Just in time to announce the children’s book giveaway winner! Check the social media pages!
This is one of my children’s FAVORITE ways to spend time! They love listening to any story and could read books forever.
Once they understand a story, it starts to come out in their play. They begin to create their own stories. It gives me such a glimpse into they way they view the world. Sometimes it’s a little embarrassing to see how they view “mom” š¬ (You know, when they are pretending to be mom and they start yelling at their kids).
The following is another excerpt from the National Institute for Play:
“Storytelling, the way most kids love to learn, is, when under the play microscope, identified as the unit of human intelligibility.
Making sense of the world, its parts and oneās particular place in it is a central aspect of early development. And as we grow, the constancy of stories that enliven and help us understand ourselves and others, from a parentās telling how it was when they were young, to media-driven stories like Big Birdās rants to Garrison Keillorās Lake Wobegon yarns; all involve us in a never ending fun-giving experience. They give us permission to expand our own inner stream of consciousness, enrich our personal narratives with pleasure and fun as our own life stories unfold. āWhat is the current movie of your life?ā If it has comedic overtones, it is likely that your play quiver is more than half full.”
Every day is a great day to read to your children! It is a great day to tell them stories, both real and fictional. It is through these stories that we can teach them choices and consequences, right versus wrong, how to persevere.
This storytelling and narrative play is STILL important, and once again, a coping strategy for even us adults. In my darkest days, I have taken great comfort in stories I have heard of my ancestors. I have an incredible heritage of people who accomplished amazing things amid hardship. This past summer (2019) I spent some time at home when I was struggling with suicidal thoughts, and one of those days my grandma (who passed away shortly after this), out of the blue, began to read to me from her journal stories from her past, when she was a mother of young children, when she was depressed and how she pressed forward. That story is one I have leaned back on time and time again!
It really is hard to overestimate the importance of this pattern of play. I hope that you can incorporate it into your lives as adults as well as in the lives of your children!
Here are some great ways to include narrative play into your days:
- Read books
- Write books!
- Perform a play
- Create a puppet show
- Take turns telling a story: you begin, have your child add, and keep taking turns until the end
- Watch a movie and discuss what is happening both during and after the show
- Discuss morals and lessons found in the stories you read/share
- Read an excerpt from one of your journals
- Create journals for your children’s own stories: if they are old enough, have them begin to write one, or start writing one for the kids that are too young
Today I was little late on everything, but it was because I myself had gotten into a book and just didn’t want to put it down! I am so glad that my parents instilled in me a love for stories.
