While at home during the pandemic, create new memories with your child by telling some of your favorite stories you enjoyed as a child. Fables, fairy tales and stories from many cultures remain in our memories because they had intriguing characters, taught moral lessons without preaching, and had suspense leading to a satisfactory ending.
What were some of your favorite stories as a child? Did you enjoy the Aesop’s fables, such as the Tortoise and the Hare, or City Mouse, Country Mouse? Was making the sound effects in Three Billy Goats Gruff your favorite part of the story? Do you recall the Norwegian fairy tale The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen or The Knee-High Man, an African-American tale?
Don’t worry about telling the story with all of the details right. You are telling your memory of the story. Be enthusiastic, use different voices, “ham” it up. One more piece of advice, plan to tell the story many times. Your reward for telling a favorite story to your child is to hear, “Tell it again!”
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION is my blog to connect with the people who attended my speeches over the years and the readers of my 15 books for early childhood educators. Subscribe on this website or email me at [email protected]. Let’s stay in touch. Please see the two storytelling books, Rebecca Isbell and I wrote for Gryphon House. They also are available on Amazon.
