Age Group: PK-5

# of Students: Minimum of 2 students, but more are welcome

Overview
Students will practice listening skills as they follow the traffic light instructions.

Materials
Open space

Duration: 10-15 minutes (or longer if they’re having fun!)

Instructions
1. Gather students in an open space and form a straight line (shoulder to shoulder) on one side of the room.
2. Explain the game.
Instructor: “We are going to practice listening skills and play ‘red light, green light.’ When I say green light, you are to ‘go.’ We will begin with walking. When I say ‘red light,’ you must immediately STOP. If we catch you moving, you will be OUT. When I say ‘yellow light,’ you must SLOW DOWN.”
3. Show an example of the game with two students.
4. Ask for questions.
5. Begin the game!

Variations: To make the game a little more challenging, instructors can suggest different movements like skipping, hopping, jumping, spinning, sliding, etc. For example, the instructor might say: “Ok, this round we are skipping. Skip when I say green light, STOP when I say red light, and slow down skipping when I say yellow light.”

Reflection Questions:
1. How can you practice active listening during this game?
2. How did it make you feel when you moved during Red Light?
3. How did you feel when the instructor spoke faster? Did it make it difficult to follow directions? If so, why?

Age Group: PreK-2

# of Students: Min- 5, Max- the more the merrier!

Overview
Students will practice listening skills as they pass a secret sentence around the circle

Materials
Open space

Duration
10-15 minutes 

Instructions
1. Gather students in a circle, seated on the floor in an open space.
2. Explain the game.
Instructor: “We are going to practice listening skills and play ‘telephone.’ I will start. I will turn to the person on my right and whisper a short, simple sentence in their ear. It is a secret, so be quiet, and make sure no one else can hear. Remember, we are only saying nice things.”
“The person to my right will then turn to the person on their right and repeat what they heard from me. This will continue to go all the way around the circle until it ends up back to me. I will then say aloud what I heard and then I will say what the original phrase was. We will compare and see how similar or different our phrases are! After each round, a new person will start.”
3. Show an example of the game with a few students.
4. Check for questions.
5. Begin game.

Reflection Questions:
1. What challenges did you face repeating the sentence you heard?
2. Why do you think the sentence changed from the beginning to the end?
3. How does this game reflect stories or rumors told in school?

Age Group: 3-5

# of Students: Min- 2, Max- the more the merrier! Ideal with even number of students.

Overview
Students will practice listening skills as they follow their partners’ instructions to draw a secret object.

Materials
Open space, paper, pencils

Duration
15+ minutes

Instructions
1. Gather students in an open space. Pass out paper and pencils to each student and divide students into two teams.
2. Each team should stand in a line, shoulder to shoulder, in the center of the room.
3. Explain the game.
Instructor: “We are going to practice listening skills. Team # 1 will begin. Your partner is the person directly behind you. You will quickly draw a simple shape or design. You will have 5 minutes to describe how to draw this shape or design to your partner of team #2. The partner from team #2 can ask questions if needed.”
“After the 5 minutes, you will face your partner and compare your drawing to their design or shape. After discussion, turn back around. Your partner will draw a simple design, and explain it to you.”
4. Check for questions.
5. Begin game!
6. After each student has had the chance to draw and the chance to describe, switch partners to play again.

Reflection Questions:
1. How did you demonstrate active listening?
2. How did you feel if at any point you did not hear the instructions given? Or how would you have felt if you didn’t hear instructions given?
3. If we were playing music in the background, would that make this game a bit harder? If yes, how?

Age Group: PreK-5

# of Students: Min- 2, Max- the more the merrier!

Overview
Students will practice listening skills and communicate through ASL as they follow the directions from the instructor.

Materials
Open space; cones, rope, or masking tape to create a straight line (optional)

Duration
10-15 minutes (or longer if they’re having fun!)

Instructions
1. Gather students in an open space and form a straight line, shoulder to shoulder, across the room. (This is easiest if students are close to an obvious straight line on the ground, like the line in a gym, or where concrete meets grass outside. If needed, use cones or a rope to define a clear line.)
2. Explain the game.
Instructor: “We are going to practice listening skills and learn how to communicate through ASL. We will learn three signs for Air, Land, and Sea. When I sign ‘Air’ you must jump up in the air. When I sign ‘Land,’ stay where you are. When I sign ‘Sea,’ you must jump over and cross the line. Make sure you are listening!
“If you don’t do the correct movement, you are out and should sit down. If you’re already on ‘Land’ or ‘at Sea’ and Land or Sea is called, make sure not to move! If you move and you were not supposed to do so, you are out and should sit down. We’ll see who is the last one standing!”
3. Show an example of the game with 2 students.
4. Practice ASL air, land, and sea. (Pictures at the bottom)
5. Questions?
6. Begin game

Reflection Questions:
1. Which of the signs was hardest for you to remember? Why?
2. What did you enjoy most about the game?
3. How did it feel having to learn to communicate or “listen” through sign language?

Age Group: PreK-2

# of Students: Min- 2, Max- the more the merrier!

Overview
Students will practice non-verbal communication and they copy movements from one person at a time

Materials 
Open space

Duration
10-15+ minutes 

Instructions
1. Gather students in an open space and form a circle, standing.
2. Explain the game.
Instructor: “We are going to practice moving our bodies and not talking. This is called ‘non-verbal communication.’ I will start doing a movement and you must be my copycat! You have to copy me exactly. When I see someone who’s copying me very carefully, I will call on that person and then they can start acting out a different movement. We will be the best copycats we can for that person. They will choose whoever is copying them the most carefully, and so on. Who can be the best copycat? I will go first.”
3. Show an example of the game with a few students.
4. Questions?
5. Begin game

Variations After each student has had the chance to be a ‘copycat,’ add variations to make it different. Do an ‘animal only movements’ variation, or play different music and have everyone move to the music’s rhythm. Other examples could be to ‘move like you’re in slow motion,’ ‘move like you’re cold,’ or ‘move like you have ants all over you!’

Reflection Questions
1. How did you feel when you were chosen as the best copycat?
2. What did you like the most about the game?
3. What did you feel or think when you had to choose your own movement?

Age Group: 3-5

# of Students: Min- 2, Max - the more the merrier!

Overview
Students will practice nonverbal communication by acting out known movies, TV shows, books, and people without using words!

Materials
Open space

Duration
20-25 minutes (or longer if they’re having fun!)

Instructions
1. Gather students in an open space and form two teams.
2. Explain the game,
Instructor: “We are going to practice communicating ONLY through our facial expressions and body language. We will play charades. Players from each team will take turns pantomiming for their teammates.”
“Choose a player to start the game from one team. The player will think of a book title, a famous person's name, a saying, a movie title or a song title to pantomime. He should choose something that he thinks everyone will know.” (Note: It may be effective to designate a category like sports or Disney.)
“The player then acts out the word or phrase he's chosen to the other players. The first team to guess the word or phrase gets a point. Keep track of the points earned by each player or team. The one with the most points at the end of the game wins. Remember, we’re not using our words in this game!”
3. Clues on how to play charades:

• To indicate a book, pretend to read a book.
• To indicate a song, pretend to sing.
• To indicate a movie, pretend to crank an old movie camera.
• To indicate the number of words, hold up that many fingers. (Then hold up one finger before pantomiming the first word, two fingers before the second, and so on.)
• To pantomime a word that rhymes with the word you want players to guess, first tug on your ear to say "sounds like."

4. Review Charades clues and practice with students.
5. Show an example of the game with a few students.
6. Questions?
7. Begin game

Reflection Questions:
1. How do you think you've used body language or facial expressions to communicate?
2. How did it feel not to be able to use words?
3. What were you feeling when it was your turn to describe?
4. As a guesser, what do you think would have helped you guess?