Strive for recognition of the slightest sound, a distant bird, etc. Try to estimate the distance from which the sound is coming.
Take the child into the woods, teach him to distinguish the sounds of the different animals, and if possible to locate the distance and to estimate the location. On the ground, in a bush, or up a tree?
Anything which stimulates the child to hear keenly and accurately is of value. Let the exercise be adapted to the time and place. When he remarks "How quiet it is here," it is a good time for him to realize how many sounds are actually going on around him.
The Game of Telephoning
Give each child a pencil and paper and have them sit in a row or in different parts of the room equally distant from the spot selected for the "operator."
Make a list of words; later on short sentences can be used; have the operator take these and sit about twelve feet from the children. Let the operator whisper "Hello," just loud enough for the children to hear distinctly. The children can raise their hands when they "get the connection," or hear the "Hello," but should not be allowed to speak during the game.
The operator will then whisper the words in the list slowly, using the same volume of sound as in the "Hello," giving time between words for each child to write them. At the conclusion correct the lists, each child being scored for the number of words heard correctly. During this game all instructions should be given in whisper, and perfect quiet maintained among the children.
The Bell Game
Have all the children sit quietly in one room while some one takes a small bell and goes to some other room, hall or any other part of the house and rings the bell softly, just loud enough to be heard in the room where the children are seated. See which child can tell most accurately the location where the bell was rung. Allow the child making the closest guess to go out and ring the bell.