Teaching Sequence

15 minutes

Tune In: Watch the episode

30 minutes

Find Out: Listening and moving

20 minutes

Take Action: Take it further

Tune In: Watch the episode

Step 1.

Begin by watching the Bluey episode Charades.

Bluey 'Charades' - ClickView (https://clickv.ie/w/-Alx)

Charades synopsis: Bluey and Bingo want everyone to play Charades, but Muffin and Socks are too young to understand the rules, and Nanna must think quickly to keep the game on track.

Step 2.

Reflect on the episode with children by using the following 'I wonder...' questions as prompts:

I wonder what Bluey learnt from listening to her Nanna?
I wonder how Bluey and Bingo helped in the game of charades?
What can we learn when we listen to each other?

Using questions that begin with “I wonder…” is a great way to get kids to share their own ideas; ‘I wonder…” questions don’t necessarily have a correct answer, leaving kids open to explore and share their own ideas without fear of being wrong.

For more evidence-based advice on developing oral language in children, click here.

Find Out: Listening and moving

Read more about active and attentive listening here

Preparation

Music: Organise 1-3 different types of music or sounds for the children to listen to. Include classical music (ballerina), dance music or natural sounds. The music or sounds should be 1-2 minutes long, so the children can move to the sounds.

Charades: Create your charades cards. Take your pieces of card and on each separate card draw a clear picture of a fish, ice cream, a car or truck, a ballerina, or anything else that would spark the children's imagination! You could also include images that you are focusing on with your children in your own centre. Remember to keep the pictures simple so they are easy for the children to recognise. Create a deck of 5-8 pictures if possible, to have a few different games of charades.

Step 1.

Play 1 of the pieces of music for the children. Invite them to listen to the sounds or music and move to what they hear.

Ask them to describe the music: is it light and floating? Or is it big and heavy? The discussion helps the children to listen carefully and connect to the music.

Before playing the next music piece encourage the children to move slowly and gently to follow the sounds. Make sure that you are moving to the music as well, as being actively involved encourages participation. It also helps shy children to move with you and build confidence.

Step 2.

As you move, watch and observe how different children respond to the music. After each piece, take time to talk about how the children were moving and celebrate their careful movements and listening.

Use statements like:

I can see that ….. is using gentle movements to follow the music
I can see that ….. is using their feet and hands in an interesting way to the music.

Encouraging purposeful movement to music enhances the children's careful listening and connection to the music. Over time the children become tuned in and focus on their movement when listening.

Step 3.

Invite the children to play a game of charades. Use the cards with the pictures prepared earlier to start the game.

Invite the children to sit down; choose a comfortable space inside or outside to play the game of charades. Select one child to look at one of the cards. Ask the child if they know what the card is (invite them to whisper what they see into your ear). Allow the child time to think of a way that they can act out the card.

Step 4.

Remind the whole group that it is their job to guess what the charade is, and remind them that being a good listener means paying attention to visual clues, like observing facial expressions, and hand and body movements. Attentive listening will help the children focus, using their eyes, ears and heart to actively listen.

You can set your own rules for how you would like the children to share their ideas to the group, for example asking for ‘hands up’ or simply allowing a free flow of sharing of ideas when they think of an idea.

Step 5.

When the child acting out the charade is ready to share, encourage them to act it out to the group. Once the charade is guessed, ask another child to have a turn.

Step 6.

After a few games of charades, ask the children to think about what happened during the game. Consider the following questions:

What were you doing to be a good listener? This might be sitting still, waiting, not talking, or looking at the person.
How did you use the different visual clues to work out the charade? Watching and seeing how people act can help us focus on listening.
Did you think everyone's voice/ideas were heard? Did you hear loud voices? Or did we work as a group that listened to each other? What could we do to help everyone be heard?

Take Action: Take it further

Step 1.

Encourage students to create their own game of charades with cards they make themselves. Provide materials for the children to draw simple pictures on paper or cards. Try and get 10-15 different designs. These can be made into a deck of charade cards for children to use in a game of charades they lead.

Step 2.

Create a range of task cards with familiar actions you are working on with children in your centre, such as 'taking dishes to the sink', 'tidying up the floor', 'watering the plants' or 'packing your bag'. Children could then take turns to act out these tasks

Step 3.

Use the charade cards to tell a story. Hold up the first card and use it as a prompt for the first part of your story and ask the group to act it out. Then hold up a second card and use it to describe the next part of the story and ask children to act it out. Repeat with as many cards as you want/for as long as children are interested.

Listening - Active Listening Challenge

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