Communication Activities for Teens (5+)

This blog mentions some communication activities for teens. Teenagers also have a poor reputation as they might be thought of as surly and moody, or just interested in what’s common.

However, many of these stereotypes are founded on incorrect assumptions.

One aspect that can make a major difference in how adolescents view themselves and feel about themselves is helping them develop good communication skills. 

Learning to connect means learning to tell what’s going on for you in any circumstance, and it also means doing a good job listening to what’s going on for other people.

The exercises in this lesson are meant to appeal to adolescents with various strengths and learning styles, while at the same time giving them a strong communication skills practice.

Communication Activities for Teens

The following are some activities for teens to help them learn how to communicate effectively:

Assertive Communication

Assertiveness is a style of communication in which an individual speaks up for his or her own interests and values, while still respecting the interests of others.

The definition of assertive communication is genuine understanding, diplomacy, and straightforwardness. 

Assertive Communication Worksheet contains one page of psychoeducational and the second page of practice activities that can help clients learn how to use assertive communication in their own lives. 

The psychoeducation portion of the workbook defines assertive communication and presents useful suggestions and examples.

The Worksheet Practice segment introduces four scenarios that can be addressed on the page or used for role-playing. You can get this worksheet from here.

Back-to-Back Drawing Activity

The back-to-back drawing communication activity will get your members and couples to work together, talk, and think about how they interact. Groups are divided into pairs of “listeners” and “speakers.”

The speaker will explain an image for the listener to draw, but the listener will not be able to speak. Neither person can see the other person’s paper 

The completion of the back-to-back illustration exercise provides a segue for a variety of critical contact topics.

What is the role of the listener in good communication?

What happens when the speaker is not careful? Why could they be misinterpreted? 

Back-to-Back Drawing Printing includes instructions, discussion questions, and several photos for use during the exercise.

You can access this worksheet from here.

Reflections: Communication Skill

Reflections are a powerful tool for improving communication.

This worksheet provides one-page learning with an explanation of how to use thoughts (including tips and an example), accompanied by a one-page practice paragraph.

This connectivity workbook will be helpful as a wakeup call for couples at home or as a form of evaluation for individual psychotherapy clients.

This workbook may also form the basis of a group conversation and activity. We recommend that you fill out the study guides in the session. They can be more complicated for beginners than they seem!

When you’re dealing with a group, ask one person to lift a light-hearted topic while other activities reflect.

Visit our Communication Techniques Treatment Guide to learn more observations and a few other communication methods.

This worksheet has some light, but it still looks amazing when it’s printed in grayscale. You can access this worksheet in the form of a PDF from here.

Passive, Aggressive, and Assertive Communication

Communication skills are an important basis for any kind of work with couples and families, and assertive communication is a good place to start.

Everyone uses every style of communication from time to time, but many people tend to lean on one more. 

The Passive, Aggressive, and Assertive Communication Worksheet provides an overview of each communication style, along with strategies to help your clients recognize each one.

It is a perfect starting point for discussions about communication methods, replacing violence, and passivity with assertiveness. You can access this worksheet from here.

Turbo Tales

This practice offers students the ability to interact as quickly and efficiently as possible. Create a list of topics that teens may be interested in or have genuine emotions about, like family , friendship, music, or politics.

Pick a student to get started. He or she has exactly one minute to say as much as he or she can about the topic you call.

Others in the classroom would try to echo back what they heard him or her say.

Talk about what was exciting and entertaining about this round before you gave another student a shift.

I Feel Messages

Communication may be particularly challenging in times of conflict, ambiguity, or when tough thoughts and feelings prevail.

Teach your students to use the “I feel” message. Students should practice by saying, “I feel like … When, uh … Since, yeah … “This gives them the practice of speaking from their own perspective and conveying their feelings.

After teaching the basic framework, split students into small groups and assign scenarios to think about, or ask them to communicate through times when using “I feel” texts, they might prove useful.

For example, if students think about the scene in the school lunchroom, they could practice saying, “I get annoyed when I can’t find a seat because I think everyone’s looking at me.”

Yes and No

The Yes and No game helps teens learn to use other terms to answer questions without using the words “yes” and “no.”

Encouraging teens to search their brains for other words to express meaning makes them understand how much more they have to share in the conversation.

You can know more about this game here.

Start the game by putting one teen on a chair in the center of the table.

The other members in the classroom ask questions to the teen in the chair, and the teen is not allowed to say “yes” or “no” in his or her responses.

When the participant in the seat makes an error and uses one of those terms, he or she has to leave the chair, and the next participant takes a turn. Repeat until every teen in the group has an opportunity in the chair.

One-Minute Speak

One-Minute Talk is a friendly activity for small groups.

Have a list of subjects ready for teenagers to speak about — such as athletics, Hollywood stars, wildlife, and music — and pick one person in the community to start talking.

If that person hesitates, reiterates a word, stops, or has to think about what to say next, another person in the group can say, “hesitation,” “error,” or “repeat” and take over the discussion.

Pay heed to the legality of the takeover. Whoever is left to talk at the end of one minute wins the game.

Dictionary

An important part of a good conversation is the ability to make others believe what you say is true.

The dictionary game lets adolescents exercise the power of persuasion by attempting to persuade someone that the meaning of a word they’ve selected is valid.

Let the first player pick a word from a dictionary that is little known or obscure. That individual then makes up a definition or shares a true definition with the community.

The definition must be completely true or completely false. Have the other teenagers in the group ask questions about the word and then vote on whether the definition given is true or false.

The person with the dictionary is given one point for every person who is fooled.

Phrase-Word-Charade

Effective communication is as much about the choice of word as it is about the number of words spoken between two people.

The Phrase-Word-Charade game lets teenagers engage in conversation in three ways: words, choice of words, and body language.

That individual in the community writes three nouns on three sheets of paper and puts them in a cup.

Make a big circle and divide by counting off into two teams. The first player selects a piece of paper and then tries to use words to express significance without using the word itself as his group members attempt to guess.

After each accurate guess, the player chooses some other word until the clock runs out of 45 seconds.When each person has had a shift, count the points in the round and place the papers back in the bowl.

For the second session, gamers choose words from the bowl but only use one-word clues to express the meaning to the team members.

For the third round, players can only use silly games to express the meaning of the words they choose from the bowl.

Count all the points at the end of the three rounds to see which side wins.

How do you teach teenagers communication skills?

Some ways of teaching communication skills to teenagers are as follows:

  1. Use “I statements” 
  2. Be direct and clear 
  3. Don’t put the emotions back 
  4. Gain trust
  5. Ask questions 
  6. Chat Personally

How can I help my teenager with social skills?

Teenagers can be taught social skills in the following ways:

  1. Volunteer to help with your child 
  2. Play a Say Anything Game 
  3. Play the role of interviewing skills 
  4. Write a letter requesting assistance 
  5. Engage in Awkward Moment Card Game

What are some social skills activities?

Some social skills activities include:

  • Have a staring contest
  • Eyes on The Forehead
  • Swinging
  • Books about Idioms
  • Memory or Matching Game
  • Emotion Charades

How do I communicate with my teenager?

The following are some tips for communicating with teenagers:

  1. Listen
  2. Affirm their feelings 
  3. Show faith 
  4. Don’t dictate  
  5. Appreciate them
  6. Control the feelings 
  7. Having stuff finished together 
  8. Partake in daily meals

How do you teach effective communication?

Effective communication skills can be taught to children by teaching them empathy, conversation skills, active listening, and effective speaking skills, respectful vocabulary, power of pausing,  introspection skills, and turn-taking.

How can I improve my communication skills?

Communication skills can be improved in the following ways:

  1. Observe the conversation skills while watching films   
  2. Utilize technology 
  3. Strengthen active listening skills 
  4. Offer presentations and assignments for group
  5. Ask questions which are open-ended 
  6. Use activities and tasks that foster critical thinking
  7. Offer opportunities for reflective learning

This page provided you with some of the best communication activities and worksheets for teenagers.

If you have any questions or queries regarding this blog, let us know through your comments. We will be glad to assist you.

References 

Communication Worksheets for Adolescents | Therapist Aid

Communication Activities for Teens | Study.com

Games for Teaching Conversation Skills to Teens

Amazon.com 

Unsplash.com 

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