Top tips on storytelling

Kelly

8 years ago

Try these top tips when reading a story

Reading to children of all ages should happen on a daily basis; it is an important element that helps children learn those vital early literacy skills and help develop an interest in reading.Storytelling has been around for many years and all children love a good story. Stories can either be read using a book or adults can use their imagination and re tell a made up story. For adults making up those tales it takes great imagination to develop that story whilst incorporating characters and an engaging storyline.Because of the importance of storytelling, it is crucial that adults telling these stories learn a range of skills to help them during storytelling.When children are listening to stories you can see from their faces that they are concentrating on the story, they are absorbing all the information. They learn about how a story is structured and develop empathy with the characters. Storytelling can help children who may be having difficulties with reading and writing as they can explore language through stories. Furthermore adults should encourage children to join in and experiment with language. As children get older they will begin to use their imagination and extend the story further by creating their own stories. Developing an interest in stories at an early age can really help children learn early literacy skills. Storytelling should be heavily promoting in early years settings with all ages of children.

Try these top tips to help you during storytelling

Using your voice

Think about the tone of your voice.
Use different voices for different characters.
Think about how to use your voice to create the pace of the story.

Using facial expressions

Use facial expressions to express characters emotions.
Think about how to use your facial expressions to draw people into the story.

Tell story using body movements

Use eye contract to draw the children into the story.
Use the whole of your body to tell the story, you don’t have to be sitting down to read the story, think about being creative with the use of your body movements.
Body movements will help keep the children’s attention as they will enjoy the use of actions to tell the story as well as the voice.

Show passion

Show your passion for storytelling, this will demonstrate you believe in your story.
Picture the story in your mind and convey this imagination to your audience.

Involve the children

Storytelling is far more effective when it actively involves the children.
During the story pause and ask the children questions, this will help children’s concentration span.
Why not create a follow up activity after the story eg draw your favourite character

Consider length of story

Think about how long the story will last as young children’s attention span is very short. It will be more effective to have short and frequent stories.

By incorporating all of these top tips it will create a more effective storytelling session and children will enjoy the stories over and over again.

One thing to remember is to have fun, if adults demonstrate a fun and happy approach during storytelling then children are more likely to develop that positive attitude to stories.