The Art of Storytelling Through Many Mediums

Storytelling is something that happens naturally in the lives of preschoolers and as such happens quite frequently in our classroom. Often times, these stories develop alongside, or as a result, of our projects and provocations in the classroom. A specific painting project might spark an elaborate story out of one child while another child builds a structure and recalls the hotel they stayed at on their vacation. Allowing our children the opportunity to tells stories is advantageous in many ways, including… •Developing/improving language skills. •Developing/improving early literacy. •Improving social skills/relationship building. •Encouraging creativity and imagination. •Recognizing and resolving conflicts. •Reflection and demonstration of knowledge/understanding.

In the same way that stories help shape the ideas of children, children’s stories can help shape our understanding of the child and what they think, feel, know, wonder and perceive things to be.

“This is a monster. He has crab hands. He also has pig hands. He is from the woods with the ghost and other spooky things. He has a green ice cream face. He is in love with a ghost. This is a heart for the ghost he is in love with. Up here is the ghost with a smiley face. She is happy because they are in love. This is the baby.”- Ramona

The Big Bad Pig, Told Through Clay

After our class read the book, “The Three Little Wolves and The Big Bad Pig” , they were given the provocation of making a “brick” house out of clay. Sarah and Ramona took to the task with enthusiasm, and while doing so, retold their own rendition of The Big Bad Pig.

Ramona: We are building a house of clay but the three big bad pigs are coming to take our materials, so we have to build a booby trap on the house, like a metal spider web. Sarah: We have to build it before they come. The metal spider web will eat the big bad pigs. This is a door but the big bad pig can’t get in because the door is locked. The big bad pig is going to walk across the tree and drop on the watering pail and drop his foot down and the spider will come out of the water and eat his leg. I have this little button here and it’s here for the big bad pig coming down the river but the big bad pig can’t see so he hits the button and the bug comes out to get him. Ramona: We caught the big bad pig but then he escaped. He had a little baby and she will be our pet. I think she likes me. She is our pet and she is coming over to have some tea. She said she was all done so we ate some breakfast. I’m drawing the big bad pig before he escaped to have a baby. We hired a bad guy to catch the big bad pig. He died. We asked a talking boat to put the pig inside the talking boat and take him away. Now we are making a model of him and his hair. The baby is going to grow up in 29 minutes.

What learning and development is taking place during Ramona and Sarah’s storytelling?

Language Skills: By storytelling, Sarah and Ramona practice putting together logical sentences and paragraphs. Sarah, who is growing up bilingual, learned the new term “booby trap” and really shows us how much her vocabulary has grown in the past few months.

Early Literacy: Ramona and Sarah demonstrate an understanding of early literary concepts. Their story has a beginning, a middle and an end. The pig is coming to steal materials, the pig escaped and had a baby and then the pig was taken away and the baby became their pet. They also have defined characters with specific characteristics, attributes and feelings. The pig is big and bad, and the baby pig likes Ramona for example. Because Sarah and Ramona cannot write their story down, they sculpt it with clay like a 3-dimensional form of literacy.

Improving social skills/Relationship Building: Ramona and Sarah collaborate with each other to tell their story. They switch back and forth between dialoguing and sharing ideas. This also builds on the positive relationship between teacher and children. They want to share their story and teacher was eager to here more, asking clarifying questions while documenting the experience.

Sarah and Ramona’s Booby Trap.

Ramona Sculpting her baby pet pig.

Practicing Conflict Resolution: Sarah and Ramona have established a conflict in their story; the big bad pig is coming to steal their materials. They then collaborate with each other and come up with some possible solutions. Ramona suggests a metal spider web. Sarah agrees and adds in a watering pail and hidden button. Later when the pig escapes Ramon solves the problem by sending a bad guy to take him away in a boat.

Creativity and Imagination: Arguably one of the most important reasons we encourage and foster a culture and life of storytelling is to allow the imagination to blossom. Children that are involved in storytelling develop creativity that then sparks imagination. It is through imagination that children learn to wonder and inquire about their lives.

“The imagination is the power of the mind

over things”, “then to neglect the

imagination is also to impoverish children’s

worlds and narrow their hopes.” – (Wallace

Stevens & Herbert Kohl)

As the year continues we will continue to encourage storytelling in our classroom. It is our great joy to help these children find their own voices and share their creativity and imagination with others, whether it is through storytelling, clay, dramatic play, Legos and so much more!

“This is a robot dance party. Robots come here after school. They dance like “Bee Boo Bee Booo”. This other part is the room for them to watch Frozen if they don’t want to dance. “- Leotine.