Attentiveness Activities for Kids
Sitting Still and Paying Attention for One Minute This was a quick activity. All I did was set the timer for one minute. Then, I had them sit still, fold their hands and look at me for one minute. I wanted them to learn to be able to sit still and this was the first step. You can do this activity more than once and see if you can add time or see how long they can do it for.
Attentiveness in Listening and Repeating The next activity involved having them sit and listen to a brief sentence and then try and repeat it back to me word for word. I said something simple like, “The blue car drove down the road and turned onto Maple Street.” Teaching them to listen and repeat is a great exercise in attentiveness.
Attentiveness in Repeating Actions The final activity involved them repeating some simple motions. I would do a combination of claps, leg slaps, snaps, touching their noses and heads. It may be a pattern like: clap, clap, nose, snap. They would have to repeat my pattern. They had to pay close attention to my actions to be able to copy it. I taught them how to try and say the pattern in their heads so they could easily repeat it.
Yet again awesome!! I was planning to write about toddler attention in an upcoming post, but wow this was great. After teaching kiddos with severe attention difficulties for years, I started doing a lot of focus practice with my kiddo when he was just a babe..it’s so important to me as so much of this is learned behavior….and it’s paid off!! It’s so great to read on a site written by someone embracing this type of essential skill—often forgot in today’s world.
Glad to hear that it’s paid off. I just had a friend call for advice because her son is entering kindergarten, and she’s concerned he won’t be able to sit still. I encouraged her to set a timer and give him a task. Then, increase the time he stays at the table working on something throughout the summer until school starts. I’ll be interested to see if there is improvement.