Developing the Art of Story Telling in Young Children

Teaching children the art of telling a story develops self confidence and social and communication skills.

Here’s some great tips to spark your child's imagination and stimulate curiosity.

1. Be expressive when reading to your child.

Use body language and voice to show your expression. It will help them develop their own expressive side.

2. Tell them a good story.

Listening to great stories will develop a love of stories and capture their imagination and excitement that a good story brings.

3. Use props as visual cues.

Young children love using props to tell a story. Some ideas for props include puppets, magnets and magnet boards, finger puppets and soft toys.

4. Start the story for your child.

They can roll with your idea and use their imaginations to progress the story.

5. Be attentive when listening to your child’s story.

Be present. It will give your child confidence to know they have your attention and that you enjoyed their story.

6. Have fun.

Laugh at silly stories that don’t make sense. Marvel at your child’s imagination

7. Use wordless books.

Encourage young children to tell the wordless story to you. The visual cues will spark their imaginations.

8. If they get ‘stuck’, ask a question to fuel their imagination.

Open ended questions can help develop the story line for a young child. Eg: “And what happened to the platypus after that?”

9. Keep it simple: A young child’s story can consist of a few sentences.

Revisit the story a few days later. Children like repetition. They may come up with a different ending.

10. Clap wildly at the end of the story. Applause please!

Our Portable Magnet Boards are a great resource for using as a storyboard so children can use their imaginations as they create a scene. The beauty of this open ended resource is that every time they play, they can come up with a different story line. Our re-usable magnets are so robust that they can be used over and over again.