The Power of Storytelling to Children
Telling stories to children is a powerful bonding activity, both for developing great interpersonal communication with others and in the way we teach our young minds to think for themselves by exploring their imagination.
Every Child’s Introduction to Imagination
The art and power of storytelling has been at the forefront of introducing our young people to the beauty of literature since the times of ancient oral scopic tradition. In fact, storytelling is so deeply rooted in our human culture and origin that the act has become part of our scientific nature.
Numerous psychological studies have shown that reading stories to children at a young age aids in not only boosting their level of practical imagination, but also their overall motivation to read and learn more later on life. In other words, telling stories to kids is a huge factor when it comes to developing a strong habit of proactive thinking and, most importantly, establishing a wonderful relationship between teachers and students and with parents and their children.
What Makes a Good Story to Tell Kids?
Children’s imaginations develop at a much faster rate when being told an amazingly good story. A typical example of a good children’s story is one that’s able to provide the child with feelings of joy while fueling their inner spirit. These stories tend to be highly relevant to the young listener in that its morals help solve internal dilemmas that the child may be facing in their lives currently. As such, a good children’s story should leave the child with a radiance of positivity, optimism, and hopefulness.
Novelists, authors, playwrights, librarians, poets, and folklorists all tend to commonly agree that a phenomenal children’s story encompasses the following traits:
- Increases self-confidence
- Strengthens mental character
- Embraces cultural connections
- Sparks a newfound flow of creativity
- Builds a favorable sense of community
- Bolsters a greater sense of self-awareness
- Facilitates the need for effective communication
In addition to the above-mentioned criteria, the Unicorn Jazz children’s book series was created to revolve around these four core elements of optimal child development. We are seeking to grow the stories and its beautiful hand-drawn, kid-like art into a cartoon series. The feedback of the positive messages of the Unicorn Jazz book series include:
- Celebrating uniqueness
- Learning social-emotional skills
- Creating a sense of belongingness
- Teaching the values of kindness, even in the face of bullying and adversity
How to Tell Stories to Kids
By consistently telling stories and the power of storytelling to kids at a young age we are also teaching them on a neural level how to be seekers of their own knowledge. It’s no secret that the stories they hear play a big role in how children grow up to think about the world and all the outcomes and possibilities that they can achieve. We may not always know what to tell our children during their times of struggle. No matter what we do or how we prepare ourselves, situations will arise that will leave us speechless and stumbling over what advice to give. Gratefully, whenever we don’t know what to say to our children, there are endless stories that pique a child’s interests and also intertwine with their emotions. Simply playing along with the story by inserting their name as the lead character and changing subtle things throughout the story to personally reflect their own circumstance, children can feel more hopeful, resilient, and motivated to handle their daily lives on a social-emotional level.