To thrive in the modern world, 👩🎓students require 50% learning and 50% interpersonal skills. In today’s world, interpersonal activities for children👧👦, such as public speaking, are essential.
Through these exercises, kids develop their self-expression and go-getter skills. However, there are communication exercises appropriate for each age group based on their intellectual growth, and we, the parents and the teachers, should guide them to their age-appropriate activities.
Just listening to children’s responses and responding to them is not communication. It goes beyond that. We should always try to make them more interactive and urge them to express themselves. Let’s look at some activities that can help kids communicate better.
Fascinating Communication Activities
Kids spend less time engaging in communicative activities since they are engulfed by iPads, cell phones📱, and 🖥TVs in today’s technologically advanced environment.
However, as our children grow up and experience the outside world, they come to understand that one of their greatest assets in life is good communication and how to express themselves confidently in front of others.
Chinese whisper
Playing this game will help your child improve his/her listening abilities, which are crucial for conversation. In this game, you have to make all of the children sit in a circle to play “Chinese Whisper.”
A young child will now whisper something into the right ear👂 of the participant who is sitting beside them. After that, this kid murmurs it to another one. Up until every person’s turn, the cycle keeps going.
Next comes the act of sharing the message aloud, which will probably make it quite funny because it will be completely different from the first version. Your kids will surely have fun playing this game because the things said at the beginning and the end are hilariously different.
Direct me to the shop
In this game, you have to ask your children to give an indication or make a direction map of the location of their favorite local toy🧸, dessert🍮🍧 shop, or 📕bookstore.
Now, you and your little champ will follow these instructions to begin your adventure. When you get to your location, your kids will be able to tell if they provided the right directions. You can assist them in fixing any errors they make later.
The game “Direct Me to the Shop” helps your children improve their writing and problem-solving abilities.
Describe & show
This is one of the easiest yet most engaging activities for kids to practice their communication abilities. What I do is encourage them to select their favorite story, object, or location, such as a park; if you want, you can do the activity with one of their toys, too.
Let them now present a relevant item and give a five-sentence description of it. “Describe & show” helps your children’s language💬 and speaking skills.
20 questions
“20 questions” is a great game for our kiddos to practice communication skills because it encourages them to think of and raise queries to one another and also to fundamental problems.
In this game, as an elder or adult guide, make your kids form a circle and take turns standing in the middle of it to play this game. The child, in the core, will be thinking of a certain role or type of person.
The remaining children in the circle must guess it by posing up to 20 questions. One by one, the questions will tick✅ the boxes, and the group will come to the definite answer.
Guess the thing
During this game, you will have to pick a kid from a team of children👧👦 and blindfold him. Then, you have to tell the other children to select an item from the room. The child wearing a blindfold needs other children to explain the item’s qualities and attributes.
They ought to describe it in a manner that makes it possible to recognize the thing’s name without having to see it. “Guess the Thing” is one of the best games for youngsters to communicate, according to parents.
Who’s the leader?
The engaging game “Who’s the leader?” helps children learn how to read a person’s body language since it is more important to understand feelings than just words.
In the game, you can gather a group of kids, and among multiple children, one will take on the role of leader of the team.
Then it’s time for that little leader to start using his hands to give commands and stomp his feet👣 and make others understand what he is saying through his expressions.
The children will then copy the action, with the best performer taking the lead as the new leader of the team.
Follow the instructions
You have to make several lists of guidelines and give them to the children in the team. Try to make those instructions unclear, as in don’t make the messages very prompt. For example, “read all instructions” is the very first direction, and “ignore all instructions” is the final.
Children who are taught to “follow the instructions” will learn to comprehend the directions before beginning with any task.
Back to back
I play this game with my two kids. If you also have more than one kid, you can do this. Place two children back-to-back. Now give one child a drawing, an image🖼, or an object. Then, he or she will tell other children about what is in their palms.
It is up to the other child to guess. Children are encouraged to think creatively because of the guessing game in “Back to Back.”
Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the portion of the description is among the most effective exercises for improving interpersonal skills.
What’s on my mind?
We have to create a circle of our youngsters for this game as well. The child in the center of the circle will then consider any item, location, activity, plant🌱, animal🐵🐶🐷, or person.
To determine what the child in the center has in mind, the other children in the group will guess by following the clues and posing questions to him or her.
During “What’s on my mind,” there is a lot of excitement and kids giggling😁 as children tend to guess many funny things.
Trolley champion
This is my favorite activity, and I’m quite sure it would be your favorite communication game/activity as well since it allows you to play with your kids while grocery shopping🛍️💸.
While going shopping, select an object and ask your kid to list three features or aspects of it. For example, if you choose watermelon, your child may tell you that
- It’s a fruit.
- The exterior is green
- The interior is red.
This way, he or she will be developed in vocabulary and also expressing things.
Go shopping games
One of the most entertaining games for young children is “go shopping.” In this game, you gather your kids’ favorite toys and set up a shop. Playing the role of a buyer or shopkeeper will help your little one pick up fresh terms. He will also enjoy imitating shopkeepers.
Your youngster will benefit from this game by:
- Gain proficiency in communicating
- Acquire necessary life skills.
- Acquire knowledge of financial terminology.
- Understand the idea of turns and queues.
- Start practicing public speaking at a young age.
Show and tell
A great way to encourage your children to share their hobbies without feeling embarrassed is through the method of show and tell.
Children have to present a subject in front of the class during this activity and explain the reason they enjoy it. To identify shared interests, students can talk to and listen to one another. This will also break the ice between kids and help them become confident later in life.
Your youngster will benefit from this game by:
- They are free to voice their preferences without fear.
- Acquire basic oratory skills.
- Improve listening abilities.
- Grow in the ability to think conceptually.
- Gain emotional intelligence.
Feeling corner
Since emotions are the most difficult to put into words, kids occasionally struggle to articulate how they feel, and it is up to us, the parents, to help them inculcate these things in him/her. With the use of Feeling Corner, children can understand and convey their emotions to adults.
For this exercise, parents or teachers👩🏫 select areas for the kids to play with stickers that represent different emotions. The children must go and identify the feelings they are experiencing.
Children will benefit from this activity by:
- Developing self-management abilities.
- Become more self-aware.
- Improve your listening abilities.
- Build excellent interpersonal skills.
Dumb charades
Kids usually love to enact and enjoy those games where they can express themselves. New learners might improve their social skills by playing dumb charades, a word-guessing activity. There are two groups of kids playing in this game.
Teachers provide titles to each group, which students must guess, act out, and describe a book📕, character, or motion picture📽.
Children benefit from dumb charades by:
- Developing social skills.
- Recognize body language.
- Gain proficiency in both spoken and physical communication.
Book reading and writing sessions
One of the most effective speech-making exercises for children is reading books since it enhances their ability to read and write.
The teachers play an important role in this activity. Every kid receives a book from their teacher to read on their own at home during book📗 reading activities.
After finishing the texts, the students must either write or describe the narrative in their own words and share why they enjoyed it.
Book reading groups assist pupils in:
- Boost their proficiency in language.
- Boost trivia and general knowledge.
- Develop better writing practices.
- Develop positive social behaviors.
- Develop a habit of storytelling.
- Encourage the practice of spontaneous public speaking.
Role-playing games
Playing role-playing games and skits is an enjoyable process to teach pupils empathy and how to handle difficult circumstances.
Teachers give their kids roles as grownups in this game, which they then have to act out in front of the other students.
Role-playing benefits learners with interpersonal interaction in the following ways:
- Permit students to make responsible choices.
- Enhances their originality.
- Students gain experience managing real-world situations.
- Improves one’s ability to talk in public.
- Use your facial expressions to convey your feelings.
Tongue twisters
Tongue👅 twisters facilitate clear, loud speech and assist pupils in developing their verbal fluency. Children constantly repeat difficult words and phrases rapidly, known as tongue twisters. I give tongue twisters such as “She sells sea shells on the seashore,” etc to my kids. I’m sure you’ll also enjoy this with your kids.
This game is fun for elementary school students, and it requires less planning from teachers. It’s the teacher’s responsibility to support students who enjoy playing with tongue twisters during recess.
Students benefit from tongue twisters in:
- Verbal interactions.
- Speaking accurately.
- Recognize which sound they find difficult.
Public speaking games
Students can confidently communicate their points of view with their participation in activities like “The best part of our school.” You can understand your kid’s improvement through these activities.
For instance, “The best part of our school” is an amazing three-day event. Every student is asked to write down ten positive aspects of their school on the first day of school.
Following that, they split into teams and cut the quantity of those things on their shortlist. Finally, students submit their list as a group in front of other kids on the last day.
This interactive learning tool aids learners in:
- Acquiring sophisticated communication abilities.
- Improving one’s ability to give a speech
- Developing refined speaking abilities.
- They are fostering increased self-worth.
Electric fence
The Electric⚡🔌 Fence is an actual physical activity where everyone’s test is to get over a fence. But if even one pupil touches the fence, then all have to start over. You can gather the kids of your locality, and together, they will have fun playing this game.
Students, under the guidance of a teacher, can play this game. The learners can pick up several things from this engaging activity.
The electric fence game aids pupils in:
- Effectively collaborate in your work lives.
- Communicating without words.
- Mutual trust.
- Leadership abilities.
Collaborative projects
Investigative abilities are developed by students through collaborative initiatives such as class tasks and discussions. Students work in groups of two on these projects, and each team is assigned a task to finish.
One team must each speak in favor of and one team against the subject.
Debates assist pupils in:
- Develop Your Interpersonal Skills.
- To give notions greater significance, connect ideas.
- Combine a variety of intricately detailed facts.
- Use a variety of knowledge-based strategies.
Famous pairs
In the game “Famous Pair, “you have to make the kids compile a set of well-known couples. Romeo and Juliet, for instance, and tart and jelly are a few well-known combinations. Every participant is provided with a handwritten note with half of each couple on the reverse side.
Students circulate, posing three questions to each participant to find out their identity. After discovering who they are, they search for companions. This way, they will grow in motor skills💪 and cognition.
Students can benefit from this game by:
- Engage in management.
- Foster wholesome connections among colleagues.
- Encourage a positive learning atmosphere in the classroom.
Blindfold game
Students👩🎓 learn how to get past challenges as a team by playing the blindfold activity. Students choose a player to be the “blind man” in this game.
To locate those around him, the “blind man” needs to feel the items in the surrounding area. The fellow students, on the other hand, will scatter to avoid being caught by the blind man. A student assumes the role of the blind man if he or she is touched and named by the “blind man.”
Using a blindfold, pupils can:
- Develop their sense of sight without actually seeing.
- Express without speaking.
- Develop your leadership abilities by remaining detached and paying attention to details.
Storytelling circle
Narrating stories is an effective technique to improve listening and conversational abilities.
To set up a storytelling circle, follow these steps:
- Whether your children are standing or sitting, gather them in a circle.
- Create a compelling beginning line for your story.
- The next kid in the queue should add a paragraph or a suggestion to the story.
- Keep going around the circle until the narrative comes to an end.
This game can cater to every child’s demands and desires, even kids with basic requirements. Think of adding visual aids, costumes, or accessories to help make the tales real to increase the level of engagement.
Feelings pictionary
Kids may have a great time communicating with Feelings Pictionary, which blends drawing with expressing one’s feelings.
This is how it operates:
- Make a set of papers and write a variety of feelings on them.
- Each kid selects a card in turn and then illustrates the emotion with an image.
- Drawings help the other children guess the feelings in question.
Through practice with non-verbal communication, this activity enables children with special requirements to identify and express emotions. Additionally, it fosters empathy and comprehension in all youngsters, which makes it an excellent boost to your list of kid-friendly communication exercises.
Two truths and a lie
A humorous game called “Two Truths and a Lie” encourages discussion and analytical thinking.
To play, follow these steps:
- Every child presents two accurate and one inaccurate self-statement.
- The children attempt to determine which of the statements is false.
For children who have autism spectrum disorders, this game can be modified by making the statements simpler or adding visual aids. It helps kids become more adept observers and analysts by encouraging them to closely observe the words and gestures of their classmates. Furthermore, it’s a fantastic method for youngsters to get to know one another better and forge closer bonds.
Conclusion
Your children will benefit from these communication exercises throughout their professional lives and even beyond. These games will help your kids acquire the confidence and expressiveness that we all need in today’s world while also providing them with tons of fun.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading about these fun communication exercises that I came up with to keep your kids engaged and delighted.
Please leave a comment below if you would want me to answer any queries you may have. I would be curious to know more of your thoughts.
I’m a former teacher (and mother of Two Childs) with a background in child development. Here to help you with play-based learning activities for kids. ( Check my Next startup Cledemy.Com)