Sit and Listen
Engagement Time
10-20 Minutes
Sit and Listen is a language building activity designed to improve your little one’s sense of hearing and language skills. It is designed to help your child discover just how much more is going on in the world around them. It will broaden your child’s awareness of the world they live in. It will also provide a few minutes of peace and quiet in what is probably a very noisy and hectic day. A discussion of the sounds you each hear will also assist in language development and an ability to articulate that which was heard.
Materials Required
Nil
Method
This is a very relaxing activity in which you both need to both sit still and silent for about thirty seconds and just listen to the world around you. You are both trying to hear as many different things as you can be they cars, people, airplanes, water running, the wind in the trees or any other myriad of daily sounds. After the allotted time is up have a chat about what you could hear. It is a good idea to ask your little one some open ended questions to promote their language development, such as: What were the loudest sounds you heard? What were the closest sounds you heard? How many cars did you hear? How far away do you think that barking dog might live? What makes you think that? What sounds did you hear which you did not expect to hear? Note: As an extension activity you may wish to draw a picture of all the things you could hear.
