Using imaginative storytelling with young children

From a very early age, children begin in varied play situations to experiment with story using the springboard of literature, song, film or even real-life accounts. My youngest granddaughter Lydia has been fascinated by story since her first year of life. At dinner this evening she wrapped a piece of lettuce around her fork and the newly created 'butterfly' was having a long conversation with her knife. She was oblivious to others at the table as she was lost in her storytelling. It seems that they were in fact two butterflies sharing just one set of wings. She has just turned three and imaginative story creation is now a big part of her everyday play. She uses dolls, plastic animals, Thomas trains, toys and objects of all kinds (like her knife & fork!) to tell stories. Not all of her stories are retellings of known stories, in fact many are original innovative stories that she crafts using stimuli in her environment. Story for Lydia can also be stimulated by television (e.g. 'Everything's Rosie', 'Charlie and Lola', 'In the Night Garden'), books and all of life's everyday experiences.

Imaginative play and storytelling are essential parts of learning. In previous posts I've called this re-creation (i.e. the reconstruction, presentation or retelling of a story in new ways), but it takes many forms.

Story in its own right is critical to learning, communication and well-being. This is something that I've written about many times (for example HERE & HERE). For children, the re-creation or reliving of a story is a critical part of their growing knowledge of narrative as well as a way to gain knowledge.

Young children often quite naturally use imaginative storytelling to support and play with known stories or varied life situations and experiences:

• Changing rhymes and songs, e.g. 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' to 'Baa Baa White Sheep' as Lydia does often.
  Acting out 'Little Red Riding Hood' with the resources of the dress-up box and some friends.
• Dramatizing a well-known children's song from television or CD or a children's picture book.
• Using art or drawing to imagine a story character, mythical creature or story setting. 
• Using Lego (or other toys, props and objects) to re-imagine story alone or with others.
• Creating something new that grows out of an experience of story.

Storytelling and imaginative re-creation are powerful learning strategies for children that stretches them as language users and learners. Below are a few examples of how this can be encouraged ate varied ages.

Examples of Imaginative Re-creation by Age Group

a) Toddlers (1-3 years)

• Being encouraged to be a wild thing as the story 'Where the Wild Things Are' reaches the critical moment when Max declares 'Let the wild rumpus start'.
• Finger Plays and rhymes ('This Little Piggy', 'Incy Wincy', 'Round and Round the Garden')
• Retelling Thomas the Tank Engine stories using the various engines that feature in the story.
• Using dolls or soft toys to act out domestic scenarios.
  Using dress-up clothes in association with well-known stories.
• Creating a story using toy soldiers, Polly Pocket toys, magnetic boards with characters, fuzzy felt and so on.
• Joining in the television dramatization of a well-known story on a program like 'Playschool'.

b) Early years (4-6 years)

• Many of the better story apps for iPad or android devices are an innovative way for multiple re-created experiences of stories (see my recent post on this HERE).
• Drawing maps, key characters (dragons, people) or scenes.
• Acting out stories with a group of children or with adult family members.
• Creating an adapted text to re-create part of a story (e.g. poetry, a character interview, telling the story from a different point of view).
• Using puppets to re-create a story.
• Using modelling clay or craft materials to create characters to re-create and retell a story.

Creating knights for storytelling

c) Later childhood (7-12 years)

• More elaborate dramatization, with involvement in making props and costumes.
• Simple animations using one of the programs readily available (see my previous post on animation HERE).
• Using materials like Lego to re-imagine a well-known story.
• Creating a board game that recreates the plot or a specific part of a story (as Sam did).
• Creating a complex map or plot summary as a device for others to use.
• Create a script to be acted for a specific part of a story.
• Write a newspaper report based on an event within a story.
• Use a variety of written genres to create a new text ('The Jolly Postman' and 'The Jolly Pocket Postman' are published examples of this).

These are just some of the ways that storytelling and imaginative re-creation can stimulate learning and language.