Communication skills are essential in every walk of life, whether you’re trying to get your point across in class, keep up with friends on social media, or have an effective meeting at work. Communication skills are also essential when raising healthy and happy kids, which is why parents should do their best to promote those skills in their children as early as possible. Here are some suggestions to help your kids build their communication skills in the digital and physical worlds.
1. Role Playing
Role-playing is a great way to help kids improve their communication skills. The key is to find games that suit your child’s age and interests. For younger children, try using a puppet and basic scenarios. Older kids might enjoy more complex scenarios with friends and family members where they have more control over the story. Use props like dress-up clothes, masks or puppets to add extra fun.
To extend these exercises further, you could offer your child the opportunity to take turns being different characters in the role play. Please encourage them to use different voices for each character as well as specific actions and gestures, which will increase their emotional intelligence as well as enhance their listening skills by enabling them to hear nuances in speech patterns and differentiate between the emotional states of others. This is the most common communication activity used by American International School.
2. Going On a Treasure Hunt
Create a treasure map for the kids with clues to find an object you’ve hidden. Make sure there are plenty of questions and detours so they don’t just go straight to the object. It is great for outdoor fun, too! Get some friends together for a scavenger hunt and watch their communication skills in action as they collaborate to solve puzzles.
Scavenger hunts can be set up anywhere from the house to public places like parks or cafes. If you want your scavenger hunt indoors, make sure it’s big enough for people to run around – no boring games, please!
3. Participating in Blind Date
Find a friend, neighbour, or family member with children the same age as your child. Exchange contact information and agree to set up a date for the kids where they will visit one another’s home for a few hours.
The kids then go on their blind date. Beforehand, develop some games or activities that will help them get to know one another better. You can have them do something like make paper aeroplanes together, play rock-paper-scissors, or take turns telling each other about themselves, as used by IB Schools Riyadh.
4. Movement Sticks
It is a game where two players stand opposite each other and hold two sticks. On the count of three, both players move forward with their sticks held out to touch the other player’s stick.
If one player moves their stick in any direction, the other person must follow suit. The goal is to get to one side of the room without letting your opponent touch your stick. You can also make up some of your own rules! The player that breaks the rules loses. Change partners and play again.
5. Blindfold Games
Blindfold games are a fun way to encourage communication in children. Blindfold the child and ask them to find something, like an object in the house or their friend’s favourite toy. Next, please take off the blindfold and let them tell you what they found without giving any hints. You can also play this game outdoors by having the child find items that have been scattered on the ground, such as leaves or sticks.
6. Picture Telling
Playing this game improves the children’s vocabulary and enhances their analyzing skills. To perform this game, you need to take random pictures, and then the player has to describe them as best they can without using any words.
For example, if you took a picture of a cow and a field, the other players have to try and guess what it is with only those two pieces of information. Once someone guesses correctly, you move on to a new picture. Once the players get good at this game, you can add more details, like how many cows there are or where they’re grazing.
Conclusion
There is no better way to improve communication skills than to use them! Pick a few of these activities and try them with your kids. You will find that they are not only fun, but they can be educational as well.
