Writer/Storyteller Activities & Resources: Ages 3-5

Feb 01, 2013

Ages

3-5

Writer/Storyteller

Many traditional ways of teaching and learning are typically easily accessed by the Writer/Storyteller child.  Still, you can extend what your child is doing at school, and support your child to branch into less favored areas, with these activities & resources:

  • Permeate your house with books: Don’t limit books to the book shelves in your child’s room.  To them, words are her window to the world.  Think of the many places books can be:  foam books in the bath, cooking books in the kitchen, fix-it books in the garage/workroom, playtime books in the family room, etc.  If you have the space, make a cozy book-nook in the family room or child’s bedroom stocked with plush pillows and pals to read to.
  • Create a Writing Center: This does not need to be fancy, just functional.  Fill plastic drawers with stamp pads, stickers, markers, watercolors, pencils, all different kinds and colors of paper, etc.  Invite your child to “tell you” about her marks and drawings.  Label her work with words or stories. Ask questions that extend and expand her ideas about her work.  Staple a few pages on the binding edge and together read her “book.”
  • Create listening activities:  Get books on tape for car rides or quiet moments at home.  Go on a listening walk and ask your child to tell you what she hears.  Together, create a story about the sounds you hear (or imagine!).
  • Bring storytelling to many activities:  Provide your child with puppets, a felt board with pieces, or dolls or action figures.  Engage your child in the stories that surround these activities.  Write some down and then invite your child to illustrate them.  Hang the pictures at your child’s level.  Celebrate them over dinner.
  • Encourage decoding:  Many Writer/Storyteller children are early readers.  Support your child’s love of learning and fascination with words by allowing her opportunities to “really read.”
  • Build a loft or treehouse: While all children like kid-only areas, your Writer/Storyteller will particularly appreciate the whole new vantage point these spaces provide.
  • Reading nook: Reading can take Writer/Storytellers on magical adventures! If your child is responsible enough, what about getting her an e-reader from the library, or loan her your Kindle!
  • Some online resources
  • www.starfall.com: Fun interactive site for early reading tools
  • http://www.cookie.com/preschool.html: Interactive site that has many learning games and activities
  • http://www.storyjumper.com/: Use their story start process to help your child make her own book!
  • Play http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bll/index.htm  or http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/flash/phonics/index.htm where your child can identify letters, sounds, and rhymes by category.

 

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