A following instructions game looks simple: Golu says "Tap the red car, then the dog", and your child taps the car and then the dog. Behind that is one of the most useful skills for school. To succeed, your child has to listen to the whole sentence, hold it in memory, keep the order and then act. This page is a gentle, spoken version of the old favourite "Simon says", with our marble mascot Golu giving the orders in Hindi and English.
Why following instructions matters
Teachers in nursery, LKG and UKG give multi-step directions all day: "Take out your book, open it and find the picture of the cat." A child who can only hold one step gets lost, not because they are naughty but because the sentence is longer than their working memory. Practising in a playful way helps in three areas:
- Listening and attention: waiting until the instruction ends before moving.
- Working (auditory) memory: holding two or three items in mind at once.
- Sequencing: understanding the words "first", "then" and "last" (पहले, फिर).
How many steps at each age?
Children grow into longer instructions step by step. The game opens at the right level for the age chosen in the settings, and you can switch levels with the tabs.
| Age | Typical ability | Example from the game |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3 years | One step with a gesture or picture | "Tap the dog." |
| 3-4 years | One step, starting on two related steps | "Tap the cat, then the ball." |
| 4-5 years | Two steps reliably | "Tap the red car, then the duck." |
| 5-6 years | Three steps in order | "Tap the star, then the banana, then the bus." |
These are rough guides, not tests. Plenty of four-year-olds manage three steps on a good day and one step when they are tired.
How to play Golu says
Each round shows a board of big picture cards: a red car, a dog, a cat, an apple, a ball, a teddy bear, a star, a duck, a banana, a bus, a fish and a balloon (four or six at a time). Golu speaks the instruction, and the 🔊 button repeats it as often as your child needs. Your child taps the pictures in order. Each correct tap turns green and shows a number, 1, 2, 3, so your child can see the sequence they built.
If your child taps the wrong picture, there is no buzzer. Golu says "Listen again" and repeats the instruction. On the second try the next correct picture glows, and on the third a pointing hand shows it. After a short set of rounds a marble drops into the Goli Jar and an end card suggests a real-world mission.
Before tapping, ask your child to say the instruction back to you: "Car, then dog." Saying it aloud is a memory trick that adults use too.
Listening games to play at home
The screen game is a warm-up. The real practice happens in daily life, and it costs nothing:
- Golu says with the body. "Golu says touch your nose, then clap." Start with one step and add more when your child is ready. Let your child be Golu too.
- Kitchen helper. "Bring me a spoon and a bowl." "Put the tomato in the basket, then wash your hands."
- Tidy-up relay. "First the blocks in the box, then the books on the shelf."
- Treasure hunt. Give two-step clues: "Go to the door, then look under the mat."
- Drawing dictation. "Draw a sun, then a tree, then a cat." Great for class 1 children who can hold three steps.
- Market game. On a walk or at the sabzi mandi, ask your child to remember two things you need, then check at the end.
Tips that make instructions easier
- Get down to your child's eye level and say their name first.
- Use the order words clearly: "first", "then", "last".
- Keep sentences short and pause between steps.
- Give one instruction at a time when your child is tired, hungry or upset.
- Praise the listening, not just the result: "You waited until I finished. That helps!"
For children with speech delay, autism, ADHD or two languages
Following instructions depends on understanding words, holding them in memory and staying focused, and each child's strengths are different. If your child finds it hard, stay at one step for longer and use the pictures as support: point as you speak. Children with ADHD often do better with very short rounds and movement between them. Autistic children may like the predictable board and the numbered feedback; you can switch on calm motion, calm sound and fewer choices in the settings. In bilingual homes, try the same instruction in both languages with the अ+A button. Understanding in one language is still real understanding. If you are worried that your child often does not respond to spoken instructions, have their hearing checked and talk to your paediatrician or a speech therapist.
A word on screen time
Play for five minutes together, then move to a body version of Golu says. Short, shared sessions work best for children of this age, and children under two learn more from a grown-up and real objects than from any screen.
More listening and memory games
Pair this game with the memory game for kids for visual memory, sequencing for kids for first-then-last thinking, and prepositions for kids, which adds position words like under and next to. For the vocabulary in the pictures, visit animals name and colours name.
How to use this page at home
Say it, then find it
Play for a few minutes, then look for the same thing away from the screen: golu says: listening game on the shelf, in the kitchen, on the way to school. A child learns a word properly when they meet it twice, once on the screen and once in their hand.
Ten minutes is enough
Short and happy beats long and tired. Stop while your child still wants more, and come back tomorrow: the same page on five short days teaches far more than one long sitting. Nothing here is scored, so there is no reason to push.
Use both languages
Tap the language button at the top to hear the words in your home language first and the second language after. Hearing the same picture named in two languages is one of the few things research agrees builds attention as well as vocabulary.
