What are communication activities for Kids?

This blogspot will answer the question “what are the communication activities for kids?”. It will be based on the topics activities for non-verbal communication among kids, activities for verbal communication among kids, activities for active listening and responding among kids.

What are the communication activities for kids? (The 4 different types)

The communication activities for kids include:

• Activities for verbal communication among kids
• Activities for non-verbal communication among kids
• Activities for active listening among kids
• Activities for active responding among kids

Activities for Verbal Communication among Kids

The activities for verbal communication among kids are:

• Playing telephone and talking to each other as distant fellows
• Role playing to pretend play any of their favourite role with their fellows like teacher student role play or doctor patient role play
• Point towards an object and tell 5 qualities of that object
• Let the kid make a story out of any random picture 
• Ask your kid to make a presentation on any topic using flash cards and be their audience
• Play traveller’s guide and ask your kid to guide you through a favourite place in home or school
• Impromptu speeches also help in building up a child’s confidence. Make chits and ask your child to pick up one chit and speak for one minute on any given topic.
• Play pictures in the sky game with your child. They will perceive different shapes and figures in the sky as per their imagination. Ask them to describe the qualities of the object they see in the sky.
• Play a guessing game with the kids. Imagine anything and let them guess it through questions. Limit the number of questions to 15 to 20.

Activities for non-verbal communication among kids

The activities for non-verbal communication among kids include:

• Let the kid stand facing back towards you. Using your finger, draw anything on the kid’s back. Let the kid draw the same thing on a paper. This enhances the kids non-verbal communication through tactile sensation.
• Play dumb charades with kids. Let them guess through actions names of any countries or any favourite cartoon movies.
• Involve kids in dora the explorer game. Let them explore various things in their surroundings based on 4 to 5 of their qualities. 
• Tell kids to narrate a story through drawing.
• Involve kids in dressing up games. This facilitates them to pick and name various colored clothes and accessories.
• Give kids cards to arrange in an order of events to complete a story.
• Involve kids in lip reading games. Tell them to guess any fruit, vegetable or country’s name through reading the lips of the other kid.
• Make a feelings corner so that the kid can easily point out to the smiley that best suits feelings without explaining or  uttering a word about it.
• Use miming activities to enable kids communicate through nonverbal communication

Research study has also emphasized on the role of active listening and responding activities in developing communication skills among kids. Eckerman and Didow (1996) have highlighted the importance of using nonverbal imitation in mastering communication skills among kids.

Similarly Masur (1993) stressed that during early developmental years use of non verbal activities based on imitation actions related to verbal content aids in  teaching communication skills to kids .

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Communication activities  for active listening and responding among kids

The activities for kids for active listening in communication include:

• Play chinese whispers with kids. Whisper a sentence in their ear and tell them to whisper whatever they listen to the other kid’s ear. In the end, the last kid will say the sentence aloud.
• Play simon says game with the kid. In this way the kid learns active listening skills for better communication.
• Play blindfold games with kids.the kids develop active listening skills when they have to blindly follow the instructions to reach a goal or clear an obstacle.
• Play musical chairs with the kid. This enhances their listening and responding skills for better communication.
• Play dance and freeze with kids. This enhances their active listening and responding skills for better communication.
• Play memory games with kids. Make pairs of fruits on paper plates and mix them up. The child has to sort out the pairs while the music plays. 
• Play reading games with kids. Tell them to open a random page in a book and read aloud. Similarly kids may also randomly read odd pages and even page turn wise. This develops turn taking among kids. 
• Play with the kids using a map. Tell them to find out various countries on the map and then make a presentation on it.
• Play animal guessing games with kids. Make imitate the actions of animals and guess for each other without uttering any sound.
• Involve kids in listening to sounds at different places and imitating them. For example, a kid can listen to the sounds in the kitchen or garden and then imitate them.

Researchers have also stressed the importance of active listening skills in communication. Communication is not only limited to writing and speaking efficiently rather it involves listening with concentration (Hunsaker & Allesendra, 2008). 

Listening for better communication is related to an active emotional and intellectual process that results in better responding. It is far more than the habitual process of hearing any nearby sound. Listening involves concentrating on the content of what is being said and showing interest without interruption (Jones & Pfieffie, 1998).

Bauer, Kathrin and Renate (2010) highlighted the features of active listening to be based around the content and feeling of the communicator. For active listening, patience and non-verbal cues are two key ingredients. 

Robertson (2005) advocated that promoting active listening through non-verbal cues is essential. Using activities to enhance the understanding of facial expressions, eye contact, body posture, summarizing and providing feedback promotes communication skills among the kids.

CONCLUSION

The current blogspot answered the question “what are the communication activities for kids?”. We learned that communication activities for kids are based on activities for verbal communication, activities for non-verbal communication, activities for active listening and responding. The role of active listening and responding and nonverbal communication was also discussed in the light of research studies.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CITATIONS

Hunsaker PL, Alessandra T, Alessandra AJ. The new art of managing people, updated and revised: Person-to-person skills, guidelines, and techniques every manager needs to guide, Direct, and Motivate the Team. Simon and Schuster Inc; New York NY, USA: 2008.

Jones JE, Pfieffe JW. The 1974 Annual Handbook for Group Facilitators. San Diego, CA: Pfieffer; 1974. Small Group Instructor Training Course (SGITC). 1998. By U. S. Army.

Bauer C, Kathrin F, Renate MP. Introducing “active listening” to instant messaging and e-mail: benefits and limitations. IADIS International Journal on WWW/Internet. 2010;7(2):1–17. 

Robertson K. Active listening: more than just paying attention. Aust Fam Physician. 2005;34(12):1053–5.