Storytelling at Hammersmith Nursery

Storytelling at Hammersmith Nursery

This week our children have been really interested in stories and storytelling. Stories are paramount across all stages of education and are of great importance around the world. They can impact us in several ways, both emotionally and educationally and are considered to be one of the most common ways for children to enrich and enhance their language skills from an early age. By learning new vocabulary and developing a better understanding of the world around them through print as well as learning life skills children can build on evaluable morals and enhance their cultural capital through stories, they may not have access to elsewhere.

In addition, stories can help children develop their confidence and communication skills in an enabling environment where the children can become more creative, imaginative, and expressive; using stories and storytelling to communicate their feelings and life experiences. At Willows, we look for many ways to get creative with our storytelling, not only to encourage the children to listen to more stories but also to allow them more freedom over how their stories are told and allow their imaginations to flourish through what could be a simple tale.

Our babies have been retelling stories and nursery rhymes. As well as looking at some of their favourite familiar stories such as The Hungry Caterpillar and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt; using props such as puppets, and hats to make telling the stories more interactive and fun for this young age group! Our toddlers have also been looking at their favourite stories this week and have been looking at stories in a little more detail.

They have been looking at the beginning and end of stories while dressing up as their favourite book characters and using familiar stories as inspiration during their free play and roleplay sessions. The toddlers have been looking at what happens next in their favourite stories; anticipating what will happen on the next page and eagerly awaiting the plot twists and turns as well as being encouraged to represent known stories (such as Goldilocks or The Three Little Pigs) to the class, where an adult reads or narrates, and the children have to say a line of what they think their assigned character might say next. The preschool children have been looking at stories a little differently and have been getting creative with their storytelling.

They have been playing games around storytelling such as Story Circle. This game encourages the children to use their imagination and their knowledge of story structure to create a story together, making our way around the circle, each taking turns to verbally add to the story we are creating together and end it with something dramatic! The children have also been working on story tables.

Story tables allow the children to be creative and expressive through art when telling their stories. It allows the children to draw the story they wish to tell with a few simple props on the table to encourage them and give them ideas to add to their stories. With their amazing storytelling abilities, the preschool children have started writing their own books! Each with a page of their own to illustrate and write what happens next in the story.

They might have a New York Times best seller in the works!

Multi-Cultural Day!

Multi-Cultural Day!

Today at Willows Pre-school we are celebrating our differences through Multi-Cultural Day! Each year, we ask the children and staff to come to the nursery wearing clothes from different countries and cultures.

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