4 Effective Ways to Develop Communication Skills Among Children

The art of communication is the language of leadership. It is important to inculcate powerful leadership skills among kids while they’re still young. At a young age, kids are emotionally confident and comfortable. They are successful in building relationships and therefore it is the right time to teach kids how to put their thoughts into words.

Sometimes kids are shy and unable to communicate effectively how they are feeling. Communication is a medium that puts us into a comfort zone, and there are various ways in which parents can start improving their kids’ communication skills at home. Try some of the following activities advised by Dr. Alka Kalra, renowned educational psychologist, and Director of Eduscan Group.

Play this small game at your dining table while having dinner
Make a grid of six by six or nine by nine and number every box. Place a slip on each of the boxes with various topics, like ‘my favorite animal, movie, fruit,’ etc. Then, roll the dice over the grid and whichever slip the dice falls on, ask your kids to come up with 6-7 sentences about it and say them out loud. The content can grow bigger based on how the kids are performing.

Try games that teach kids the art of voice modulation
Try the above game and add emotion to the slip along with the topic. For example, your topic can be ‘my favorite movie’ and the emotion attached can be ‘happy’. So you can tell your child to prepare a few sentences on the topic and say the speech happily. Similarly, you can prepare topics with emotions like angry, sad, and being surprised.

Read a book
Make it a habit to read a book together with your child. Ask your child to imagine and express to you what would happen in the next chapter of the book. Ask them to describe the characters and what they feels about them. Make sure to select books which your child will enjoy the most. For example, if he loves jungle stories, get books with animal characters and different stories about the jungle.

Use open-ended questions in conversations
Ask them for their suggestions during conversations. For example, if you are wrapping a gift together and something looks off, ask them what else can be done. This improves their creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Remember, instead of jumping in and helping them with answers,  give them enough time to understand your question, think of possible solutions, and then answer to you.

SEE ALSO: 3 Questions for Powerful Parenting through Communication

You can try out these games during the winter holidays and spend some time with them to improve their communication skills.

About the Author

Dr. Alka Kalra is a renowned psychologist and a Professional Counsellor, who is known as a crusader for children who are misperceived as underachievers. With her passion for children who have hidden learning difficulties, Dr. Alka wanted them to never undermine themselves and realized that they have unique skills and strengths.

To work with these children, she established Eduscan in 1995.  Within two decades in the UAE, Dr. Alka has changed the lives of numerous children who struggled at school due to their low performance. They are now in white collar jobs with strong portfolios.

She also believes in training teachers as they touch many lives. Community Development Authority (Dubai) certified psychologist Dr. Alka is known for the assessment of personality, aptitude, intelligence, and hidden learning difficulties. Dr. Alka has had the honour of receiving the university gold medal in Masters of Psychology and has a second Masters in Education as well. She has earned her Ph.D. and her Post-Doctoral Research from the University of Pittsburgh, USA.