Grow Listening and Talking Skills for Preschoolers with Hearing Loss: Ideas for Playtime

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Playtime opens up a world of opportunities for creativity, exploration, and continued learning!  You can easily add Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) strategies and techniques into playtime to support your preschooler’s language development, social skills, and more.

Let’s Play the LSL Way: Playful Preschoolers

Whether you and your little one are at the playground, in the backyard, down by the pool, or at home, here are some fun ideas and activities to try with your preschooler with hearing loss to make playtime learning time!. 

Outside Fun

Fun AND learning aren't hard to find when you’re playing outside with your child. These activities include helpful ideas to make playtime purposeful.

Making Friends at the Playground

Teaching social skills doesn’t just happen in preschool. You can encourage social interactions with your child at home, with family, and even on the playground! Playgrounds offer SO many opportunities for your child to interact with others and build social skills.

• Swings and slides encourage preschoolers to take turns.
• Bridges and castles encourage group and pretend play.
• Social games like playing catch, going on a nature scavenger hunt, and hide-and-seek encourage social skills.

Talk, Talk, and Talk Some More

There are always new words to learn! As your preschooler’s vocabulary grows, try to think ahead and model new concepts and vocabulary to your child as you play outside together.

• If you’re swinging, talk about high/low, slow/fast, big/little, and quiet/creaky.
• If you’re exploring nature, talk about bright/dark, cold/warm, leaves/trees/roots.
• If you’re playing on the slides, talk about bumpy/smooth, long/short, straight/curvy.
• Talk about crawling through the tunnel.
• Talk about running under a bridge.
• Talk about going across the monkey bars.

Take Action! 

Turn your preschooler’s new vocabulary into a fun game! You could say, “On your mark, get set, go!” and then give directions to follow to encourage their listening skills. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• “Go down the slide.”
• “Send the leaf and the pinecone down the slide.”
• “Hop across the bridge.”
• “Go under the bridge and then climb up the ladder.” 

Backyard Exploration

Take advantage of your preschooler’s natural curiosity about science and nature. Go on a rock hunt with your little learner and fill a bucket with your discoveries! As you hunt together, use new words like rocks, stones, pebbles, and boulders. You could also add new action words like dig, poke, push, and shove.

Musical Fun

Music is a memory magnet! The things we learn through songs and music stick in our brains — they’re hard to forget.¹ Music and singing are also important to family culture, early childhood development, and listening and talking skills. These activities for preschoolers are great ways to support learning with rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. You’ll have fun along the way too!

Experience Live Music 

Who doesn’t enjoy live music? Preschoolers love to experience live music performances at the local library, coffee shops, church, and outdoor community concerts. Arrive early and talk to your child about the music, the musicians, and the different instruments. After the performance, you can ask your child about what they heard. 

Talk with your pediatric audiologist or LSL interventionist about strategies to make listening easier in a large venue. Find more ways to Make Listening Easier.

Explore Instruments  

The benefits that instruments bring to children with hearing loss are endless. Explore and discuss instruments with your preschooler. You can talk about what they’re made of (wood, brass) and how each produces music (strings, keys, wind). 

Super Songwriters!

Preschoolers love to listen and sing different versions of classic songs. Get creative with your child to change the words of classic songs throughout daily routines and talks. You could try singing “Plate, fork, knife, and spoon” to the tune of “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes,” as you set the table.

Water Fun

Water play offers endless ways to develop language, foster creativity, and encourage learning.

Sink or Float?

To play the sink or float game, gather items that sink like coins, keys, stones, and metal spoons. Then, collect items that float like rubber balls, crayons, popsicle sticks, and bathtub toys. Before adding an object to a plastic tub or bowl of water, talk with your child about the items and predict if you think the item will sink to the bottom or float on top.

How’s The Weather?

Take advantage of the changing weather to grow your child’s vocabulary and listening skills. Describe what’s happening outside – is it sunny, hot, cool, cloudy, humid, breezy? What happens when it’s raining? There might be a sprinkle, a drizzle, or a downpour. 

Dive Into Learning 

The pool isn’t just for fun – it’s also overflowing with learning opportunities! As you pack for the pool, invite your preschooler to join you by brainstorming a list of what you need to bring. You’ll build their auditory memory as you name items like sunscreen, towel, hat, and goggles. You can even turn the list into a song to make it easier to remember. Then, have your child gather the items as you sing. 

Learn Through Play Every Day

Your child can learn through play each and every day when you add in LSL strategies and techniques to simple activities! As you play outside together, with music, and with water, you and your playful preschooler will make fun memories and lay a strong foundation for their learning and talking skills.

Check out this playlist of YouTube videos for more fun activities perfect for preschoolers, helping you make the most of this age!

Playful Preschooler's YouTube Playlist

¹McConkey Robbins, A. (2024). Living LSL Webinar: Making Music and Building Brains.