Improve your story telling skills to connect with your children, teach them important lessons about life, stimulate their imagination and create lasting memories. Everyone loves a well told story, and learning to be a good story teller isn't difficult if you follow a few simple guidelines.
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Difficulty:
Moderately Easy
Instructions
1
Find stories you love. Whether it's from one of your child's favorite books, classic fairy tales or stories from your own childhood, your children will pick up on your enthusiasm and learn to love the stories, too. Your favorites will become their favorites.
2
Make frequent eye contact. Even if you're reading from a book, know the story well enough to look up often. This keeps children's focus on you and the story. Engaging children in the story is an important part of good story telling.
3
Remove distractions. Find a quiet place, and turn off the TV and computer. Choosing a time and place for story telling helps children understand something important and valuable is about to happen. Bed time is a natural setting, but don't overlook other opportunities, such as long car rides or rainy afternoons.
4
Speak naturally. You don't have to be a great performer to be a good story teller. Sometimes the best way to keep children hanging on your every word is to speak quietly, slowly and deliberately. It doesn't need to be perfect to be effective. Include gestures, facial expressions and different voices if that suits your style, but the most important element in any good story is you. If you're comfortable with your style, your children will respond.
5
Use repetition and repetitive phrases. This is especially effective with young children. They enjoy the predictability of repeated words and phrases. Try pausing when you come to these repetitions, and the children will often fill in the blanks. This helps them stay focused and engaged in the story.
6
Increase your children's participation by having them act out parts of the story as you tell it. They'll learn more and remember the stories better if they have active parts to play. Encourage them to mimic your gestures and facial expressions. This gets them excited about every word, image and character in your stories.
Tips & Warnings
Studies show regular story telling increases children's vocabularies and helps develop a love for reading and learning.
Telling children stories from your own childhood and tales about relatives helps them develop a sense of family tradition.
Don't be afraid to act a little goofy with your children. They will love to laugh at your antics and will enjoy the stories even more.
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