Connection, Learning, and the Magical Art of Story Telling

When you think of storytelling, what comes to mind? for me, I conjure up an image of a small child tucked up inside a beautiful, old wooden bed, cocooned in a soft handmade quilt, a candle flickers slowly on the bed side table, and the child stares up at their parent with eyes wide, full of wonder as they marvel at the tale they are being told. Their parent is gently rocking back and forth on a squeaky old rocking chair. And just maybe, it is raining outside. For the young child, storytelling can be used to encourage language development, critical thinking, cognitive skills, inspire creative and personal growth and imagination.  Telling stories filled with rich language can support the young child in building a beautifully diverse vocabulary.  Stories can be told from books, nursery rhymes, songs, cultural stories and fables, with puppets or story telling props and from the story teller or the child’s own personal experience. Children learn from stories through internal pictures and imagery they create in their mind. Fairy tales as we know them from our childhood, always have one very crucial thing in common, they can all be told within a relatively short span of time. Most fairy tales fall within a time span of about fifteen minutes which is a perfect amount of time for the young child. However, regardless of this time frame the story can transport children between magical worlds painting a picture in their mind and filling their hearts with wonder, love and curiosity. With well-chosen words a simple story can give joy for a whole lifetime. Story telling supports and nourishes the child by providing a sense of security, a safe space and by giving special significance and meaning to events that may be present in the child’s own life. It is one of the oldest and purest forms of teaching and gives us, as parents, an opportunity to spend valuable time with our children. So how can we provide space and foster the love for story telling within our home? Story telling is the foundation of our learning within our home. Here are a few examples of how we hold space to nurture story telling within our daily rhythm: Start young – Telling tales to our children from a young age fosters imagination and imagery that supports and develops the child’s memory by hearing the same words recognized again and again. I read and told stories to my children during pregnancy, early infancy and beyond, I do not find it a coincidence that they show such rich and diverse language during playtime and within their everyday conversations! It can be as simple as recalling an old fairy tale from your youth and verbalising it in your own way while rocking your wee baby to sleep. It can look like read aloud story book while they play on the floor with their blocks in free play time. It can be, sitting together and reading a book. It can be, playing with puppets and singing nursery rhymes. It can be, simply, reading a picture book. Make it a unique tradition just for you and your family. Take it outside – I like to keep a basket of props and a few books in my car for when we are out and about at the park or beach, we have access to a story if the day calls for it. Taking our lunch outside for a story picnic is also something we really enjoy to do. Another idea could be, to build a tent from sheets over the washing line and read books under there all together! Engage in rich conversations – For us, dinner time is the only time my family and I all get together in the one place and sit and connect together for conversation in our day. We use the time as an opportunity to talk about and discuss our day, our high our low or our in-between. It is a beautiful time for connection, togetherness, sharing and reflection. Making a jar full of engaging questions and leaving it on the kitchen table to dip into at dinner time could also be a really great way to get the yarn going! Make the questions fun, imaginative and story provoking! Tell tales from your childhood – Where possible I like to reflect on my own childhood in age-appropriate ways when situations arise for my children. For example: ” I remember when I felt that way when I was little too, a similar thing happened to me once” … or “when I was a little girl, I imagined I was a mermaid every time I went for a swim…” Reflecting and relating to my children on this level, is such a great connection tool and I am telling them a story without even meaning too! and they just love imagining me as a child. keep a daily rhythm that holds space for stories – Making space within your day for reading and telling stories is so important, I read from our poetry books and a read aloud book (Enid Blyton a big favourite) during morning basket time, after breakfast. We also have space for a seasonal story after free play time, during our learning time we engage in song and rhyme and depending on what we are learning about there usually is a story that goes along with that too! Oh, and again at bedtime. That means for us, I am reading or telling a story a minimum of three times a day, sometimes up to five times a day. One of my son’s has just started to learn to read as well! – so now he is now also having space within his day to read his reader books before our bedtime story and he now has an extra ten- fifteen minutes before lights so he can look through his favourite books on his own, at his own pace. Make space for creative story re-tell – Depending on the season, the learning topic or even the boy’s interest I will make a story basket, story garden or even a story table in which they can access and role play their own variations of the stories we are learning. Listening to their independent storytelling and vocabulary BLOWS MY MIND! Role Play and storytelling was the best part of my childhood, it brings back such beautiful memories for me, watching them play this way. Make it an important part of your bed time – Our bedtime routine is my favourite part of our day! We start by saying a bed time verse we then sing our favourite folk song, I tell a story and then a small visual meditation where I go through the colours of the rainbow, I then rub oils on their feet and chest before sleep. It is now such a set routine for them that they fall asleep before I get the oils on their feet, sometimes! Story telling has the potential to transform your child’s life, not only for all of the amazing developmental needs but for the purpose of nourishing and supporting connection between parent and child!