My listening sense

Sensory integration

﻿Today, we're going to learn a little bit more about the listening sense, and we're also going to make a cup phone and we're going to play some more games. So come and join me as we start this lesson. We as therapists have tried to think of the best way to continue to support children, young people and their families. We will be exploring topic areas that we regularly provide advice and support on across all ages and abilities. Each lesson will have ideas and activities that can be carried out at home or in school. This information is to be used alongside any specific strategies or resources which have been given by your child's school or therapist. If you have any questions or would like help tailoring this to your child's needs, then please contact your local therapy service. Today we're going to learn more about my listening sense. So that is how our ears interpret sounds. We're also going to make a cup phone and we're going to be a listening spy. So the way that we're going to do this is we, first of all, need to get everything ready. So pause the video here to get all the supplies that you need. You are going to need two paper cups, two paper clips, one pin, and a piece of long string, probably 2.5 metres is a good length. So pause the video, and once you've gathered everything together, play, press play and then we'll start the lesson. Great. Let's just learn a little bit more about our ears and what our ears do. Our ears work together as a team, just in the same way as our eyes work together as a team. So we obviously have two ears and they both listen. That's what they're designed to do. So our ears help us to hear sounds and conversations. It help us to locate people, so telling us where people are and where sounds are coming from, and that's why we can turn our heads as well. So we can know whether someone is talking behind us or next to us or in front of us, and our ears help with that. Our ears are really good for listening to music, listening to stories. And our ears really help us to stay safe. So they're really important as one of our senses. So let's get ready to make these paper cup phones. So our mission today is going to be having spy conversations. This is how we're going to make it. Now I know there's a lot of words on this slide, but I'm going to talk you through it. So I've already made, so I'm going to show you what I've done, I've already made kind of my paper cup phones. So first of all, you're going to need your parent or carer to help you. And you're going to use the little pin to make a little hole at the bottom of the cup. Then you're going to tie the paperclip around one end of the string, and you're going to push it through that little hole that you've made. And then the paperclip will be inside and you've got to pull the string so that the paperclip is tight inside your cup. Next, you're going to add on the other side, so I've got my two cups here, on this side, I'm going to push the string through. I'm going to put it all the way through here. I'm going to add the paperclip. And then I'm going to pull the string through so it's nice and tight. And what you do is you end up with two paper cups that are connected by a long piece of string. So here comes the fun bit. What you now need to do is you need to move these paperclips apart. And then one of you is going to take one end of the cup and really pull it tightly, that's quite key, and another person will be around the corner with their paper cup, and make sure that between you, let me bring it a little bit closer, between you, that string is really, really tight. Now, as you walk away, one person can have it on their ears while the other person will talk inside the cup, just like this. There we go. And you should be able to have paper cup phones. So give it a go. We're going to pause the slide now. And then you're going to make your own paper cups. So have fun doing this activity with your adult carer and make sure that those strings are really tightly pulled when you have a go at it. Once you've done that, press play, and we'll carry on with the lesson. Well done. That was great. And I hope you've had fun making the paper phone cups. The next game we're going to play is called the telephone game. Ask your family or friends to join in. And everybody can sit in a row or in a circle, but you have to sit next to each other. So the first person, think of a funny sentence to say. You're going to whisper it quickly to the person next to you, and everybody passes that message on until it gets to the last person in the row or the last person in the circle. That person has to say it out loud what they've heard. Did they get that message right? Now it's going to be your turn. This can be a really funny, funny game. And one of the things to make it even funnier is when you think of some tongue twisters for your sentences. So a tongue twister is whether you often use the same sound in a sentence and you have to say it really quickly. And then often, the message gets a little bit jumbled as you pass it on. Have fun. Going to pause the video, and you're going to have a go now. And once you're finished, resume, and then we'll carry on with the lesson. Here are some more ideas that you can do to play some listening games. The first one, you can ask your family to play along. So one person has to go to the room next door and say something funny. And then you can use a cup against the wall to listen and hear if you can find out what they've said. The second game is you can use your hands to make a funnel and talk, and hear the different ways that that sounds like. So you can use your fist and then put that in front of your mouth and talk through it like this. Hello? How are you? Can you hear? It sounds a bit funny. So have a go at different ways that you can speak. Another game, the third one that we've listed here is one where you're going to hold a paper in front of your mouth. And then you're going to have a conversation with someone else, and see how easy or how difficult it is when you cannot actually see their mouth. Now I know that we've kind of recently had to wear masks and that's one of the things that makes it very difficult to wear a mask is because you can't really see the person talking. So that's another game that you can do with your family and with your parent or carer to see how easy or difficult it is when you cannot actually see someone's mouth moving. The fourth game idea is where you can play pointing hide and seek. So how that works is, I love this game, especially for indoor times, and especially on a rainy day, it's great. So how it works is one person sits in the middle of the room and they close their eyes. And the people around them, so the rest of the family, will go and find a spot without them seeing what they're doing, and they will go and stand and be very quiet. And then they will take turns to call the person's name. And the person who was sitting in the middle with the eyes closed has to then, with their finger, point to where they think they've heard the sound. And then you open your eyes and you can see how close or how far you were. And if you've hit, kind of with your pointy finger, that pointy finger has pinpointed the person, then they are out. And then you can take turns playing this game. So have fun with all of these games. So well done. Our next lesson will help us when listening is a bit of a struggle, and we will find out ways that we can help our ears when our ears are oversensitive or undersensitive. Share your work with Oak National. If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

My listening sense

My listening sense

These resources were made for remote use during the pandemic, not classroom teaching.

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