Learning
Sharing stories, rhymes and poems with children is key to encouraging their language and literacy skills. The National Year of Reading 2026 campaign, run by the Department for Education and National Literacy Trust, is promoting reading for young children. Karen Boardman, early childhood consultant, researcher and author of Early Literacy for Under-Fives*, explains why we all need to take storytime seriously.
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Storytelling is a powerful tool to support children’s emotions and wellbeing from birth. If you think about it, storytelling has been used since the beginning of time, to record and make sense of the world and where we fit into it. For example, early cave wall paintings and etchings made in stone tell us fascinating stories of early life.
Concepts such as love, joy, empathy, sharing/taking turns and time are difficult for little ones to understand at first. Stories can use interesting characters, storylines, repetition and rhythm to help them understand real-world scenarios.
Research suggests that sharing stories is a crucial way to support our brains to understand complex concepts, particularly for very young children. Concepts such as love, joy, empathy, sharing/taking turns and time are difficult for little ones to understand at first. Stories can use interesting characters, storylines, repetition and rhythm to help them understand real-world scenarios. Whilst listening to, or telling a story, we are immersed in our feelings, thoughts and ideas – sometimes thinking beyond what we already know. This is one of the many reasons why storytelling has such a strong impact on babies and young children – plus it is such fun!
Here are some simple ways to share stories with your children and make up stories together.
You can make up simple stories based on everyday objects in your home – your child’s spoon, cuddly toy, shoe, a peg, pan, clock etc. Stories usually have a beginning, a middle and an end – but they do not always need to have a moral outcome. You can leave an open ending, so that your child can do some problem-solving to make up the end of the story themselves. There is no right or wrong answer – just storytelling fun combined with awe and wonder.
Babies love to hear the sounds of your voice when you are telling them a story, especially if you also use expressions in your tone of voice and facial gestures. Making strong eye contact is key to storytelling, helping you to make a connection with your child. Your stories can be about everyday events or retelling of familiar traditional stories.
If you are out and about, you can use interesting places and objects along the way to tell stories about trees, branches, the wind, the rain and so on. As your little one sits in the pushchair, encourage them to point out objects so that when you get home, you can retell the story of your journey, remembering all the objects of interest you pointed out along the way. You can introduce some sounds in your stories, such as birds ‘tweeting’, rain ‘sploshing’ or ‘crunchy’ feet sounds.
When out shopping, why not play storytelling shopping games: ‘Once upon a time, there was a tin of spaghetti who met a lettuce …..’ Encourage your child to be involved in what happens next in the story as your shopping goes in the trolley or basket. The aim is to have fun and the ending can be whatever you want it to be.
Stories can be quiet or loud, still or active – I love a marching story, especially with two-year-olds. They usually begin with the child’s name – ‘Once upon a time, I met Sam, who was marching with some ham’. Use some rhyming words to make your story more interactive and memorable – all children love the fun of rhyming words.
Babies love to hear the sounds of your voice when you are telling them a story, especially if you also use expressions in your tone of voice and facial gestures.
Introduce imagination in your storytelling about places that you may not have visited such as a forest, waterfalls or mountains. This allows you to create imagery that can be imagined and made-up to stimulate young brains. For example, the pebble in your story might float down a waterfall and land on some purple sand. Keep it simple and stimulating.
Create a story bag or basket full of objects to include in the story and use it in your plot. Each time you use the story basket it can begin and end in a different way.
Another idea is to try drawing a story – ‘the squiggle decided it would like to go round and round on the paper’, creating endless possibilities.
Stories and storytelling encourage children to think from different perspectives and to imagine all sorts of possibilities, whilst having the very best fun – try it and see for yourself.
For further reading on rhyming and rhythm visit
National Year of Reading 2026 | National Literacy Trust
Michael Rosen’s Rhyme Time offers a selection of videos to support you with rhymes.
Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKbfL4YHc2o
National Year of Reading 2026
Supports parents of 0-5 year-olds and early years communities and champions the critical role reading plays in children’s early development.
Visit https://goallin.org.uk
Published by Sage
Visit www.sagepub.com
