Communication is one of the essential components of the foundation of the personality. We need it everywhere and every time so it also becomes an important part of social skill. For kids and teenagers, some most effective ways to learn and master this skill are games, activities and interesting exercises. Through these activities, kids improve their verbal as well as written communication along with the fun and enjoyment involved in it. Especially the games and activities that promote teamwork would automatically improve the communication, so the activities should be performed in a group rather than doing it alone for fast learning. Here are some communication skills activities that would benefit kids and teenagers, and everyone alike, to sharpen their skills.
Communicative Skills for Children
Story Forming
Kids love listening to stories, but what about making a story of their own. This exercise solely depends on the verbal interaction of the kids to form a story. Narrate a gist of a story to the kids before starting the game. Cut out some pictures of the same story from a book or you can even sketch it on your own and laminate them. Scatter all the pieces of pictures in front of a small group of kids and ask them to arrange it in a sequence of the story that they have just heard by communicating among each other. Once they have finished doing this, ask each one to narrate their part of story through the picture.
Just Half a Minute
Make chits of words that are common among the kids and place them in a fishbowl. Now ask each student to come up and pick out a chit from the bowl and speak for 30 seconds on the word. The sentences should be small and simple in structure to avoid any grammatical mistakes. This exercise is quite similar to an extempore that helps in developing confidence and face the audience other than these skills.
Identify the Object
These skills are more effective when performed in a group, so for this you need to have a group of at least five to seven players. Blind fold one of them and make him stand at the corner of the room. Keep an object that requires an elaborate description to understand and to identify like a lamp, a computer, a table fan, a toaster, etc. Now ask rest of the students to start describing the features of the object one by one to the blind folded one. He may also ask questions for further explanations and identify the object in the stipulated time.
Listen and Draw
For this activity two students are required. Make them stand in a straight line, one behind the other at a distance. Give a blank drawing sheet to the one standing at the front and a sheet with an image drawn using geometrical shapes like a bird, an ice-cream cone, a house, etc. to the second kid. Now ask him to give instructions to the other one to draw the image without revealing the identity of the object drawn. This exercise would enhance the verbal expression of the child.
Communicative Skills for Teenagers
Role-Play
The role-play exercises help in developing confidence and refining the skills, thus making an individual more extrovert. This is one of the best exercises for teens who need to have good command over their oral communication skills. The trainer needs to give a situation to a group of four to five people. The situations can be teleconferencing, dealing with a difficult client, selling a product, etc. where the actors need to interact and apply verbal communication techniques to communicate effectively.
Diary Writing
Written skills to communicate too has an equal role to play. A teenager good at oral communication, but below average in written may face failures in many stages. To improve this aspect of communication, diary writing can be one of the most effective activities that would improve upon the written skill as well. There are no rules to write in a diary, they just need to jot down what he feels about the day. Diary writing should be inculcated in daily habits.
Communicative Skills for Workplace
Chinese Whisper
This game is also known as the telephone game and is very effective for improving the workplace skills. Start with telling a story or anything of five lines to the first person who whispers it to the other one and it continues until the last person. The last person narrates the story aloud and then the original story is read again to find out the differences. Through this activity the deconstruction of information caused by ineffective communication is demonstrated.
Communicate without Looking
Body language and eye contact are the two important aspects of effective communication. This activity has eliminated these two aspects. Two participants for this activity have to sit back-to back and converse on a given topic. After the conversation ends, a feedback from the audience will be collected to see how this conversation, devoid of any eye contact, was different from a normal conversation. The main aim behind this activity is to explain the importance of eye contact and body language for effective communication.
I am sure that these activities would definitely be enjoyed by the individual, whether he is a young man, a teenager or a kid, and explain the importance of communication skills as well. You can even draft an interesting activity on your own. Do not thrust these activities, rather let the kids enjoy it. So, go ahead and choose the best one for yourself.
Communicative Skills for Children
Story Forming
Kids love listening to stories, but what about making a story of their own. This exercise solely depends on the verbal interaction of the kids to form a story. Narrate a gist of a story to the kids before starting the game. Cut out some pictures of the same story from a book or you can even sketch it on your own and laminate them. Scatter all the pieces of pictures in front of a small group of kids and ask them to arrange it in a sequence of the story that they have just heard by communicating among each other. Once they have finished doing this, ask each one to narrate their part of story through the picture.
Just Half a Minute
Make chits of words that are common among the kids and place them in a fishbowl. Now ask each student to come up and pick out a chit from the bowl and speak for 30 seconds on the word. The sentences should be small and simple in structure to avoid any grammatical mistakes. This exercise is quite similar to an extempore that helps in developing confidence and face the audience other than these skills.
Identify the Object
These skills are more effective when performed in a group, so for this you need to have a group of at least five to seven players. Blind fold one of them and make him stand at the corner of the room. Keep an object that requires an elaborate description to understand and to identify like a lamp, a computer, a table fan, a toaster, etc. Now ask rest of the students to start describing the features of the object one by one to the blind folded one. He may also ask questions for further explanations and identify the object in the stipulated time.
Listen and Draw
For this activity two students are required. Make them stand in a straight line, one behind the other at a distance. Give a blank drawing sheet to the one standing at the front and a sheet with an image drawn using geometrical shapes like a bird, an ice-cream cone, a house, etc. to the second kid. Now ask him to give instructions to the other one to draw the image without revealing the identity of the object drawn. This exercise would enhance the verbal expression of the child.
Communicative Skills for Teenagers
Role-Play
The role-play exercises help in developing confidence and refining the skills, thus making an individual more extrovert. This is one of the best exercises for teens who need to have good command over their oral communication skills. The trainer needs to give a situation to a group of four to five people. The situations can be teleconferencing, dealing with a difficult client, selling a product, etc. where the actors need to interact and apply verbal communication techniques to communicate effectively.
Diary Writing
Written skills to communicate too has an equal role to play. A teenager good at oral communication, but below average in written may face failures in many stages. To improve this aspect of communication, diary writing can be one of the most effective activities that would improve upon the written skill as well. There are no rules to write in a diary, they just need to jot down what he feels about the day. Diary writing should be inculcated in daily habits.
Communicative Skills for Workplace
Chinese Whisper
This game is also known as the telephone game and is very effective for improving the workplace skills. Start with telling a story or anything of five lines to the first person who whispers it to the other one and it continues until the last person. The last person narrates the story aloud and then the original story is read again to find out the differences. Through this activity the deconstruction of information caused by ineffective communication is demonstrated.
Communicate without Looking
Body language and eye contact are the two important aspects of effective communication. This activity has eliminated these two aspects. Two participants for this activity have to sit back-to back and converse on a given topic. After the conversation ends, a feedback from the audience will be collected to see how this conversation, devoid of any eye contact, was different from a normal conversation. The main aim behind this activity is to explain the importance of eye contact and body language for effective communication.
I am sure that these activities would definitely be enjoyed by the individual, whether he is a young man, a teenager or a kid, and explain the importance of communication skills as well. You can even draft an interesting activity on your own. Do not thrust these activities, rather let the kids enjoy it. So, go ahead and choose the best one for yourself.