How does Storytelling Support Children’s Development?

Telling stories is a fundamental part of being human. They help us to understand ourselves as well as the world around us, but also to broaden our minds, inspire our imaginations, and be entertained. But how does storytelling benefit children’s early years development? 

There are several key ways in which telling stories helps children to learn key skills that will benefit them throughout their lives. One of the criteria for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework is being imaginative and expressive. This includes being able to invent, adapt and recount stories with other children as well as teachers. 

Nurturing children’s creativity and enabling them to express themselves through a variety of activities helps build their confidence, developing key social skills and promoting good mental and physical health. In addition to this, thinking creatively and having an agile imagination enables them to find innovative solutions to problems and hone their analytical skills, which will be beneficial to their education and careers in later life.

Creating and then recounting stories helps children to make connections between abstract concepts, linking different ideas, places, people and events in their own lives to help understand the world around them. Storytelling can also help to connect past and present events, enabling children to gain an understanding of timelines and history, and how this relates to them.

Being able to combine different events within a narrative and link them together with meaning gives children valuable communication and interpersonal skills, helping them to express their ideas both verbally and in writing. These skills will be useful throughout their education and in the world of work.

With all of these benefits of storytelling for child development in mind, how can you encourage children to tell stories and develop these key skills?

Simply engaging in conversation by asking open ended questions like ‘what did you do at school today?’, or ‘can you remember what happened in the film we watched yesterday?’ can be a good place to start. Giving children the opportunity to recall past events and then discuss them helps to nurture their storytelling skills.

Get children thinking creatively and flexing their imaginations by choosing several objects and asking them to come up with a story that uses all of the objects. They can then try acting out their story using props and enjoying performing their creation to you.

Finally, one of the best ways to get children to develop their storytelling skills is by reading books with them. Whether you are reading out loud to them, listening to them reading books themselves, or they are beginning to read independently, exposing them to a wide range of stories will help to inspire their imaginations and engage in telling stories of their own.

Are there any other ways you can think of that storytelling benefits children? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Keep the conversation going by connecting with us on  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Article by - Melissa Brannlund

Follow me on Twitter @MelBrannlund or email me at [email protected]
 
Look out for Melissa's latest articles on Anita Frost's author website, where she'll talk about topics including business and publishing, author news and events, and giving back to communities. You can find her in-depth monthly feature on the News & Media page of the Green Bean Collection website, discussing children's books and reading, early years education, living a greener lifestyle and all things Green Bean!