. It is their job to retrieve specific objects from a designated circle. The other student guides their blindfolded partner to retrieve the correct object.
This game can get chaotic because of other blindfolded participants. It requires discussions after the activity, as well as voice recognition and teamwork. A closing discussion question could be something like, “How did people ignore the distractions of other sounds?” It can lead to great conversations on listening and volume control.
Students at the college level have likely developed some effective communication skills. At this level of education, there are still deep needs to practice communication—it is a skill that needs work.
1. The Guessing Game
This activity is a fun way to introduce and show the difference between closed and open questions. Split your class into two equal groups/teams. One person from each team will leave the room for a minute and think of a business object (any common business object that can be found in any office like a stapler, printer, etc.).
When each person returns, it’s the team’s task to ask him/her closed-ended questions only to try and guess the object. If needed, explain that closed-ended questions are those that can be answered only by a yes or no. Once any team finds the object, this means that they won this round. And they can go for another round.
After two or three rounds, end the game and lead a classroom discussion. Tell the group that it took a long time and effort to find out the object in each round, but what if they had no time and only one question to ask to find out the object: what would that question be?
The question would be “What is the object?” which is an open-ended question. Open-ended questions are an excellent way to save time and energy and help you get to the information you need fast.
However, closed questions can also be useful to confirm your understanding or to help you control the conversation with an overly talkative person/customer.
2. One Word Letters
The instructor will start a clock (2-minute time limit). During the two minutes, the pair will write a single letter between them. Each of them will add only one word at a time.
The pair is to write as quickly as possible, not going back to re-read anything, but the last word added.
Letters and Communication Practice. Image Retrieved as Free Photo by Pixaby.
Grammar and spelling are unimportant. Punctuation is only added for sense in the letter. The letter may be written to anyone that the pair decides. It does not need to be a finished letter.
Once the time is up, the letter is read aloud to each other, or the group if classroom trust is solid.
Something interesting occurs when this activity is repeated. The original letters are nonsensical and amusing.
As the process is repeated, the pair’s language begins to become more cohesive. It makes for a rich discussion.
3. Study Groups
Creating space for college students to manage a group culture is practice for future employment and collaborations. Study groups are one way to create the space for effective communication skills to be fostered.
Setting up the study groups for the class can form new bonds between students, and challenge them with handling situations that students might not naturally enter. The benefits of effective learning and the development of cooperative communication skills are far-reaching (Colbeck, Campbell, & Bjorklund, 2000).
4. Team Debate Projects
Collaboration is an important skill for students to have in the world of employment, opinions, and creating solutions. To understand any selected course material, have students argue a point against another within a mediated session.
There are many resources on how to facilitate team debates. Discuss the complications that may arise with debates, and how they can practice listening and being willing to change their mind if the argument is convincing.
5. Peer Mentoring
Leadership development requires advanced communication skills. A productive way to develop these skills is through the active engagement of peer mentorship programs. The give and take that exists within this relationship will fully develop skills in both parties.
Mentors benefit from the self-confidence boost that their guidance is needed, while mentees benefit from advice and a role model.
These games can all start or end with a discussion on what is more valuable in communication: nonverbal or verbal cues?
1. You Don’t Say
Divide the group into smaller groups of 5-7 people. Write out a list of non-verbal behaviors.
Have the groups act out and interpret the meanings of these behaviors. This activity helps participants recognize nonverbal communication cues from others. Within their groups, have students display one of the nonverbal behaviors, while everyone else in the group shares or writes down what nonverbal message they are receiving.
Non-verbal behaviors can include:
- Leaning back in a chair with arms crossed;
- Leaning forward in a chair;
- Resting chin in both hands;
- Resting chin on knuckles;
- Rubbing your temples;
- Tapping fingers on the table;
- Looking at your watch;
- Staring around the room;
Ask the participants afterward to share their small-group findings. Ask the class if anyone has ever experienced a nonverbal cue that signaled to them much stronger than any words? Chances are that they have, and this provides context from their direct experience.
2. Picture Telling with Writing
To promote creative communication, this activity engages descriptive language and storytelling. Hold up a picture with people in it. Have the group write about what the people are doing and feeling in the picture.
With smaller children, the instructor can ask them to draw what happens next. This is a great form of imagination and emotional expression.
Have a list of topic questions prepared. Divide groups into partners. Have one partner act out the answer to the topic question. The second partner guesses by writing what they believe the answer is on a piece of paper.
4. Movement Sticks
Hold two poles between the fingers of pairs. Together the pair will adjust to the movement of the poles. This is a fun and interactive way to attune body language.
Divide the group into pairs. Have one partner be chosen as a leader. The other will follow the facial expressions and body language of the leader. This works on eye contact and emotional awareness, along with improvement in awareness of body language cues.
Switch the leader with the follower for the second round. Ask the class if they preferred to follow or lead, and why?
These games have been around for decades and are still fantastic for teaching active listening skills. Everyone knows the directions, and most people enjoy playing.
- Red Light, Green Light
- Musical Chairs
4. Popcorn Storytelling
This game is fun for all ages. Have the group sit in a circle. Give the group a starting sentence. For instance, “Once upon a time, a tiny gray elephant….” Have each participant add to the story based on what the previous participant has added to the story. It is a great demonstration of utilizing active listening.
5. What’s My Favorite Movie?
Have each participant describe their favorite movie to a partner. Then, in pairs ask them to repeat their partner’s favorite movie. Only those who have actively listened will be able to accurately repeat the favorites. It’s tough when the game has many participants.
Saying ‘yes’ to every request or opportunity can be harmful, especially when it stands in the way of us living in line with our values.
In Greg McKeown’s book ‘ Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less ,’ the idea of saying ‘no’ to increase valued living is put forward. McKeown suggested that we can learn to say ‘no’ gracefully to prioritize doing things that serve us. However, saying ‘no’ is often easier said than done.
So, here are guideposts to help you learn to say ‘no’ gracefully.
- Saying no to someone can be made easier by tapping into our values. Research shows that living our lives according to our values benefits our health and wellbeing. Thus, saying yes to someone or something that commits you to something that feels ‘wrong’ is doing yourself a disservice. When we feel the tension between what we feel is right and what someone asks us to do, we experience value-incongruence. Navigating these moments by tuning in to our values will allow us to say ‘no’ more easily.
- Saying no to someone’s request can often feel like we are saying no to the person. Learning to recognize that declining the request is not the same as declining the person enables us to do what’s right for us without fearing that we are hurting someone’s feelings.
- Rather than focusing on what we will lose by saying no, consider what we will gain. We can reorient our attention to what we will gain by ‘missing out’ to make it easier to say no.
- When someone asks us for something, they ask us to give them something. This is a cost. Recognizing what we are giving away by saying yes can help us say no.
- Finally, communicate clearly. Vague attempts to ‘soften the blow’ with non-committal language only lead to confusion and make our eventual ‘no’ that much harder.
Assertive communication is a healthy way to express one’s needs. Being respectful and honest may still cause discomfort, and negotiating that discomfort is a critical skill. The following are activities that can help teens to develop these vital communication skills.
1. Emotion Awareness
Being attuned to our own emotional needs is the foundation of understanding why we are happy or frustrated with others. Many teens have trouble putting words to how they are feeling, and that is often a matter of knowing how to identify complex emotions.
In this activity, provide each participant with a sheet of various emojis. Take the group through various emotion-invoking scenarios. Have them keep track and label the emotions that popped up for them. Being able to name emotions as they are cued is a first step in improving emotional intelligence, and also relaxes the amygdala from over-firing.
Divide the group into pairs. The pair will get two different sets of instructions.
Person 1 instructions will read: Person 2 will make a fist. You MUST get that fist open. Person 2 instructions will read: Person 1 is going to attempt to get you to open your fist. You must NOT open your fist unless he/she asks you politely and assertively.
Most people will try to pry the fist open. It is an opportunity to efficiently explain assertive communication. Knowing the power of good communication skills is important in building them properly.
Discuss with the students how the directions influenced their actions. Did they consider a peaceful way of asking? Why or why not? What communication role-models do movies and media offer?
3. Situation Samples
Have a list of scenarios where assertive communication would be the most effective. Offer the teens an opportunity to practice responses to the situations. Have them demonstrate aggressive, passive, and then assertive styles.
When they know the difference, the better they may practice it in real life scenarios.
Some sample scenarios could be:
- You are standing in line at the check-out and two salespeople are engrossed in a deep conversation ignoring you.
- Your teacher graded a paper that you feel should have received a higher mark.
- Someone calls you a name that is hurtful.
Go through various options for responses and get the teens brainstorming.
4. Eye Contact Circle
This nonverbal skill is essential in assertive communication. A creative way to build this skill is with this circle. Create a circle with group participants. Each participant will answer the same question (ie: what is your favorite ice cream flavor) and after answering must find mutual eye contact with someone across the circle.
Once this eye contact is made, the participant must call out their partner’s name and slowly switch places with them, while maintaining that eye contact. Eye contact is one of the basic principles of communication and trusting others.
Put the group into pairs and have them play different roles. Have the teens brainstorm scenarios from the past where they wish they had been more assertive. This also can be used in the workplace with employees, where people brainstorm in pairs.
This gives people the chance to learn from mistakes, and the empowerment to express their needs during the next uncomfortable situation. Have a list of possible scenarios ready, just in case the brainstorming doesn’t produce enough opportunities to explore.
Good communication is a skill that serves people in every area of life. Even the best communicators make mistakes, let alone those of us still learning how to improve. Imagine a world where everyone knew the emotion behind their message and tried to communicate with assertive kindness.
Equipping children with effective communication skills results in higher levels of emotional intelligence, higher test scores, lowering incidents of bullying, and improvements in overall mental well-being. There is so much to gain from practicing these skills.
With the omnipresence of technological advances, kids need to practice these face-to-face skills more than ever.
Building these skills in all age groups builds a society for empathy and emotional resilience. The more practice kids get in school and at home, the better these skills will become. Adults and kids alike have endless opportunities to change how they speak and address their shared needs.
We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free .
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What our readers think.
Communication is the key. People need other people to survive. Great communication can lead to great achievements. That’s why we need to teach our kids to converse their thoughts and emotions with each other. I have some info on communication skills as well. Check out here https://aliciaortego.com/communication-skills-for-kids/
Hey Kelly Your article gave me lot of information and encouragement as I am taking up a communication course for some teachers. Thanks a lot dear
I teach Communication skills in a Nursing School. I find your activities very engaging and allows the student to realise the importance of good communication.
I am a teacher in a High School Medical academy. We are working on Communications skills and I cant wait to use some of these games with my students. They are so technology oriented that They will need to learn these skills for the medical field. I wanted to share too that a game I used for team work and communication was the one where yo have items on a table covered and you have them peek for a few seconds then cover back up and they have to make a list. They will need to work together and communicate in order to make the list correct. Tank you for your suggestions.
Ms Miller, You’re article was so helpful for me, as a mother of a a child whose anxiety is increasing related to a language based LD recently diagnosed. Oral expression is a challenge esp as she is entering middle school. I am in Toronto Canada and in search of a good Speech Pathologist who can help. Given that Covid has created a remote reality, could you suggest a a good SP taking patients remotely?
Thank you for sharing these articles. They are very interesting and useful
The article was very beneficial with different activities one could do with the students in class or they could do with parents at home. I particularly like the fact that those activities build students’ self-efficacy since this is an important aspect for the primary years program.Thank you very much.
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5 Activities That Help Communication Skills for Kids
- Pretend Play
Communication milestones are some of the most fun – first words, first sentences, and all the adorably silly ways toddlers describe things. Fortunately, we don’t have to get fancy to encourage communication skills in our kids – one of the best things we can do is to talk with them as much as possible, using correct language and rich vocabulary. But adding in a few communication-building activities can be a fun way to challenge kids’ language skills and expose them to a wider range of vocabulary. Here’s a few simple activities to help your kids become confident, well-spoken communicators.
We know – this one is probably so obvious we could just skip it, but reading with your kids truly is one of the best things you can do to help them develop language and communication skills. Books not only help them develop a large vocabulary – kids will also intuitively pick up on sentence structure and grammatical rules, especially as you read some of the same books over and over. Even story books without words can be amazing for kids’ language development. (Think books with evocative pictures like Jerry Pinkney’s The Lion and the Mouse .) These books empower kids to decipher what’s happening in the pictures, make inferences about characters’ emotions, and narrate their own version of the story.
This classic kids’ game is great for developing skills in listening closely and following instructions, both of which are critical in the school years. And it can still be fun even if it’s just you and the kids. Take turns being Simon each time someone messes up – they’ll love the chance to give instructions too!
Non-verbal communication is important too – especially since recognizing non-verbal cues in others is tough for many kids. To practice, you can play a game of “Emotion Charades” where you take turns acting out different emotions (excited, bored, annoyed, angry, etc.). You can add an extra layer to the game by asking kids when they’ve seen someone display that emotion in real life, why they felt that way, and how your child reacted.
Have kids reach into an opaque bag filled with random objects and try to describe and guess what they feel without looking. Model it yourself a few times, making sure to get really precise as you describe the shape and feel of each object and what you think it is. Kids not only get a chance to flex their inductive reasoning muscles, they’ll also feel encouraged to use rich, descriptive language.
Family Show and Tell
No, you don’t need to have your kid do a presentation in front of all their friends, but casual mini-versions of show-and-tell in your own home can help your kids gain confidence as a speaker. Anytime they seem extra interested in a toy, activity, or show, simply ask them to tell you about it. You can ask them a mix of real and imagination-based questions like describing how a toy looks, where they got it, what it likes to do, where it sleeps, what it eats, etc. They’ll grow their imaginations and their speaking skills as they come up with answers. And if they seem to get shy in response to your questions instead of enjoying answering them? No worries. You can simply move on to something else – the last thing you want to do is make them feel pressure to perform. Instead, just look for natural opportunities to talk with your kids about things they enjoy. Remember, it’s not about racing to get to the first word or having the kindergartner with the most impressive vocabulary. Just try to help your child know that you truly enjoy communicating with them, whether that’s in a game like the ones above or in your day-to-day life. Kids who feel heard and respected (at any stage of communication) are more likely to feel confident and prepared as they communicate with peers, teachers, and other adults throughout their life.
10 Games and Activities that Foster Communication Skills
- December 23, 2022
- Games for kids , Home activities
Communication is one of the most important aspects of our relationships with others—especially our children! Children begin to develop communication skills from the day they are born and start interacting with their caregivers.
When we communicate with our kiddos , we teach them about love , respect , boundaries , and even safety .
What are the types of communication?
Verbal communication has to do with the words we use when speaking:
- Pitch (speaking in a loud voice vs. whispering)
- Tone (calm, firm, loving, gentle, angry, accusatory)
- Word choice (“Please speak more softly” vs. “Shut up” might mean the same thing but have very different connotations)
- Language/dialect (using words that your child understands)
Nonverbal communication has to do with body language:
- Physical touch (hugs, high fives)
- Hand gestures (thumbs up)
- Facial expressions (smiling, frowning)
- Eye contact (direct, indirect)
- Personal space (body autonomy)
Why Are Communication Skills Important?
When parents communicate with their children, they are teaching them how to interact with others and are helping shape kids’ emotional development.
Children will use the communication techniques that they learned from their caregivers long after they grow up and set out on their own!
What are the benefits of communication skills?
- Mental well-being
- Emotional intelligence
- Empathy and compassion
- Self-control and motivation
10 Activities and Games to Support Communication Skills
Parents know that their kids are like sponges ; they soak up everything they see and hear! Caregivers can model positive skills that will help their children grow to become effective communicators.
Playing fun activities and games with kids is a great way to introduce positive communication skills!
1. Guess the Object
- Place an object in a bag and give clues to help your child guess what it is.
- For example, if you are hiding a spoon, you could say: “It’s small.” “It’s silver.” “It’s a tool we use to eat food.”
- After modeling how to play, let your child pick an object to hide. Then, ask them questions until you guess correctly!
This is a classic game from childhood! It’s best to play with 3 to 5 people , so you can get the whole family involved.
- Have everyone stand in line .
- Start with an easy sentence , like “The ball is red.”
- Whisper the sentence into your child’s ear without letting anyone else hear.
- Then your child must whisper it to the person next to them.
- The last person in line gets to say the sentence out loud.
Most of the time, it changes from the original sentence to something much funnier! After a few rounds, you can make the sentences more and more complex.
3. Show and Tell
- Gather the whole family together for “Show and Tell.”
- Each family member needs to pick out a favorite item from their room.
- One of the adults should go first to model how to play.
- Show off your favorite item and explain why you love it so much, where you got it , and how it works .
- After modeling how to play, let your child go up and deliver their speech!
To make the game a little sillier, the game can also be done with “least favorite” items… will your child go straight for the broccoli or their toothbrush?
4. Picture Storytelling
This is a great activity to teach children new vocabulary words and sequencing .
- Start with one photo and have your child tell you everything they see . For example, if it’s a farm photo, they might say: barn, cat, farmer, pig, straw, cow.
- Then, have your child invent a story about what they see in the picture.
- You can help prompt them by saying, “The farmer brings food to the animals in the barn” or “The cat is unhappy because she has to share her food with the pig.”
- Encourage your child to be silly and let their imagination run wild!
You can make this game more complex by giving your child a set of images that tell a story. Have your child arrange the images to show what happened first, next, and last. Then ask them to tell the story of what happened by adding their own details.
5. Chain-link Story
This is a fun game that encourages creativity and quick thinking !
- Grab a ball and sit in a circle.
- Start off the story by saying something like, “once upon a time there was a baby dinosaur…”
- Then, pass the ball to someone new and have them add to the story .
- Keep passing the ball and adding to the story until it comes to an end!
“Charades” is a family favorite and a great way to teach kids nonverbal communication .
- Write down a bunch of different emotions and place them in a bowl.
- If your child cannot read yet, you can draw the emotions (and help them act when it’s their turn).
- Each player must grab a piece of paper from the bowl and act out what it says… without speaking!
- Then, the rest of the players must guess what the emotion is.
7. Ten Questions
This game helps strengthen kids’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills .
- One person must think of an animal , but they can’t tell anyone what it is.
- The other players have 10 chances to ask questions about the animal in order to figure out and guess what it is !
- For example, players might ask: “Does it have a tail?” “Does it live in the ocean?” “Does it have fur?”
8. Obstacle Course
Obstacle courses help kids strengthen their active listening skills .
- Use household objects like frisbees, shoes, chairs, pillows, etc. to set up an obstacle course.
- To create an obstacle course, you’ll need a starting point and a finish line.
- Hop on each frisbee
- Go around the shoe
- Crawl under the chair
- Spin 3 times in the hula hoop
- Help guide your child as they make their way through the course, and don’t forget to celebrate them when they make it to the finish line!
9. Exact Instructions
This game is bound to make your child laugh and sigh in frustration! It’s a great way to practice clear and effective communication .
- Tell your child that you want to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and you need them to tell you how.
- Set out all the ingredients you need: bread, peanut butter, jelly, a knife, and a plate.
- Do the literal action that your child tells you. For example, if they say “put the peanut butter on the bread,” place the whole jar of peanut butter on the bread.
- Then, prompt them to give you clearer instructions . They might say, “spread the peanut butter on the bread.” In this case, maybe stick your fingers in the jar and spread it on the bread with your hands!
Eventually, your child can learn to be more specific . This fun game will surely help you all laugh through your tears of frustration! Click here to check out this dad’s hilarious experience playing with his children.
Role-playing games help stimulate creativity and imagination .
- Let your imagination run wild and act like police officers, firefighters, nurses, vets, astronauts, etc. Pretend to be mermaids, grocery store clerks, or even shooting stars!
- While playing, communicate your needs and ask for help . For example, if you’re role-playing veterinarians, you might hold up a horse figurine and ask your child to help it relax while you fix its hoof!
The possibilities are endless and you will see how much your little one enjoys playing with you.
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What are your tips and tricks when it comes to communicating with your child? Let us know by commenting below!
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15 Most Popular Communication Activities for Kids
Students need 50% communication skills and 50% knowledge to prosper. Communication activities for kids , like public speaking, are crucial nowadays.
These activities not only help students express themselves but also help them become a go-getter. That said, every age group has communication activities fit for their cognitive development.
Communication isn’t just listening and answering kids’ answers. It’s more than that. Let’s see what activities can help improve communication for kids.
What are Communication Activities?
Most importantly, communication activities help in personality development for kids . Such activities teach kids to develop various skills rather than just talking to each other.
Furthermore, effective communication activities help students to enhance their listening abilities and body language.
The different types of communication activities for kids are:
1. Non-verbal Communication Activities
Non-verbal communication activities help kids understand each other through facial expressions, body language, and eye contact.
Such activities include Mirror, You don’t say, Mimes, dumb charades, and more.
2. Verbal Communication Activities
Verbal communication includes activities that involve words. In this mode of communication, children rely on words to communicate with each other.
Activities that enhance verbal communication include debates, famous pairs, and more.
3. Visual Communication Activities
Visual communication takes place through graphical images and other pictorial representations. Visual communication is the best way to enhance students’ basic and essential skills.
Activities like dumb charades, and feeling corner help you to hone your visual communication skills.
4. Written Communication Activities
Written communication includes interacting with each other through written messages . These messages are usually in form of letters, emails, and notes.
Common written communication activities include book reading and writing session, journal writing and more.
5. Auditory Communication Activities
Auditory communication is an essential communication skill. It lets kids enhance their listening skills and communicate through noises, music, and sound.
Classic auditory communication activities include broken telephone games, piano lessons , and more.
Why must Kids Learn various Communication Activities?
Moreover, communication activities also help students to show respect and value other individuals’ point of view. Kids become more responsible and tolerant when they grow up.
Here is how effective communication skills are essential for children:
- Helps children to build and maintain relationships as adults
- Increases innovative ideas among young students
- Allows individuals to work in a team
- Help young professionals to excel in their professional lives
Want your kids to speak eloquently in public? Enroll them in EnthuZiastic Public Speaking Classes.
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15 Communication Activities for Kids
Communication activities for kids are as crucial as eating and breathing. Every age group requires different actions based on maturity and intelligence.
So, let’s see 5 communication activities for different age groups that they love and enjoy.
5 communication activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Communication activities for toddlers and preschoolers require listening and understanding facial expressions to respond emotionally.
Here are some games best suited for ages 1 to 5yrs:
Peek-a-boo is the hide-and-seek for babies and toddlers. You cover and uncover your face and keep saying “peekaboo” to your child.
This game will help your baby to:
- Create a strong bond with you
- Learn visual tracking
- Learn essential motor skills
- Learn social skills
2. Go Shopping Games
Go-shopping games are one of the most engaging games for toddlers and preschoolers. You collect your child’s favorite toys in this game and create a shop setting. You can participate as a shopkeeper or buyer and make your child learn new words while playing it.
This game will help your child to:
- Develop good communication skills
- Learn essential life skills
- Learn monetary vocabulary
- Learn the concept of queues and turns
- Learn public speaking from an early age
3. Show and Tell
Show and tell is a unique activity that teaches your kids to express their interests without being shy.
In this game, children need to show an object in front of the class and tell why they like it. Each student can speak and listen to their classmates to find common interests.
- Express their likes and dislikes without fear
- Learn simple oratory skills
- Develop listening skills
- Develop conceptual thinking
- Develop emotional intelligence
4. Who am I?
“Who am I” is an exciting game for kids in preschool, where each player describe an object without telling their name. The other player has to guess the answer and announce it.
“Who am I” is a great activity to help kids develop good communication skills early on.
This activity will also help your child to:
- Relax and enjoy
- Learn initial non-verbal communication skills
- Learn to describe things
5. Feeling Corner
Emotions are the hardest to explain in words; therefore, children sometimes have trouble describing their feelings. Feeling Corner help, kids understand and express their feelings to elders.
In this activity, teachers or parents create designated areas for children with images of various images of emotions stuck on the wall. The kids have to go and point out the emotions they feel.
This activity will help children to:
- Develop self-management skills
- Develop Self-awareness
- Develop relationship skills
5 Communication activities for Elementary Kids
Communication activities for elementary kids help them take the first step to public speaking. These activities are a little more challenging than toddlers’ activities and help children share more detailed information with their peers.
Here are some communication games for elementary kids.
1. Broken Telephone
Telephone is an exciting communication game that encourages teamwork, builds trust, and teaches listening ability in children.
This game requires all the students to sit in a circle, and the teacher will whisper one word or sentence in a student’s ears. Then that student will whisper it to the student sitting next to them.
The game will continue till the word comes back to the teacher. Once it comes back, they will compare the original term with the one it became.
This game will help the child to:
- Develop detailed listening skills
- Expand children’s vocabulary
- Develop patience in children
- Encourage creative thinking
2. Dumb charades
Dumb charades is a word-guessing game that helps new students socialize with classmates. In this game, students are divided into two teams.
Teachers give each team a name of a book, personality, or movie that students have to enact, guess and tell.
Dumb charades help kids to:
- Develop interpersonal skills
- Understand body language
- Develop verbal and non-verbal communication skills
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3. Book Reading and Writing Sessions
Book reading is one of the most outstanding public speaking activities for kids , as it helps them improve their literacy. For book reading sessions, teachers provide a book to each child that students need to take back home and read by themselves.
Once they have finished the books, these students have to narrate or write the story in their words and explain why they liked it.
Book reading sessions help students to:
- Improve their language literacy
- Improve general knowledge and trivia
- Improve writing habits
- Inculcate healthy social habits
- Inculcate storytelling habits
- Inculcate the habit of impromptu public-speaking habits
4. Role-Playing Games
Skits and role-playing is a fun game that helps students to be empathetic and find ways to respond to challenging situations.
In this game, teachers assign students the role of adults that students have to enact in front of the class.
Here is how role-playing helps students with their communication:
- Let students make mature decisions
- Increases their creativity
- Students learn to handle real-world scenarios
- Enhances public speaking skills
- Express emotion through facial expression
5. Tongue Twisters
Tongue twister helps students speak loud and clear and let them gain verbal literacy. Tongue twisters are tricky phrases that kids repeat multiple times quickly.
Elementary kids enjoy this game, and teachers can plan less for this activity. Students like to play tongue twisters in recess, and it’s just the teacher’s job to encourage them.
Tongue twisters help students in:
- Verbal communication
- Speaking clearly in the class
- Understand which sound is complex for them
5 Communication activities for Middle and High schoolers
Communication activities for middle and high school students are more complex than thosefor elementary kids.
These activities and games involve public speaking and word games that help them prepare for college.
Here are some exciting games and activities fit for middle and high schoolers:
1. Public speaking games
Games like “The best part of our school” help students confidently present their points of view.
For example, “the best part of our school” is a great activity conducted over three days. On the first day, each student list 10 things that they like about their school.
Next, they split into groups and shortlist these things into lesser numbers. And finally, on the final day, they present their list collectively in front of others.
This communication game helps students in:
- Building complex communication skills
- Enhancing presentation skills
- Building advanced oratory skills
- Enhancing higher self-esteem
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2. Electric Fence
The Electric Fence is a physical game where each student’s challenge is crossing a fence. However, everyone has to start again if one student touches the fence.
This game helps students learn several things. Students can play this game during their gym time once every week.
Electric fence team building games help students to:
- Cooperate effectively in professional lives
- Non-verbal communication
- Trust among one another
- Leadership skills
3. Collaborative Projects
Collaborative projects like class assignments and debates help students enhance their research skills. For these projects, students are divided into teams of two and given a task to complete.
One team has to speak for the topic, and the other has to speak against the topic.
Debates help students to:
- Enhance Research Skills
- Link ideas to make concepts more meaningful
- Synthesize wide bodies of complex information
- Implement different methods of knowledge
Want to excel as a debater? Learn how to prepare for a debate and stand apart from your classmates.
4. Famous Pairs
Famous pair is a game where students create a list of well-known pairs. For example, some famous pairs are tart and jelly, stapler and pins, and Romeo and Juliet. Each player is given a note with one-half of the pair on the back.
Students move around, asking each student three questions and figuring out who they are. Once they have found who they are, they go on and find their partners.
This game helps students to:
- Enhance research skills
- Share ownership
- Build healthy relationships among peers
- Foster a healthy learning environment in class
5. Blindfold Game
The blindfold game teaches students to overcome obstacles as a team. In this game, students nominate someone to become the “blind man.”
The “blind man” must feel objects around them to find their classmates. On the other hand, the classmates will spread out so that the blind man cannot catch them. If the blind man catches someone and guesses their name correctly, that student becomes the blind man.
The blindfold game helps students to:
- Get a sense of sight without seeing
- Communicate without speaking
- Enhance leadership skills by keeping a distance and focusing on details
6 Effective Communication Tips for Parents
Kids can learn communication skills only if an adult teaches them. We don’t expect babies to run the day they are born.
If you want your child to learn and communicate effectively, you must take the right actions. These tips are for parents who wish their child to excel as humans and professionals.
Here are some top tips to help your kids learn to communicate:
1. Listen to what they have to say
Active listening is one of the best examples of good communication. Parents or teachers who listen to what their kids say usually make children feel validated and secure.
In return, kids feel the urge to speak and express themselves. A warm smile from your end or a nodding gesture is a sign to make your kids understand that you are talking to them.
2. Listen and answer
Reflective listening is a terrific way to make your kids understand that you pay attention to what they say. Moreover, it lets your children believe you care about their state of mind and opinion.
For example, if your child comes to you and says, “I don’t like eating oranges,” you can reply, “May I know why you don’t like such a delicious fruit?” This will give your child the space to say what they want.
3. Clear speaking
Be precise while speaking to your children. It will help your children understand that clear verbal communication is better and more effective. For example, if your child comes to you and says, “Can I eat ice cream?”
Don’t say NO! Instead, explain why they cannot eat ice cream now and what it would do to their health. However, do remember not to belittle or insult your kid. It will have a negative impact on their mind.
Check out EnthuZiastic Public Speaking Courses to learn with the best teachers.
4. Don’t bribe your kids
Don’t bribe your child for behaving properly. It will set wrong expectations in them and make them feel entitled and greedy in their later lives . Also, such behavior on your part will weaken your bond with your kids.
Set clear expectations and calmly handle situations to encourage better behavior from your child.
5. Express and explain the feelings
Help your child to grow their emotional intelligence by expressing and explaining their feelings. If you don’t like something or expect them to behave better, present it without showing anger.
It will help them to come to terms with their feelings. Moreover, try to understand their perspective. Understand your kids’ fear, anger, and sadness, and help them express it through words.
6. Praise your children
We all love praises, don’t we? It helps us to feel confident and achieve better. Similarly, when you praise your child, they feel sure of themselves, and their confidence reflects their attitude.
You can use words like “good job” or “I am proud of you” to encourage your child’s intelligence. Moreover, such expressions of praise make them feel noticed and emotionally nourished.
What is effective communication?
Effective communication allows people to connect with each other’s ideas. Effective communication is not about getting others to do what you want. Effective communication helps you and others click on a deeper level and cooperate to get jobs done.
Why does my kid need to learn effective communication?
Your kid needs to learn effective communication to grow as a professional. No one in this fast-paced world can prosper with just hard skills. Hard skills with no communication abilities will never help them to achieve their goals.
What challenges will my kids face if they don’t learn to communicate?
There are several challenges that one has to face without proper communication skills. They will not learn how to express themselves, and they will not learn to listen to others. Moreover, they will need to know which channel to use while communicating and won’t also learn to evaluate their flaws.
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Master the art of public speaking. Learn with the best teachers.
Good communication skills will always help people to get through their lives. Most importantly, effective communication abilities will allow professionals to make crucial decisions and crack deals.
Parents should understand that communication activities help kids to become good humans. I suggest you start taking the initiative and help your child learn communication through these activities mentioned here and more.
By Shatavisha Chatterjee
A writer and dreamer by heart, Shatavisha thinks writing is the best way to express oneself. Someday she wants to travel the world and make movies about life.
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Communication Skills for Kids: Importance, Activities, and Games
Effective communication is a fundamental skill that all children should learn to succeed. This blog will provide the necessary guidance on how to help children build strong communication skills. We will discuss the importance of communication, activities, and communication skills games to help children develop their communication skills.
Importance of Communication Skills for Kids
Good communication skills give children the tools they need to build meaningful relationships with others, express themselves clearly and accurately, problem-solve effectively, negotiate conflicts, and easily handle difficult conversations. Having the ability to communicate effectively helps kids feel more confident in social situations and better able to take stress or anxiety when it arises. It also gives them a foundation for understanding that will serve them well into adulthood. Get the children admission to preschool for developing and learning better communication skills.
Communication is also a key factor in developing social and emotional skills, which can help children express themselves better, make friends, resolve conflicts, and even build self-confidence.
Teaching a child how to communicate effectively is an important part of parenting. The ability to articulate thoughts and emotions will help a child develop meaningful relationships and excel in school and work. Parents should focus on teaching their children communication skills from an early age, as it can significantly improve their overall quality of life.
How Can Parents Help Teach Their Child Effective Communication Skills?
Communication is an essential life skill that parents can help their children develop from an early age. For parents and guardians, it is important to understand the best practices and strategies to help kids develop their communication skills. This includes understanding how verbal and non-verbal communication works in kids and language development strategies that can help them communicate better.
For kids, communication is more than just talking. Also, it covers nonverbal communication, like body language, facial expressions, and eye contact. These nonverbal cues can convey important information and help kids express themselves even when they don’t have the words.
By teaching and modeling good communication skills, parents and caregivers can give kids the tools they need to be successful now and in the future. Several communication activities and communication skills games can help children improve their communication skills. Creative activities are a great way to help children develop their communication skills. Read more about the best positive parenting tips that every parent should know.
Tips for Parents to Help Improve Communication Skills in Kids
Parenting is one of the best ways to help improve communication skills in their kids to be good listeners and create an environment that encourages conversation. This means building a home where kids feel safe and comfortable talking about their feelings, ideas, and opinions. Make sure you remove distractions and pay attention when your children communicate with you. This will show your respect for their thoughts and opinions, which can help build their self-esteem.
Parents can model good communication habits by speaking clearly, asking questions, role-playing different social situations; reading books together; writing stories; using visual aids like diagrams or pictures; discussing news articles or current events; engaging in family meetings where each member can share ideas or feelings without interruption; creating art projects together; setting time aside for one-on-one discussion and encouraging verbal responses.
Activities & Games To Encourage Communication Skills for Kids
Communication activities for kids can help children develop their communication skills. These activities involve practice with different communication skills, such as verbal, written, and nonverbal. We will explore various communication activities for kids and games that can be played to help develop and reinforce essential communication skills for kids.
1. Draw a Picture
Draw a picture instead of using words to ask for what you want. This form of Pictionary can help children learn how to communicate their thoughts and desires. Read more about the best easy drawing ideas for kids .
2. Communication Bingo
Each player is given a bingo card with communication-related phrases in the squares for this game. Examples of words could be “maintains eye contact,” “uses clear language,” “asks meaningful questions,” and “gives feedback.” Each player’s objective in the game is to collect 5 in a row by listening to their group members as they communicate. As players observe an example of one of the phrases on their cards, they can mark it off. This encourages kids to pay attention to how others are communicating. All words should be understandable by someone age 13 who reads at an 8th-grade level. Each phrase should convey meaning without being repetitive or robotic.
Pick a theme for your kids to act out and discuss together. For example, the theme could be “going on a camping trip,” The kids would have to act out their conversations as if they were planning the trip in real life. Please encourage them to act out different scenarios and roles where they emulate other characters in a scripted system. This helps them to develop their social skills and learn about different perspectives. You can also let them create scenarios and act them out with friends or family members.
Encourage children to share/tell stories, made up or from their own experiences, using words and emotions. This helps them to develop their vocabulary and narrative skills. Please encourage them to use descriptive language and different sentence structures and think critically about what they’re saying. You can also follow the one-word story format where; one person starts a story with one word, and each player takes turns adding to the story using only one word at a time. The intention is for everyone to work to develop a compelling story. This activity boosts creative writing skills, aids in memorization, develops logical reasoning abilities, homes storytelling techniques, encourages problem-solving, and nurtures empathy.
The “Charades” game teaches children to think creatively, pay attention to details, use their bodies to convey messages, and practice quick thinking. One participant creates a word or phrase, and the other players have to guess what the word or phrase is. Have your kids communicate by acting out different emotions, objects, or actions without speaking aloud. You can also make it more challenging by adding a time limit or having them act out multiple words simultaneously. You can also give them a scene where they have to act out without speaking any words. This requires clear communication and creative expression from both sides to ensure the audience understands what’s happening. This will help them interpret nonverbal cues from others and practice communicating in ways other than just speaking and writing.
Create teams where each team argues a point while the other defends its opposing argument. This activity allows kids to practice developing ideas logically with evidence, listen actively to opposing views and weigh both sides of an issue fairly, think quickly on their feet, voice opinions respectfully, work together towards common goals, and manage stress during heated conversations. It also develops their critical thinking skills .
7. Table Topics
Each player takes turns asking 20 questions about themselves or others in the group. Everyone then has a chance to answer the questions. This game promotes active listening skills, builds confidence in public speaking, cultivates collaboration and cooperation, and encourages creativity.
8. Two Truths & A Lie
Players take turns telling one lie and two truths about themselves. Everyone must then guess which statement is false. This game challenges critical thinking skills, enhances conversational fluency, teaches kids to distinguish between accurate and inaccurate information, sharpens memory retention, and strengthens players’ trust.
9. Yes & No
Each player takes a turn saying a sentence or phrase, but every response must start with either yes or no. This will encourage players to think on their feet as they try to keep the conversation going.
10. Scavenger Hunt
Start by giving each group an item they need to find within the room. They can’t just look for it; instead, they have to ask questions about the item and look for clues in the answers given. This encourages teamwork and critical thinking skills.
11. Play Catch
This classic game is a great way to improve hand-eye coordination and communication skills.
12. Have a picnic
A picnic is a perfect opportunity for your child to practice social skills. Please encourage them to talk to their friends, share food and make conversation.
13. Make a Recipe Together
Cooking is fun for kids to learn about communication and teamwork. Ask them to help you measure, stir and mix the ingredients. It is an excellent opportunity for children to learn about different ingredients, measurements, and other important information. Cooking or baking with you helps children to learn new words, follow instructions and talk about their experiences.
This game is a great way to teach kids about observation and communication. One player starts by saying, “I spy with my eye something that is…” and then describes an object in the room. The other players then have to try to guess what the thing is. This game reinforces the importance of paying attention and being an active listener.
This game is a great way to teach kids about listening and communication. One player whispers a message to the player next to them, then that player whispers to the next participant to receive the news, and so forth. The last player then has to say the message aloud. The game’s goal is to accurately determine the statement after it has been passed through a few players.
16. Simon Says
This game is a great way to teach kids about following directions. One player, Simon, gives commands by saying, “Simon says…” telling the kids to perform a physical action. The players can only do the controls if they start with the phrase “Simon says.” If Simon leaves out “Simon says” before giving instruction, anyone who performed the activity is out! This game is also a great way to teach kids about paying attention.
Good communication skills provide a strong foundation upon which successful relationships can be built, allowing children to express themselves better, solve problems, handle difficult conversations gracefully, and navigate social settings confidently.
There are many communication activities for kids parents can engage in at home or through school that will help encourage effective communication in their kids – from conversing about topics they find interesting to playing communication skills games designed around building communication skills for kids – which can significantly impact how well your child is helped be successful now and later on down the road.
15 Interactive Language Activities for Preschoolers
By: Author Tanja McIlroy
Posted on Last updated: 15 November 2023
Categories Cognitive Development
Language development is a vital part of communication in the early years.
Children start learning language very early on in their development. Those funny cooing noises parents make to their babies are the first steps along the road of language development.
During the early years, children must develop both their receptive and expressive language .
Here are some great language activities for preschoolers.
How to Develop Language Through Activities
Language is something children acquire as they grow and learn. The best way to develop language is through interaction.
The way to interact with your children is to spend time with them and the best learning opportunities are found during play.
This post contains affiliate links for educational products that I personally recommend. If you purchase through one of them, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Read the terms and conditions for more details.
15 Interactive Language Development Activities for Preschoolers
Here are some simple and fun language activities.
Books and telling stories are one of the best ways to encourage language.
Read age-appropriate stories or just tell the story through the pictures. Start early book experiences with board books and use sensory books to encourage your children to touch and feel items in the pictures.
My absolute favourites – and most educational – are all the books by Julia Donaldson and Dr. Seuss .
- Julia Donaldson (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 5 beloved beginner books by Dr. Seuss will be cherished by young & old alike.
- Ideal for reading aloud or reading alone.
There is no end to the avenues you can explore, and the language you can develop, through books.
The kitchen offers many language opportunities. Here is a chance to encourage language development while you make something delicious to eat.
Counting, weighing and measuring are all part of a baking experience.
Baking cookies with soft dough to roll and cut out is probably one of the best baking activities for preschoolers. After you have baked your cookies you can get creative and decorate them with icing and sprinkles.
Finish off your ‘baker baker’ session with a tea party and share your cookies with the rest of the family.
3. Construction Toys
Choose age-appropriate construction toys. Lego is one of the best toys , but perhaps your young preschooler is more comfortable with blocks.
Here’s a great set of Lego:
- Features a wide range of bricks in 29 different colors, Special pieces include 2 different sets of eyes,...
- Special pieces encourage imaginative building with endless possibilities
Block play is a vital part of learning. Choose a good quality set of wooden blocks, like these:
- BUILDING BLOCKS FOR CHILDREN: The Melissa & Doug Standard Unit Solid-Wood Building Blocks are comprised of 60...
- MULTIPLE DEVELOPMENTAL BENEFITS: Our blocks for imaginative play are ideal for introducing early math...
Construction toys give you an opportunity to talk about size and shape. Use construction toys to follow instructions and build towers or castles. Then play with what you have built.
4. Musical Games
Children love moving to music and playing musical games .
Here are some ideas:
- Play songs to dance to, and clap hands to the rhythm.
- Play musical statues and sing along to the music.
- Bring out percussion instruments if you have them.
- Make your own shakers with beans in a container.
- Learn about sound – loud and soft, fast or slow and happy or sad songs.
- Sing well-known songs to develop language.
5. Dressing Up Box
A collection of dressing-up clothes will encourage fantasy play and role play . Children can pretend to be someone else and use new vocabulary in their imaginative role.
Find old hats and shawls at charity shops or visit party shops for wigs and funny masks. Join in the fun yourself and get dressed up.
6. Picture Books
Picture books and non-fiction books provide great opportunities for developing language.
Many picture books relate to specific themes. Looking at a page about the farm, for example, teaches a variety of vocabulary related to farms.
Find out what your kids are interested in. Look out for different themes and encourage pointing to and saying the names of the pictures.
Picture books that have hidden items in the pictures or spot-the-difference books encourage observation skills as well as language stimulation:
- Books, Webber (Author)
- Espinosa, Genie (Author)
Getting out into the garden and appreciating nature is a great way to develop vocabulary. Learning about plants and nurturing plants are valuable life skills.
If you don’t have access to a garden, then try growing something in a pot or growing some herbs in the kitchen. A visit to a park or nature reserve will encourage learning outdoor vocabulary.
8. Puppet Shows
Playing with puppets and making up puppet shows is wonderful for language development.
Children feel free to talk through their puppet friends. Holding a puppet in each hand is an opportunity for a conversation between the two puppets.
Children love making up puppet shows. They can tell a favourite fairy tale using puppets and entertain the whole family.
Make your own puppets or use a set of hand puppets like these:
- ENTERTAINING PUPPET SET: The Melissa & Doug Zoo Friends Hand Puppets set contains 4 soft hand puppets,...
- SOFT-STUFFED PLUSH MATERIAL: Our fuzzy hand-puppet set is made from soft-stuffed plush material that not only...
9. Touchy–Feely Bags
This is a very good way to encourage children to describe objects.
You need a cloth bag to put small objects into so they are not visible. Choose things around the house like a small ball, a teaspoon, a pencil and so on.
The items are put into the bag and your child puts their hand into the bag to feel one of the items. Then the item is described to you. You have to guess what it is.
10. Sand Play and Sensory Trays
Sensory vocabulary is developed through sand play and sensory trays. A sensory tray filled with different objects encourages language as your children touch and talk about items in the tray.
Choose things with different textures and sizes. Mix them up for sorting experiences . Look for things like buttons, corks, pebbles, pasta, blocks and Lego.
A sandpit under a shady tree is always a talking point and an opportunity for digging, building and playing with sand toys.
11. Fun with Paper Plates
Paper plates are so versatile and there are many activities you can do and crafts you can make with them. Have a pile in store for rainy days.
Keep a box of creative waste materials like stickers, glue, wool, felt pieces, old magazines, coloured licky sticky paper, markers and stamps.
- CRAYOLA BROAD LINE MARKERS: Features 40 Crayola Ultra Clean Washable Markers in assorted colors that offer...
- WASHABLE MARKERS: These less mess markers give parents piece of mind as they wash easily from clothes,...
- ENTERTAINING STAMP SET: The Melissa & Doug Wooden Favorite Things Stamp Set contains 26 detailed wooden...
- WASHABLE INK: This Melissa & Doug kids’ stamp set also includes 5 colored pencils and a 4-color stamp pad...
Let your kids experiment with making masks and other creative crafts.
12. Fantasy Play at Home
Creating fantasy scenarios at home really encourages language and helps children have different social experiences in the comfort of their homes.
Here are some ideas for fantasy play:
- Set up a shop corner and play ‘shop shop’ .
- Have a tea party and invite a friend to dress up .
- Play having a wedding or party or just play ‘house’.
Join in to make it a language experience.
13. Nursery Rhymes and Fingerplays
Saying rhymes and learning fingerplays helps to develop language through repetition and memorizing the words of the rhyme. Repetition is so important in learning a language.
Driving in the car is a perfect time to play nursery rhymes (and word games ). Singing silly songs together will increase your child’s vocabulary in an entertaining way.
Children love to paint and it is a great opportunity to learn about colours . It can be messy, but learning to clean up adds another dimension to vocabulary development, especially if you use fun clean-up songs .
There are many different activities using paint. Try finger painting or printing with paint. There are more examples in this article about art activities .
Painting a picture is a great way to help children express their feelings by discussing the picture.
15. Card Games
There are numerous card games available that encourage vocabulary development . Matching pairs (there’s a downloadable set at the end of the post), Snap and Happy Families , are just a few.
Playing card games develops social interaction and vocabulary associated with the game. Before you begin the game check your children have the vocabulary to be able to use the cards.
Tips to Encourage Language Development
The key to language development is interaction and along with interaction comes encouragement. Here are a few tips to help encourage children as they develop language.
- Pay attention to your children when they are talking to you.
- Praise good speech and vocabulary.
- Help with new words by repeating them.
- Add onto phrases or words and boost vocabulary (For example – Your child says “my ball” and you say “yes, your ball is a big ball”).
- Never make fun of mistakes – correct gently by repeating the sentence correctly.
- Use TV and screens sparingly.
- Check your children for ear infections.
- Talk about what you are doing as you go about your daily chores.
- Be a good role model.
The rate children learn new words is amazing. They are like little sponges soaking up every word they hear.
What a joy to be part of their language learning experience!
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Tuesday 30th of May 2023
Hi, it is an interested article indeed and I agree with the praises below. I just wanted to elaborate on the topic mentioned in the latest section of the article that is card games which I believe can be ascribed to printables for preschool kids in general. As you can see in the link https://wunderkiddy.com card games also help develop motor abilities, math skills, logic and critical thinking, creativity and so on. Unfortunately printables are heavily neglected nowadays because of the growing popularity of touch-screen gadgets which are actually pretty harmful for kids of the age discussed. The article promotes low tech means of teaching and that is what I also like about it. Way to go!
Wednesday 8th of February 2023
i see it is good for my school kids you should continue help the needy kids i needs some of video crip to teach my kids
Thursday 9th of February 2023
Wednesday 17th of August 2022
Thank you for sharing the information which guide us for help young ones to develop well
I'm glad you liked it!
Wednesday 8th of June 2022
Many exciting and useful tools!
Thursday 9th of June 2022
I'm glad you like these, Kay!
Thursday 4th of March 2021
Very very useful information, explained in simple ways... Thank you so much...sharing it.
Friday 5th of March 2021
You're welcome Soumya. Thanks for the comment.
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Activities to Improve Communication Skills in Kids: How Can Games Improve Communication Skills?
Are your kids scoring well in their language papers, but still struggle at public-speaking? The reason may be too much focus on the academics of your child, and not on their overall growth. In a world like today, books may not be enough to learn something new, especially in the case of the communication skills of your child. Apart from books and school lessons, there are various means of communication activities for kids that can prove more efficient for them.
Why are Communication Activities for Kids Essential?
- Not every child feels engaged in a book and may need something more than words on a paper. If you are still prioritising books and academics for your child’s communication skills, then you may not find the results for a very long time.
- Some kids feel more engaged in communication games than books.
- Communication games provide kids with an environment where they are free to make mistakes, and thus, this helps them to learn at a better pace.
- Communication games not only develop communication skills but also develop interpersonal skills like emotional intelligence, caring, body language and others.
- Kids with better communication skills express their ideas better than the kids who are only academically good.
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What are Some Activities to Improve Communication Skills for Kids?
Students of different age groups need different levels of communication games. Communication skill activities for kids put the whole classroom in an engaging environment, where each and every student participates. The teamwork and challenging environment keeps encouraging them to perform better. Read some interesting and fun communication games in the article below:
Communication Games for Middle School Kids
This game helps in developing the listening and speaking skills of the players involved. The game involves a pair of students, in which one listens and the other follows. It can be done in the following manner:
- Ask the pair of students to sit back-to-back so that they don’t see each other.
- Then ask one of the students to describe a drawing, a picture, or an object which the other student will try to recreate or answer what that thing is.
- The same activity can also be done through a paper-folding game, where one student will describe it, and the other will fold the paper that way.
2. Role Playing
This game assesses and improves the student’s communication skills at a quite higher level. Students can perform the role playing game in the following manner:
- Divide your students into pairs and ask them to role-play random individuals like their teachers or parents.
- Ask them questions related to their roles.
- Provide them with situations to see how they would act and communicate in that situation.
- Analyse their wordings, body language, and confidence level.
This game involves picture-description, which helps the kids develop their analysing skills as well. Perform the game by:
- Hand out a variety of random pictures to your students, which can be simple as well complex. You can also make levels.
- Set a time-limit, and ask them to describe it within that time.
- Students learn how to analyse and organise their thoughts in a limited time period.
- You can do the same for the writing skills by giving them a written picture-description test.
- To make it more engaging, you can split the students into teams and award them points accordingly. This will encourage them to perform better.
4. Movement Sticks
Since body-language is a form of communication skill, this game is meant to improve the body language of students. For this you’re required to:
- Divide students into pairs.
- Place two sticks between the fingers of the pairs and ask them to move across the classroom without dropping the sticks.
- In order to keep all the focus on the body language of students, any kind of verbal communication should be avoided.
5. Stand Up for Fillers
We often add fillers to our speech when we have to fill up the silent spaces, but the utterances like, “um,” “uh”, “so,” or “right” makes you look nervous and less confident. The stand-up filler is made to avoid such fillers. The game is played by:
- Giving each student a topic on which they are asked to speak for 1-3 minutes.
- The game starts when the student starts speaking, and the rest of the students stand-up on hearing the fillers.
- The class listens and the speaker becomes hyper-aware of the words they are using. The standing-up of the whole class becomes a deliberate shock to the speaker, and this makes them become more conscious of the words used.
6. Blindfold Game
This game improves the understanding element of students while communicating. The game involves a blindfolded student performing according to the words of another student. For this:
- Create obstacles with everyday items in the classroom.
- Divide students into two or more groups.
- One person in each group will remain blindfolded, while the rest of the group communicates instructions on how to navigate through the classroom without getting touched by the obstacles.
- This activity will push their communication skills to accuracy. However, always keep a student near the blindfolded person to avoid any accidents during navigation.
7. Find It Together
This is another blindfold activity where you are needed to:
- Divide the group into pairs in which one of the students remains blindfolded.
- Then the job of the other student becomes to navigate the blindfolded student to find specific objects from a designated circle.
- This game requires effective communication skills between the students to accomplish the goals.
- It is teamwork done through effective communication skills.
Also Enjoy Reading: Teaching Kids about Communication: How to Improve Communication Skills In a child?
Communication Games for High School Kids
We often assume that high school students are already well-versed in their communication skills, but lack of communication skills is a major problem among high-schoolers when it comes to competitive stages and public-speaking. We cannot already believe that high scholars do not require any communication activities and games, hence the following communication activities will help the high-school students to practice their communication skills.
Tell Me about the Time
- This activity aims at improving a student’s confidence in public speaking.
- Class is divided into groups, then one of the students is chosen as a leader who comes up with a situation like “Tell me about the time when you forgot maths book for class”.
- Then one of the students is made to answer the question in a 3-4 minutes speech.
- A nonverbal activity is performed in class, where every student is aware of each other.
- The class is divided into pairs.
- One student in each pair is asked to act about something or some situation, while the other needs to guess what they are doing, describing it in words.
- It is a listening game to enhance comprehension.
- One individual only listens to the other without speaking or interrupting, letting them talk about anything they want.
- In the end, the listener is asked to summarise the whole story or answer questions related to it.
- Involves a question game to make the whole class engage in a communication activity.
- You are required to put sticky notes with any noun on it, such as the name of a famous person or animal, and stick them on students’ foreheads without them seeing the writing.
- Each of the remaining students will come and describe the related thing to that noun so that the student with the sticky note on the forehead answers the question “who I am?”.
- Split the class in two and present them a point of discussion.
- One group should agree with the idea, and another should speak about the opposition to that idea.
- Time is given to prepare in groups and have a debate on the issue. This one is a great example of communication skills group activities.
Effective communication is the key to expression. Students who lack expression struggle in almost every field. Teachers, as well as parents, should focus on the communication skills of the students as much as they do on their academic skills.
Communication games for kids can prove to be an effective way of developing their communication skills from a very early age. For more informative blogs on the holistic development of your child, follow The Real School Of Montessori , where we have devised 100+ communication-centric activities to help kids develop a reading routine and enhance their debating and persuasive speaking skills.
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7 Communication Activities for Kids
Home » Parent Press » Parenting Hacks » Goally Information » 7 Communication Activities for Kids
As a parent, you know that its important to develop your child’s communication skills . We’ve compiled a list of 7 engaging communication activities for kids that cater to both neurotypical and neurodivergent children. These activities are designed to be fun, interactive, and easy to implement, so let’s explore what’s in store for you and your child.
1. Charades: A Classic Game with a Twist
Charades is a timeless game that encourages non-verbal communication and helps kids develop their observation skills. To make it more inclusive, try these adaptations:
- For kids with thinking and learning differences, use simple and familiar actions or objects.
- Allow the use of props or visual aids for neurodivergent kids who may need extra support.
Remember, the goal is to have fun while practicing communication! With a little creativity, you can tailor this classic game to suit the needs of all children, making it one of the most versatile communication activities for kids.
For Kids Learning Social Skills:
Goally’s Kid’s Tablet has one of the largest libraries of skill-building videos (like “How to Share” and “What To Do When You’re Lost”) in the Goal Mine app.👇
2. Storytelling Circle: Unleash the Imagination
Storytelling is a powerful way to enhance verbal communication and listening skills. Here’s how to set up a storytelling circle:
- Gather your kids in a circle, either sitting or standing.
- Start a story with an engaging opening line.
- Pass the story along to the next child, who adds their own sentence or idea.
- Continue around the circle until the story reaches a conclusion.
This activity can be tailored to suit the needs and interests of all kids, including those with functional needs. To make it even more engaging, consider incorporating props, costumes, or visual aids to help bring the stories to life.
3. Feelings Pictionary: Draw and Express
Feelings Pictionary combines drawing and emotional expression, making it an excellent communication activity for kids. Here’s how it works:
- Prepare a set of cards with different emotions written on them.
- Each child takes turns picking a card and drawing a picture that represents the emotion.
- The other kids guess the emotion based on the drawing.
This activity helps kids with support needs to recognize and express emotions while practicing non-verbal communication. It also encourages empathy and understanding among all children, making it a valuable addition to your list of communication activities for kids.
4. Telephone Game: Whisper and Listen
The Telephone Game is a classic that teaches kids the importance of active listening. To play:
- Line up the kids and whisper a short message to the first child.
- Each child whispers the message to the next one in line.
- The last child says the message out loud, and everyone compares it to the original.
For neurodivergent kids, consider using shorter messages or visual cues to help them participate fully. This game not only helps improve listening skills but also teaches children the importance of clear communication.
5. Show and Tell: Share and Connect
Show and Tell is a fantastic way for kids to practice public speaking and active listening. Encourage your child to:
- Choose an object or topic they’re passionate about.
- Prepare a short presentation to share with their peers.
- Answer questions and engage in a discussion about their topic.
For kids with thinking and learning differences, provide additional support and guidance as needed. Show and Tell not only helps children develop their verbal communication skills but also fosters a sense of connection and understanding among peers.
6. Two Truths and a Lie: Observe and Analyze
Two Truths and a Lie is a fun game that promotes critical thinking and verbal communication. Here’s how to play:
- Each child shares two true statements and one false statement about themselves.
- The other kids try to guess which statement is the lie.
This activity can be adapted for neurodivergent kids by providing visual aids or simplifying the statements. It encourages children to pay close attention to their peers’ words and expressions, helping them develop their observation and analytical skills. Plus, it’s a great way for kids to learn more about each other and build stronger connections.
7. Role-Playing: Act and Communicate
Role-playing is an engaging way for kids to practice communication skills in various scenarios. To set up a role-playing activity:
- Choose a situation that requires communication, such as ordering food at a restaurant or resolving a conflict.
- Assign roles to the kids and provide guidance on how to act and respond.
- Allow the kids to practice the scenario, then discuss and reflect on their performance.
Role-playing can be tailored to the needs and abilities of all kids, including those with functional needs. It helps children develop problem-solving skills, empathy, and adaptability, making it an essential communication activity for kids.
“I found Goally on Instagram a few months ago and I thought, this sounds like a perfect aid for Ivy. Ivy had just started speaking, but her communication was still very minimal. Goally’s visual schedule and AAC-inspired Talker had me really interested. While we want and believe Ivy will find her voice and spoken language, we also believe that communication comes in many forms . Goally has helped us offer our daughter a voice while she learns to find her own. The key is to support communication in whatever form that takes.” – Cassidy I.
In summary, these 7 communication activities for kids are designed to be inclusive, engaging, and effective in building essential communication skills. Give them a try and watch your child’s communication abilities flourish! With a little creativity and adaptation, you can create a fun and supportive environment for all children to develop their communication skills.
This post was originally published on 05/09/2023. It was updated on 07/14/2023.
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Wed, 05 Jan, 2022
10 Fun & Exciting Communication Games & Activities for Kids
As the world around us is buzzing with electronic devices, everyone, including kids, are surrounded by Ipads, mobile phones, and TV, minimising the time for communication activities for kids. But when your kids enter the real world, they realise that communicating effectively is one of the most critical skillsets they need to succeed in life.
Importance of Communication Skills for Kids
Communication skills play a vital role in children's development in the following ways:-
- Helps in confidence-building
- Enables to express themselves clearly
- Improves interaction with other people, thus making social life better
- Enhances academics & vocabulary
- Keeps behavioural disorders like social anxiety and depression at bay.
- Facilitates learning and exchange of information
Top 10 Communication Skills Activities for Children
Following are the 10 interesting communication games and activities which you can use as tools to develop communications skills and confidence in your kids:-
- Chinese Whisper This game works on listening skills which is an essential part of communication. "Chinese whisper" requires all the kids to sit in a circle. Now one kid will whisper a message into the player's ear seated on the right side. This player then whispers it to another one. The cycle continues until everyone's turn. Then the massage is said aloud, which is likely to be very funny as it will be significantly different from the original one.
- Direct Me to the Shop Ask your kids to write directions to their favourite toy/ice cream/book shop nearby. Start your journey with your kids based on these directions. They will know if they gave the correct directions when you reach the destination. Later, you can help them correct their mistakes (if any). "Direct me to the shop" works on the problem-solving and written communication skills of your kids .
- Describe & Show This is one of the most simple, at the same time, most exciting communication skills activities for kids. Ask them to pick their favourite topic or thing or place like a story, toy, or garden. Now let them show an item related to the topic and describe it in 5 sentences. "Describe & show" help improve your kids' verbal communication and vocabulary.
- 20 Questions "20 questions" is an excellent communication skills activity for children as it teaches them to ask questions and brainstorm together. In this game, kids make a circle and stand in the centre of that circle one by one. The kid in the centre will have a prominent place or a personality in mind. The other kids in the circle need to guess it by asking a maximum of 20 questions.
- Guess the Thing Blindfold a child from a group of kids. Now ask other kids to choose an object in the room. Other kids need to describe the features and characteristics of the item to the kid with a blindfold. They should explain in such a way that the name of the object can be identified without seeing it. Parents count "Guess the thing" amongst the most effective communication games for kids.
- Who's the Leader? "Who’s the leader” is a unique communication skills activity which trains kids to recognise body language. One kid amongst several kids will act as a leader of the group. That little master needs to perform leadership actions like stomping feet and ordering with hands. Other kids will imitate the action, and the one who does the best gets to be the group's next leader.
- Follow the Instructions Make multiple lists of instructions and hand them over to a group of kids. Let the instructions be mixed up. For instance, the first instruction is “read all instructions” and the last one to “ignore all instructions”. “Follow the instructions” will teach kids to read all instructions before they embark on any assignment.
- Back to Back Make 2 kids sit back to back. Now provide a picture or a drawing or an item to one kid. He or she then will describe whatever is in their hand to other kids. The other kid needs to guess it. The guesswork in “Back to back” encourages kids to think out of the box. Also, the description part is proven to be one of the most productive activities to develop communication skills.
- What’s on My Mind? In this game, also we make a circle of our little players. And the kid standing in the middle of the circle will think of any food/place/occupation/plant/thing/person. The other kids in the circle will take the hints and ask questions from the kid in the centre to guess what he or she is thinking. You can hear a lot of noise and giggles of kids during “What’s on my mind”.
- It’s a fruit
- It’s green from outside
- It’s red from the inside.
The Bottom Line!
Communication skills are the means to express. If your kids struggle in expression, they will likely struggle in their academics and career as well. Thus as a parent, it’s imperative to invest time and effort in the personal growth of your kids. The results always show up!
These communication skills activities for children are specially designed for parents like you. So go ahead and spend fun time with your kids while fine-tuning their communication skills.
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Communication Skills for Kids – Importance and Activities to Improve
Why Are Communication Skills Important in Child Development?
Basic communication skills a child should know, what to do if the child is unable to communicate effectively, communication activities and games for kids.
Possessing a set of proper oral language skills can be described as an essential life skill in today’s times. Parents should start teaching their kids basic communication skills during their early years and work to hone those skills as they grow. Assuming that kids may learn suitable communication skills sans parental guidance can be a huge mistake. Nowadays, parents coach their kids not only to communicate effectively but also politely.
In this article, we have discussed the importance of communication skills for kids and games and activities to help them hone those skills.
Conversation skills for kids are important their development for the following reasons:
- Teaching effective communication skills to children helps them to express themselves clearly and convey their feelings in a better manner.
- Communication skills can facilitate learning and meaningful exchange of information with others.
- Communicating well may boost your child’s social IQ by helping him build healthy relationships during his interactions with other people.
- A child who can verbally communicate well may be comfortable producing written communication as well, which is likely to help him perform better academically.
- Kids with communication problems may develop behavioural disorders like depression , social withdrawal, and low self-esteem .
Here are some basic communication skills that a child should know:
- Children should be able to establish eye contact with the person they are talking to. This is simply a mark of interest and respect. Looking away during a conversation is an indication of disinterest, and constitutes bad manners.
- Kids need to learn to speak correctly and clearly. Train them to speak using correct pronunciation and right grammar. It should be impressed upon them not to speak hurriedly.
- Parents should instruct their kids not to interrupt an ongoing conversation and start talking because they want to. It is essential to check this behaviour and encourage self-control.
- Parents need to model appropriate listening behaviour, so that kids may learn to listen attentively and respond aptly.
- Parents may also demonstrate to their children the art of entering a conversation politely, and the right way to behave when somebody joins a lively conversation, which includes greeting the person with an encouraging smile and nod.
Here are useful tips for developing effective communication for kids.
- Talk Regularly With Your Child – Build an open line of communication so that your child can easily approach you and express himself without hesitation.
- Listen to Your Child Patiently – Let your child have plenty of time to process what he wishes to say, and allow him to finish, to prevent the occurrence of stuttering . Refrain from cutting in or interrupting him while he is trying to respond. Avoid over-correction and being overcritical while teaching your child to speak well. It will only discourage him.
- Be a Role Model – Children usually learn best by imitating their adults. Therefore, parents should present a good speaking model to their kids to help them communicate suitably.
- Take Turns to Listen and Talk – When communicating with your child, ensure you take turns, make proper eye contact and display appreciation for their active participation.
Some interesting communication activities and games for kids can be:
1. Play Telephone
This popular and fun game helps enhance good listening skills in kids and can be played by kids of all age groups. You can include other members of the family as well. Have everyone sit in a circle, close enough to whisper easily. Start with one child, who will whisper a message into the ear of the player sitting to the right, who then whispers it into his neighbour’s ears, and so on until everyone in the circle has taken a turn. The player at the end relays the message out loud. Once this is done, the last person to receive the message can reveal it. It’s very likely that the original message and the final received message will differ! You can start with a simple message, and slowly progress to more complex sentences.
2. Pointing Directions
Nonverbal communication activities for kids can include this simple game. Ask your kid to write down directions to his nearby favourite shop or park. Then, embark on a journey along with your kid, following those written directions to reach the place. On the way, help him understand how he can make them better, or things he may mention to communicate better.
3. Show and Tell
A show and tell activity can be a delightful verbal communication game for kids. Give your kid a topic, like his favourite fruit, a favourite book, or a road trip with the family. Have him exhibit an item related to the topic, and ask him to speak five lines on it. This activity can assist in furthering your kid’s confidence, vocabulary, and eloquence.
4. Picture Storytelling
Picture storytelling can be an exciting activity, as kids love to tell stories. Provide your kid with a set of pictures. Ask him to arrange them in a logical sequence and spin a story from it. Alternatively, you can offer him just one picture, and have him describe the things he perceives in the picture, like the scenery, people, colours, and other details.
This exciting activity will not only promote your kid’s oral language skills but will also help him get comfortable with public speaking. You can propose various themes, ranging from the recitation of a favourite poem to expressing his views on current topics like saving water, recycling, the use of gadgets, and so on. Ask him to prepare a short presentation to present to a family gathering, local park functions, or anywhere he feels comfortable.
Extempore or spontaneous speech forms an integral part of oral communication and can be used to expand communication skills. Extempore helps support your kid in thinking on his feet and articulating his ideas correctly. This activity will suitably prepare him for future career prospects as well. Make chits on interesting topics, and have your kid pick a chit and speak on the chosen topic, impromptu, for a few minutes.
7. Emotional Charades
This fun activity is great for helping kids understand different facial expressions, signals, and body postures when communicating. These are the non-verbal communication cues that complement verbal communication. Hand out a few cards to your kid, each card depicting a particular emotion or feeling, like anger, sadness, boredom, fatigue, or happiness, and have him act them out. Your kids can also draw the different emotions he is likely to experience in ordinary situations.
8. 20 Questions
20 questions is a wonderful game that enables your kid’s ability to formulate and ask direct questions. Ask kids to stand in a circle. Let one kid stand in the centre, and he has to think of a famous place or a known personality. The other kids in the group have to identify it by asking a set of 20 questions. The child can respond by saying only yes or no. In case the group fails to guess, the child in the centre is declared the winner!
9. Identify the Object
You may require 4 -5 kids to play this game. Blindfold one child, while the rest of the players choose an object that can be described elaborately for easy identification. Every player takes a turn describing one feature of the selected object. The blindfolded kid may ask additional questions as cues.
10. Changing the Leader
This game can be a great training tool for teaching kids how to recognize body language indicators. Choose one kid as the leader, who will perform specific actions, like stomping his feet or clapping. The other kids have to imitate his actions. The leader then selects another kid as the leader by smiling or winking at him. Other kids have to detect the new leader and then replicate his actions.
11. Finish the Nursery Rhyme Story
Ask your little one to imagine the alternative creative ending to their favourite nursery rhyme. This activity will help them with their imagination skills as they will come up with different creative ideas to end the rhyme.
Parents who communicate often and efficiently with their kids may be able to help them develop sound communication skills easily. Communication proficiency may not only provide your kid with better comfort in social situations but can also ensure improved performances academically and later in their careers.
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