I recently heard this quote by a small child to his mummy – ““Tell me a story from your mouth, not from a book”. I loved it so much because I am a passionate advocate for storytelling with children. It just goes to show, the best experiences of all come from the heart and involve special one on one or group time, rich in quality and thoughtfulness. The aim of this article is to empower you with the confidence and the enthusiasm to grab those spontaneous moments just perfect for musical experiences, storytelling and supporting those wonderful imaginations!
Have you ever wondered why your children want to hear the same stories over and over again? Well those favourite stories become very good friends of course, their familiarity promotes a feeling of comfort and security, and the pure enjoyment of the experience in itself is to me a top reason for encouraging this…but there is much more to it! Repeated listening to favourite tales helps children become familiar with the vocabulary and the language in the story. It is crucial for early language development and in turn supports a child’s growing love for stories, their listening skills and the opportunity for you to share a special time connecting with one another.
Storytelling will naturally lead to story writing as the children develop their language skills through the years. It is so important to nurture those imaginations, and facilitate their interests and needs as they grow. Remember, writing skills are only able to flourish once children have spent lots of time practicing to use their fingers and muscles through a variety of fine motor activities. Encouraging young children with oral retells of experiences, taking the time to carefully scribe their descriptions and language, providing creative materials for them to communicate their ideas, and allowing extended time for different types of play is what builds the strong foundations for writing in the early years.
Of course, reading aloud from story books is indeed just as important as storytelling, and I encourage you to have a wide variety of texts in your home and educational setting, chosen as often as possible by the child. Recognising print, making meaning from written symbols and illustrations and appreciating the works of high quality children’s authors is vital for children to value reading for pleasure and to gain knowledge and information. A whole world of possibilities is unlocked when reading a book and the passion needs to begin in the early years. When reading from story books I would like you to use as much enthusiasm as possible to make those wonderful stories come alive! So start practicing those voices and facial expressions, as reading aloud is
a real art form, and one you need to be practicing with your child daily.
Here are 5 tips for
storytelling in your play
based programme:
♪♫ ♪ Start off with stories you already know, such as classic tales, favourite stories and fairy tales. Once you gain the confidence to remember and act out well known tales
Storytelling scenes – Turtle inspired
pixie ring
you can move on to changing the stories to include any other characters, settings or situations you wish. Eventually you will develop the skills to start coming up with your own stories. Songs and rhymes can also be easily changed to suit your learning focus, but don’t forget to write them down or record yourself on your phone or computer to practice and commit them to your memory bank!
♪♫ ♪ Children love to act out stories and retell them in a variety of ways. By keeping
hand and finger puppets, colourful scarves, a variety of dress ups, interesting loose parts and unique little props on hand, you will add another layer to the storytelling experience, and extend their learning through using new skills and by developing unique ideas. Remember that the children love it when you dress up too and you can build a repertoire of well loved “characters” that will be asked for over and over again. Voices and expressions build the character’s personality, and a sense of humour is always a winner!
♪♫ ♪ Making little kits with the children for special stories is a lovely idea and can include creating props and storytelling items as an ongoing class art project that promotes a sense of belonging and ownership over their own learning. Natural materials can be sourced during nature walks, outdoor exploration or through a connection to home and turned into wonderful little characters for the children to role play within their stories.
♪♫ ♪ Repeated oral language experiences are what build strong literacy skills in the early years, and should be facilitated, encouraged and respected as an inclusive approach that accommodate children’s needs on many levels. As an educator, parent or grandparent, you are a crucial role model. The more you demonstrate your love for creating and telling stories, the more the children will feed off your passion and want to get in on the fun!
♪♫ ♪ An environment rich in storybooks, drawing, writing and art materials and open ended dramatic play materials supports a love of language rich experiences and organically links a vast array of learning areas together through a holistic learning approach. Plan for trips to the library to promote the magic of fiction and nonfiction books, source supporting play materials relating to their interests and allow the children the freedom to add to their learning environment too.