Stories are a great way to introduce new concepts or feelings to young children, especially in Early Years (primary and nursery). Children may recognise the feelings of the main character in the story as feelings they have felt in their lives, however, young children struggle to communicate their feelings – emotion words are often learned last. Stories provide children another land to get lost in as they follow the main character and find out how they deal with their problems. The child, knowingly or not, will be able to take messages from the story and use them when they find themselves in this situation.

There are lots of different “social stories” that target specific issues children may be having such as loss/grief, anger issues or loneliness. There are also stories like this for children with Autism and other learning difficulties, which may help them cope with problems they might have in daily school life.

The below clip shows a social story about using polite words and being nice to others:

In the story Clever’s New Trick, we see the story of Clever the fox who has problems with his temper. This leaves him lonely as no one wants to play with him. Jerome the Gnome teaches Clever a trick to help with this – Stop and Think. He uses this trick with some of the other animals, practicing controlling his temper and playing with his new friends successfully.

While this teaches the lesson of controlling their emotions, it also teaches the children that everyone is learning things – nobody is perfect i.e. Snowy Owl is still learning how to fly well. This story could be used in Early Years quite easily with the right preparation.

There are some words in the story that young children will not know i.e. hesitant and remorseful. As children will be fixated on these new words, it would be useful to use these words prior to telling the story, a few hours or days before. This that the children are still learning these new words, but can still focus on the story. It is also important to have questions to ask the children throughout the story, such as asking them to predict what will happen next. This involves children in the story telling process, stopping them from simply being passive listeners. It is essential to plan these questions in advance, as it is unlikely that suitable, high-level questions will be thought up on the spot. It is also important that children have the chance to ask questions of their own. This consolidates their learning and allows them to fully understand the story, which is especially important if there are follow up activities based on the story.

Stories are essential in the classroom, and are often overlooked as something to do to fill in time, or to calm the children after playtime. While stories can relax the children, it is important not to simply use them as a filler activity. Story time should be planned as much as any other lesson in order to get the most out of them and to develop key literacy skills in children such as prediction, analysis and merely an enjoyment of stories and reading.