Learning to turn take with others is hard. Lucky for you there are many different turn taking activities you can do with your students to help them better understand this important social skills concept. Keep reading to find 5 different turn taking activity ideas to get you started.
How To Improve Turn Taking Skills With Direct Instruction
Starting with direct instruction can get everyone on the same page. Begin by defining what it means to take turns. Be specific.
Then move into what are different things that one can take turns with. This can be physical objects like classroom materials or toys. It can also happen with space in a certain area. Taking turns even happens when talking with someone else.
Finally, go into what does turn taking look like. Giving lots of examples is important. The more examples you can give that the child can directly relate to in their own life, the better. They need concrete things so they can generalize the idea to their own daily life.
Pro tip – talk about different ways that someone can take turns. This could be done with a timer so everyone knows when one person’s turn is up. Or it could be done with a calendar where people have certain days.
If you aren’t sure where to start with this, check out this resource. There’s a 2 page lesson plan that goes over the turn taking meaning, shares different things that people can take turns with, gives different ways to take turns equally, ideas of what to do while waiting to take a turn, and why it is an important skill. There is also a list of extension activities, turn taking visual cards, visual scenario task cards, and real-life scenarios, as well as an activity to practice turn taking. Truly everything you need for great taking turns lesson plans for kindergarten or first grade students. Find it here.
Books To Help With How To Teach A Child To Take Turns
There are so many great books out there to help children better understand turn taking. Here are a few great ones.
Wait Your Turn, Tilly: Be Patient (You Choose) by Lisa Regan – In this book, the main character Tilly is quite impatient. She always wants to do things when others are already doing them (such as playing video games or telling a story when two people are already having a conversation). Tilly has to choose which behavior she is going to pick for each situation. Then the book talks about the consequence of each choice, explaining it, making it very interactive for readers.
The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright – In this book, there are two squirrels as the main characters. They both see the final pinecone of the fall season and both want it. This book is funny and silly, making it a great book to add to your turn taking activity ideas.
Can I Have a Turn? by Norm Feuti – In this fun story, the main character Harry gets a new toy car. Harry’s friend, Hedgehog, wants to play with the car too so he asks Harry to a turn. Harry agrees but then has a hard time letting Hedgehog have a turn. This book has great kid-friendly artwork and speech bubbles of the characters talking through, making it ideal for young students.
Turn Taking Game Ideas
Almost any board game can be used to reinforce turn taking. The basics for each game’s place is simple: have students take turns moving around the board per the game directions. The adult may have to model how this looks to the children, especially in the beginning. This way, they can see how turn taking looks.
Another important time to model this behavior is when something less than optimal happens. Such as when someone gets their opponent out. Times like this can be hard on young kids so having an adult model how to take turns in a situation like that is key.
A third very important thing for the adult in the situation to do is to use key vocabulary words while gameplay is happening. These can be things like “I like how you took your turn” or “now it’s time for [student name] to have a turn” while playing. Using this noticing language helps to reinforce what taking turns looks like.
Some classic examples of turn taking games are:
- Sorry!
- Don’t Break the Ice
- Chutes & Ladders
- Candy Land
Turn Taking Activities For Children With Worksheets
Sometimes whipping out a worksheet is a great thing to do. You can make various different formats to get students interested in their learning. Some ideas are matching, tracing, sorting, the order of turn taking, or even making comics strips.
Many students love to make comics, especially with how hot graphic novels have become. To do this, give students a prompt and have them fill in a few boxes of a comic strip acting out the situation. For instance, given the prompt “Suzie wants the green marker that Ben is using,” students can act out different ways in which Suzie and Ben can take turns. They could put the markers in the middle of the table to share. Or they could each get to color one spot on their drawing and then let the other person use it. The options for this are endless.
If you need something already done for you, check out these turn taking activities. You’ll find a 5 page flip book defining the term and stating what it looks long along with when it happens. This is followed by 14 other worksheets to further develop students’ understanding of taking turns. Simple print and use. Plus they come in both black/white and full color versions. These are an ideal way to help students to develop their understanding while also saving you time. Click here to grab them.
Movement Activities To Promote Turn Taking And Sharing
Incorporating movement into learning is a great way to both burn off some energy and practice the concept. The basis for this is simple: having activities to promote turn taking and sharing while also getting students up and moving their bodies.
Here are two great sharing and turn taking activities that many young students like to play:
Team Color – Pass out one coloring page to two or three children. Tell them that they are going to be coloring a picture together. Set a timer for 30 seconds and have one student start coloring. When the timer goes off, pass the coloring page to the next student. Continue until the entire page is colored. For younger students, use a color by code page giving students specific colors to use during their own turn.
Take a Turn – use something with a certain sequence of different actions and have students take turns completing the different steps. An example of this is making a snowman. The sequential order is: bottom ball, middle ball, top ball, scarf, hat, eyes, nose, and finally adding a mouth.
Simon Says – this game has one person be the leader, which is Simon. Simon tells everyone what movement to do but has to start with “Simon says ___.” Everyone has to do what Simon says or they are out. The catch is they can’t do the movement if Simon doesn’t say “Simon says.” If they do, they are out too.
There are so many great turn taking activities for children to improve their social skills (if you aren’t sure what social skills are, read this post). Start off with some specific, direct instruction on the topic first so everyone has the same base of knowledge. Then move towards reading books, playing board or movement games, or using worksheets to reinforce the concepts. Whether you use these sharing and turn taking activities or others you come up with, know that learning and having kids practice their skills is important!
Happy Teaching!
