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Storytelling with Active Movement
Children love to play, pretend, be noisy and do active movements. Today, our storytelling activity will provide all of the above and is simple and fun for children of all ages.
What You will Need
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Made up stories based on poses that you know, or use a book for reference.
Optional- We recommend “Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?” by Bill Martin Jr Pictures by Eric Carle.
https://youtu.be/oyiJBpi1Jg0
Process
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Tell or read a story that you know, or you can make one up!
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Involve some movement with it and some animal poses that can make sense in the story.
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Encourage the child to follow along with your movements.
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Imitate the voice that each animal makes and practice on breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth while making the sounds.
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Have fun!
Engaging with Your Child
Stories are things that we usually remember when it comes to animals, movements and short dialogues. Children are great storytellers! They can retell things even when they cannot read. Repetition also adds a fun aspect to a story, children will feel proud when they can recite the repeated line in a story. You can also engage them in changing the tone of voice, rhythm and movements.
Invite the child to do this fun activity together by talking about the book that you are going to read or by making up a story about animals and encourage your child to help you in completing the story. Let your child choose the animals, ask about each animal pose and how they move around and the sounds they make. Show your child how to take a deep breath in through the nose and breath out through the mouth while they are imitating animal’s sounds. This can increase the body’s oxygen levels which can have calming effects and increase relaxation. When reading and storytelling comes with movements, it can benefit children in many ways as it promotes brain development and imagination, as well as help develop language, emotions, fine and gross motor skills.
Tip: You can always adopt the activity to the level of your child’s age and skills.
PLASP Child Care Services