Kids need to learn how to follow directions just like they learn to do anything else–by practicing! A fun way to practice following directions is by turning it into a game or activity. We decided to turn relay races into an indoor following directions activity!
Following Directions Activity
To set up the activity I gathered a bunch of random items from the house and divided the kids into two lines. They had to walk across the room and back and do three tasks I gave them. An example would be put on a hat, crawl across the room, and give me a high five.
I told them all three things they had to do at once and they had to pay close attention to be able to follow the directions and finish the race. I modeled how to repeat the directions to myself and they practiced doing that while we played. Another listening and following directions strategy is visualizing the directions before you begin.
School Readiness
Kids need to be able to remember and follow oral directions in school. Teachers expect that kids can handle remembering and executing multi-step directions and in the primary grades much of the testing is done orally. This can be tough for kids who are not natural auditory learners. Practicing in a fun way can make kids more confident and successful.
The other Move and Learn co-hosts were busy putting together Move and Learn Activities for kids this week too, make sure to check them out!
Other Ways to Move & Learn this week:
- Alphabet Turkey Race Game from Toddler Approved
- Ring Toss Name Recognition Activity from Hands On: As We Grow
- Sight Word Run from The Pleasantest Thing
- Check out all our Move & Learn activities
- Lots of ideas on our Pinterest board!
It is good because it is teacher says thing and picture are good picture to understand the world and the pictures!
I teach first grade and my class this year is the most challenged I’ve ever had when it comes to listening and following directions. I want to try this but I don’t understand what the relay part is. Do all of the kids get the same directions or does every kid get a different set of directions? Do you only give the directions one time to the whole group or over and over for each kid?
Thanks,
Ms. Jackson
They all get the same set of directions! Sorry that isn’t clear. If you think it would be too tricky to give once and remember for all the groups at first then you can certainly repeat as needed. The kids can go back to the starting line and redo if they get the instructions incorrect just as you would do if you dropped an egg during an egg relay race!
The goal would be to build success with multiple instructions so start where they are at and increase from there. If you have the space, smaller groups (2 or 3) competing against each other is going to give kids the best practice.
You can extend the learning by giving a different set of directions to the first kids in line, another to the second kids in line and a different set to the third kid in line. This would work best with kids who already have some success with following directions first though!