6×6 Skills: Tell Stories about Everything

Children learn from stories, and reading stories to your child will help their language skills, teach them new words, and help them understand the world around them.

Before children learn to read, they should know that stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. This will help them to understand a story. To help this understanding, you can ask your child questions about the story – ones which don’t have a simple yes or no answer.

Activities to help tell stories about everything

Plan your day together

Talk about what you’ll do and when you’ll do it.

Talk about the day you had

Discuss the events of the day, where you went, what you did and who you saw.

Ask your child about the day they had

Ask very specific questions to help them explain.

Draw pictures

Get your child to draw a picture and explain what’s happening. You could also write their words down next to the picture.

Start a tradition

Tell a certain story on a special occasion. For example, you could tell Twas the Night Before Christmas on every Christmas Eve.

Tell a story from memory

It could be about what happened the day your child was born, your own childhood, how your child got their name, something funny that they have done, or places you’ve visited.