Books and storytelling are key areas of play that support children with listening, speaking, reading, and writing. There are many engaging ways to support children’s learning that will help them to be confident readers and writers.
BestStart is for families who want more from early-childhood education. Safe, nurturing and educationally focused, we’re committed to growing caring people with curious minds. Together we teach, learn and nurture.Our vision is to work in partnership with families, whanau and communities to enable children to achieve their learning potential.
Becoming familiar with books and storytelling helps children develop the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes to understand written, visual and oral language in their community. Children who experience and enjoy books with others develop a positive attitude towards books and all they have to offer. Opening their minds and expanding their world.
Send us your email and we'll notify you when new resources are added
Latest book stories
Explore more areas of play
Becoming familiar with books and storytelling helps children develop the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes to understand written, visual and oral language in their community. Children who experience and enjoy books with others develop a positive attitude towards books and all they have to offer. Opening their minds and expanding their world.
Teachers support the development of children’s oral language by combining language and a variety of experiences that link to ideas about the world they live in. This helps to build a sense of belonging and confidence about who they are in the world.
Puppets, fingerplay and singing are great ways of telling stories that are fun and engaging.
Regular access to books builds pre-reading and writing skills, like holding a book, reading left to write, front and back, and that a story has a beginning, middle and end. Children come to understanding that print - the written word - often holds the meaning of the story.
Storytelling and reading picture books help build oral vocabulary which is good learning towards their oral communication and reading skills.
Children develop their thinking skills, including creative thinking and imagination.
Access to a range of books helps develop an understanding about different social situations and other people’s perspectives.
Children develop an interest in the world around them and supports their learning about their own and other’s cultural groups that make up our society.
Listening to stories builds concentration, memory and comprehension skills and a curiosity to learn more. Teachers often ask children questions about what they think may happen next or what it means. So children learn to express things in their own way, a great confidence builder.
Books and Storytelling Props |
Pūrākau pānui pukapuka, tuhi, whakarongo, kōrero
Have a variety of picture books, from just a few words for infants, through to more detailed stories as they grow their ability to concentrate and comprehend.
A variety of fiction and non-fiction picture books helps to expand their knowledge about the world and indulge their imagination. Where possible, it’s good to have books in the child’s home language(s).
Talk to children about what they are seeing in the pictures – back and forth gestures or words – to encourage conversation about the ideas in the picture books.
Using puppets (hand or finger puppets) and props is another great way to tell stories to children or for children to make up a story themselves.
Magnetic board stories allow adults to tell a story and then children can use the pictures to tell the story back.
Talking with children about their day, something they enjoyed doing or seeing is the beginnings of storytelling.
Adults can point out the letters or words in the book as children show interest – demonstrate what you are reading by pointing to the words as you read.
Making a book with your child or a group of children about what they have experienced. Making a cake, visiting the park, visit to the marae – pictures of the experience and then see if the children want to put the words that make up the story together
Sing songs from their cultural heritage to link them to home language and cultural identity.
Try using sign language or te reo Māori, or words in child’s home languages, in a story.
Involve children in writing or reading in ways that useful to them. For example, their name tags, making a birthday card and writing their name in it, reading a recipe.
Have children draw or paint what they are thinking about – learn to tell their stories visually.
Continuing the learning at home
