How to Play Telephone

Telephone is a great quiet game, perfect for just about any setting but really a secret weapon for keeping the kids quiet during long car rides. By requiring concentration and social skills, Telephone will help your child develop mentally as well as provide you with some much needed quiet time.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Three or more players

Play Telephone

1. Start the game off by telling a complicated story to the first child. You will need to whisper the story in her ear, so if you are playing in the car, enlist one of the oldest children to start the game.
2. Come up with stories that have lots of details, especially involving people and places. The more detailed the story is, the more likely the message will be changed as it makes it way through the telephone line.
3. Listen carefully as the second player whispers the story to the third. The story is then repeated in whispers by the players until the last player in line has heard it.
4. Laugh when you hear how the original story has changed. The final player in the telephone line will repeat the story as he heard it. The more garbled the message, the funnier this game becomes!
5. Make the game even more difficult by having noise such as a radio or television in the background. This will really require the players to concentrate on what the others are whispering as the message makes it way through the line.
6. Play a variation of this game by drawing a picture and having the first player describe it to the next and so on. The last player to hear the description should draw her version of the picture. When it's displayed, you'll see how different people describe images in their own way and how this can change their interpretation.
7. Make faces instead of telling stories in another version of the telephone game. In this game, the first player makes a face at the second, who then tries to duplicate it for the third. Sure to induce laughter in even the most sullen child, this is a great game to play when keeping quiet isn't the objective.

Tips & Warnings

• You can use the game of Telephone to teach your child the importance of conveying real telephone messages correctly. Encourage them to use their concentration skills when taking phone messages and remind them to always repeat the message back to the caller before hanging up the phone.

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