Try it out!

Have you ever heard a story in a song, imagined one in a painting, or watched a dance that told a story with movement? When we think of storytelling, we often picture books, but storytelling can take so many forms! Children especially love the chance to hear and tell stories. You can spark their creativity and joy by encouraging them to dive into storytelling in all kinds of ways!

Try this out: with infants and toddlers, introduce props like soft toys, puppets, ribbons, or scarves during storytelling. Add movements for children to mimic, like hopping like a bunny or swaying like a tree in the wind. Preschoolers might love making up stories with objects from a mystery box, like toy cars, small animals, or a picture of a pond or tree. Ask them to close their eyes, pull an item from the box, and create a story around it. What are your favorite ways to tell stories? What materials do you like to use?

Be intentional in your exploration.

• Plan with your teaching team or families by brainstorming ideas and collecting materials before beginning storytelling.
• Get familiar with the story by practicing ahead of time. Be mindful of the story's length and consider children's ages and development.
• Link story concepts to children's lives to make learning meaningful. Include familiar materials and activities, like props in the dramatic play area, to help children re-enact the story during dramatic play.
• Choose storybooks with familiar themes and connections to children, families, and community. For example, share stories about family events like the arrival of a new sibling, seasonal traditions, or cultural celebrations.
• If stories are not written in books, get creative! You can represent the characters and objects in the story by:
  • Printing out pictures,
  • Making a felt/flannel board story,
  • Using finger or hand puppets,
  • Using gestures or sign language throughout the story, or
  • Using musical instruments with a song.
• Make items available for children to retell the story on their own.
• Nature can spark a great story! During outdoor time, ask children to imagine what a plant or animal might say or do, and help them create a story based on their ideas.
• Set up a cozy space outdoors where children can explore books in the fresh air.
• Encourage infants and toddlers to explore with their senses by adding materials to stories, like fabrics with different textures, sandpaper, or unlit pine and floral-scented candles to represent trees or flowers. If children want to explore with their mouths, adults can hold these items and encourage children to use other senses to explore them.
• Show respect for children and families' stories by offering opportunities to share books, songs, recordings, and rhymes in home and Tribal languages and in English. Use these often so children can remember and retell them.
• Encourage families to read or tell stories with their children, emphasizing the benefits of bonding and literacy that come from sharing stories together.

Gather materials to support storytelling.

• Collect sensory materials that align with the story, such as soft blankets, smooth textures, or even food items, to enhance the sensory experience.
• Offer a variety of objects that children can use for storytelling, like art materials (markers, paints, different types of paper), scissors, foam pieces, scraps of fabric, pom poms, buttons, and supplies for binding like glue and tape. Choose materials in different sizes so children can easily handle them.
• If children want to act out a story, provide clothing and other props so they can become the characters, like a bird or a bear.
• Offer a range of books and environmental print that reflect the languages, cultures, interests, and unique characteristics of the children. Display these books within easy reach.
• Ask families with oral storytelling traditions to record their favorite stories and make them available for children to listen to.
• Prepare indoor spaces for enjoying books and storytelling. Create a cozy, quiet space for children to explore books. Ensure that there is a large enough space nearby for dancing, acting out a story, or creating a puppet theater for telling stories.
• Provide a variety of musical instruments for songs or stories with sound effects.

Consider adaptations that help everyone engage.

• When setting up a space for children to create stories at tables, stabilize materials using tape and nonskid backing, making things easier for all children to grasp.
• Ensure that materials can be accessed by all children by having enough space for children using mobility aids and surfaces at appropriate levels for every child.
• Engage families by inviting them to provide ideas and share examples of stories reflective of their culture.
• Share stories with minimal words, focusing on pictures, gestures, facial expressions, and body language to convey meaning. Let the visuals and your expressions do the storytelling, making it a rich and engaging experience for children.
• Use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices to help children who are non-verbal listen to and retell stories.
• Teach children signs in American Sign Language to use during storytelling and join in the story. Use gestures and mannerisms that fit the characters in the story, like being big, loud and heavy for an elephant and small and timid for a mouse.
• Ask young children simple questions during storytelling, pausing for them to think and possibly respond.  Affirm their answers or verbalizations. Include vocabulary in children’s home and Tribal language to support dual language learners.
• Encourage families to share stories with their children in their home and Tribal language. Let them know this will help children’s overall language skills!

Look for connections to the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) goals shown below. Adapt this activity to connect with any domain.

• Infant-Toddler Language and Communication 9. Child attends to, repeats, and uses some rhymes, phrases, or refrains from stories or songs.
• Infant-Toddler Approaches to Learning 9. Child shows imagination in play and interactions with others.
• Preschool Approaches to Learning 12. Child expresses creativity in thinking and communication.
• Preschool Literacy 4. Child demonstrates an understanding of narrative structure through storytelling/re-telling.

Connect and Extend

Create a culture of inquiry by asking great questions.

One great way to extend conversations with children is by asking meaningful questions like, "What do you think will happen next?" Open-ended questions like this, with many possible answers, allow children to express their ideas, explain their thoughts, and make predictions. For some children, especially infants and toddlers, this may mean asking a question and watching for their nonverbal responses. You can then prompt them with gentle cues or label gestures to help guide the conversation.

• You are pointing at the dog in the book. What sound does the dog make? What other stories have we heard about dogs? Does this dog look like your dog at home?
• What is the bunny doing in the story? Is it hopping? Can you show me how bunnies hop?
• Who was your favorite character in the story? What would you do if you were the character?
• What would you change about the ending of the story? What would you make happen?
• Can you draw or act out your favorite part of the story? What materials do you need to start your project?
• Here are a few ways to start your own open-ended questions:
  • What do you think about______?
  • Tell me how you decided to _____.
  • How could the character______?

Develop creative connections and be a “good relative.”

What does it mean to be a good relative? In many American Indian and Alaska Native cultures, being a good relative is a way to describe treating others, the land, and all living creatures with care, kindness, and respect. It is a practice we want to encourage in children and adults of all cultural backgrounds.

How does this idea of connection show up in storytelling? Many stories are rooted in values that highlight positive relationships with each other, as well as with the plants and animals around us. Through storytelling, children learn about the importance of these positive connections. Here are some strategies to help foster creative connections and encourage the practice of being a good relative:

• You can be a good relative by intentionally planning to read and discuss books, tell stories, and talk about what it means to be a friend. These conversations help children understand the value of connection and kindness.
• Plan activities and experiences that allow children to express what makes them unique. Honor each child and their family by asking families about stories, and how and when they are shared. If appropriate, ask families to share their favorite stories and invite them to plan creative ways to share them in the classroom, home visits, and socializations. Provide materials for parents and children to create images to illustrate their favorite family story. Invite parents to record their child’s favorite story.
• Share low- or no-cost ways to enjoy books, such as visits to the local library, sharing creative ways and materials to make books with children and families.

Be intentional about creating spaces where each child feels a sense of welcome. Ask children and families for input when designing these spaces, including areas where stories are shared. Include pictures of families and familiar items and books that reflect children’s home and family. This helps children see themselves and their families in the environment, deepening their connection to the space and the stories being shared.

Take a Look

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Digging Deeper

What Does Research Say About Storytelling?

Storytime is crucial for brain development, even for babies who can't talk yet. When you read with children, they start connecting the words you say to the pictures on the page and to the things in their world. Each of these connections helps build their brain! It’s through these early experiences that children begin to understand language, shape their thinking, and build the foundation for future learning.

• Infants pick up on language earlier than we realize. In fact, research shows that babies’ brains prepare to speak months before they say their first words. One way to support this important brain preparation is for children to hear language.
• Research shows that babies prefer infant-directed speech, or "parentese." The slow, exaggerated sing-song voice grabs babies’ attention and helps them identify individual sounds.
• Interactive storybook reading is effective in enhancing deaf and hard-of-hearing children's emergent literacy skills. Make sure the child can see the book, your face, and the signs you are using. This will help them to understand how the elements of storytelling are connected.
• Books provide a great opportunity to ask questions and converse with young children. As they age, these interactions become longer back-and-forth interactions. This supports word learning and pre-literacy skills.
• The quantity of words children hear is important for language development, but so is the quality of the language they hear. Quality refers to using a rich vocabulary and the clarity of speech, including how words are pronounced and expressed. Both the variety and the clarity of language help children build stronger language skills and better understand the world around them.
• It's important to use new and different words to help children grow their vocabulary. Books are great for this, as they often include words adults might not usually use, like the names of plants or animals.

What Does Storytelling Look Like?

• Some infants might enjoy listening to adults tell stories along with looking at a book, while others prefer turning pages or even chewing on corners, and that’s okay! Any interaction with books is a positive step. As they grow, their engagement will become more focused and intentional.
• Toddlers often enjoy holding the book and turning the pages. They may also want to help tell the story. When reading familiar books, pause and let them fill in the missing words or ask them to tell the whole story. It’s a great way to encourage their participation and boost their confidence!
• Dialogic reading is an interactive way of reading. When adults ask children questions, explain new words, and connect the story to the child's life, they are practicing dialogic reading. This approach helps young children develop important preliteracy skills, like understanding stories and thinking critically.
• You can use the words and pictures in the books you read to introduce new words and ideas to children. For example, “This is a giraffe. Giraffes have spots and long necks. They like to eat leaves. Can a giraffe be a pet? No!” These kinds of interactions are key to helping children grow their vocabulary.

Read About It

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Joy for the Journey

"Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.” – Native American Proverb

Last Updated: November 18, 2025