Kids have the most vivid imaginations; I just love hearing the stories my preschoolers come up with and the worlds they create in their pretend play! Here are several ideas of ways you can help get the creative juices flowing from the minds of your little tykes:
Made by Joel has a great collection of printables with paper dolls in a paper city, I can see my coloring-crazed kids enjoying creating a home for their “people”. My only wish is that he had pets – what do you think Joel? Can you add a dog for my daughter and an alligator for my son? Oh, and did I mention? All of his printables are free! Woot!
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We all have books that are so loved and cherished they are falling apart. Catherine over at Sun Hats and Wellie Boots upcycled a book by cutting out the characters, and “accessories”, adding some fun photos of her kids, sticking magnets on the back of them and now her fridge tells a story. I love her finished product!
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We have toilet paper tubes in abundance, and kids who are learning the “emotion” sight words. Caz over at A Little Learning has a fun TP Expressions activity. If only I could draw as well as she can! They look great!
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This is on my bucket list! Maggy made some story cubes. This is a great way to help direct your child. Some of the cubes can be characters, or items, others can be actions or favorite things to do. What a great way to help our kids add structure to their stories. I can easily see us re-crating these using photos or mod-podge and clip art!
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Darcy of No Monsters reviewed some story cards. I love the concept and can totally see these being a great source of entertainment on a long car ride! I bet I could make my own. If any of you do, let me know how they turned out and if your kids enjoyed them.
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Another take on the story “cubes” are story stones from Childhood 101. We have stones in our sensory tub, why not give them another purpose! Thanks Christie for the idea! Go check out her blog or her Art Ebook for more ideas – her website is one of my all-time favorites!
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Do you have any ideas, posts or tips on how to get your kids to tell stories?
Anybody ever tape or make a video of your child telling a tale? I’d love to hear about them! Leave a comment or email me!
About Quirky Momma
Oooh what a lovely round up of story telling aids! Thanks you so much for including our story cubes
And love the Loo Roll men you featured too (have seen them before and think they are ingenious). We have used simple loo roll people to talk about our day – amazing what you can get out of your “non talkative” child about nursery when the loo roll man comes out… (this is how I discovered that sand was being thrown at nursery tut tut).
Maggy
Ha, thanks Rachel. Yes, I will make a Paper City “Pet Bonus Pack” just for you! Great idea! And I love drawing alligators!
I have a creative way for kids to tell stories and I;m sure you’ll like it!
I’ll send you an email shortly.
Thank you so much for including me! Great round-up!!
What a wonderful collection of story telling aids. Thank you for including our story stones in your round up, and for your kind words
Great ideas. I particularly like the idea of recycling old picture books into fridge magnet people!
My tip for getting kids telling stories: a recent blog post-
http://auntannieschildcare.blogspot.com/2011/05/preschooler-as-author-first-steps-in.html
Enjoy!
This is amazing! My post Sixteen Sensational Storytelling Ideas, goes up Monday! I’ve just updated it to add a link to yours.
There are so many benefits of storytelling too!
**You don’t need to have a book (just a brain and a mouth). This means you can tell stories in the car, in the mountains, at the
**The kids are looking at YOUR FACE, instead of a book. This can hold them captive better than a book because you are looking into their eyes, and every child wants that kind of attention.
**Storytelling promotes imagination (not a lot of things in our society do that anymore). The child can imagine not only fun things but can also imagine the consequences of actions, which will help them with decision-making in life.
**Their vocabulary will increase
**Stories can teach lessons in a safe and fun way that children can apply to life
**They can learn how to solve problems in a safe environment (because it’s just a story, not real life)
**It’s FUN!! There are so many things parents do that aren’t necessarily fun and that drain their energy, but this is something that can actually give back energy to the parents.
Five tools of a storyteller:
1. Voice: The way you use inflection will determine the message that comes across. You can say the word “oh” in many different ways—for example, to illustrate surprise, sarcasm, fear, etc.
2. Expression: Your facial expression can enhance what you are saying and make it more interesting for those who are listening.
3. Gesture: As you use gestures throughout the story, the kids can follow along and imitate your gestures in key or repetitive parts of the story.
4. Text: You don’t have to memorize the text. Just picture the different stepping stones of the story and move from one to the next. Your child won’t know if you mess up, so just use creativity. The stories you tell will get better each time you tell them.
5. Imagination: Songs like “Down by the Bay” promote imagination by allowing the child to think of something that will rhyme with the open-ended rhyming word. For example: Did you ever see a (rhyming word like cat, bear, car)…. (child fills in rest of sentence: wearing a hat or with purple hair, etc.).
Try these out! I promise you will both have fun and you’ll help your child develop! Best of both worlds!
Oh, a wonderful written report! I have no clue how you were able to say this report..it’d take me long hours. Well worth it though, I’d suspect. Have you considered selling banners on your blog?
What a great description! I have no clue how you wrote this post..it’d take me long hours. Well worth it though, I’d suspect. Have you considered selling advertising space on your blog?
Oh my what a fantastic list of crafts and activities related to story telling! Thank you! And thank you for including our story cubes! Much appreciated
Maggy