As soon as your child is around the age of 2 and talking, it’s a great time to start storytelling with them! Storytelling is super beneficial to language development, strenthens memory, teaches sequencing and much MUCH more!
Storytelling allows a person to use their own voice, facial expressions, body language, to tell a story and to listen, think, create and IMAGINE! Other benefits to storytelling: *To make connections between a story and their own life, learn that a story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, learn new words to describe objects and feelings, practice using language creatively and stretch imaginations, learn to predict events, expressing actions and using dialouge. I plan activities like this to pull out between 4 and 6 pm. The most challenging hours of the day for me as a parent! If I have a plan, these two hours go much smoother with fewer meltdowns!
Here’s how I use storytelling with my daughter.
Read: I find a story that we both love. Try and pick a short, patterned story. A perfect example is Mrs. Wishy Washy. The book is super old and hard to get on amazon new but you can buy used boardbook copies at the link I put up. Read the book over and over again over a few days.
Stick Puppets: Next, have your child color these stick puppets. Cut them out and assemble them on popsicle sticks. Model telling the story using the stick puppets. The story is super simple and you can get silly using your voice! You don’t even have to buy the book…
YouTube Video: Show your child Mrs. Wishy Washy being read on YouTube. I love YouTube for giving my daughter a new perspective on things I am teaching her.
Mini-Books: To extend the activity, print out this emergent reader book or this one. It simplifies the story. My 2 1/2 year old likes to “read” the book herself. She has the story memorized and reads it to her stuffed animals and baby sister.
More Learning: We love playing with our Bingo Dotters at our house. Here you can find Mrs. Wishy Washy themed bingo marker coloring pages to print out!