7 Benefits of Storytelling for Children’s Education, Emotional Intelligence and Personal Development
- storytellingwithst
- Jun 25, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 5, 2024
It’s far from a secret that storytelling plays a very important role in children’s education. If anything, it’s not being highlighted enough.
In addition to it providing an excellent opportunity to bond with children, storytelling plays an important role in language and cognitive development. Stories are also very powerful tools for teaching children about the world around them, especially since most children do not have the opportunity to see the world in real-time as a child, that is typically reserved for when they become an adult (and have a travel bug) and they decide to travel and explore the world. This isn’t a bad thing, per se, it’s more about how exposure to the world which includes exposure to new and different cultures, languages, food etc., can really expand a young child’s mind that will forever equip and prepare them for the global marketplace.
In fact, when children hear stories, it can help them learn about important values as they are introduced to new ideas, exercise their creative thinking and creative problem solving (more on this very important skill later). Storytelling also enriches children’s emotional intelligence, self-esteem and improves their internal dialogue.
In today’s blog we’ll dive into the 7 benefits of storytelling for children’s education, emotional intelligence and personal development
Let’s start with what is Storytelling?
In short: Storytelling is the act of telling stories, usually for the purpose of entertaining, sharing information or teaching someone something. Stories can be about anything – real or fictional, historical or present-day events. Stories can be told in writing ( ike this blog) or a magazine, or through other forms of media (such as film and television).
Why Is Storytelling Important For Children?
Besides being an exciting, fun and engaging activity (that holds attention spans) you can do with children, telling stories is also beneficial for various aspects of children’s cognitive growth and development. As parents, you can start storytelling with your children from a newborn age and choose various literature to read (pictures being great for children to view as well )
When your children grow and become a toddler, it would be a great time to enroll them into a program that specializes in toddler care that places a lot of priority on storytelling with an emphasis on developing their emotional intelligence, confidence, self-esteem and conflict resolution (learning to share for a toddler, ring a bell?)
Now, let’s dive right into the 7 benefits of storytelling for children’s education, emotional intelligence and personal development.
Benefit #1. Storytelling Promotes Creative Thinking
Creative thinking is so powerful and is a skill that is and will continue to be a non-negotiable for anyone who seeks to find their own path towards success – one that is on their terms. And as a parent, we understand you are deeply invested in setting your children up for success by them being able to experience the best of what life has to offer.
By analyzing stories and exploring different interpretations ( which usually occurs when children begin to ask questions about the characters, the plot and the meanings/pronunciation of certain words) children can learn to problem-solve and think creatively. For example, you can ask your little one to imagine being in the shoes of one of the characters or if they lived in the city/country where the story takes place and encourage them to come up with a solution to the problem or ask what else the character could have done to solve their problem.
Creative thinking is one of the major benefits that highlights the importance of storytelling for children because telling stories is a great way to encourage a child’s creativity and get them more accustomed to “think outside the box”. A huge contributing factor is also to promote autonomy and put the children in the driver seat of the story and give them the freedom to come up with their own endings, so you’re helping to guide them to exercise their imagination by exploring endless possibilities in addition to enhancing their communication /storytelling skills. Storytelling can also help children learn to think critically and creatively problem solve (more about this topic in a future blog post).
Benefit #2. Stories Introduce New Ideas
Storytelling can also open up a whole new world of possibilities, showing kids that anything is possible if they dream big. When children hear (or read stories), they are introduced to all different kinds of people, places, words and languages and ways of life.
For example, when you read stories about magical creatures, like wizards ( a la Harry Potter ) or elves
(Elf) and fairies ( Tinkerbell ), you’re expanding a child’s imagination. When you read stories about historical events or different cultures, you’re teaching children about the world. When you read a story about a new recipe or how food grows, you’re teaching children practical skills that they can further study for their future careers.
Benefit #3. Storytelling Helps Teach Morals and Values
One of the primary benefits of storytelling is that it can help teach children important lessons about right and wrong, good and evil, and other virtues. We are all used to hearing “the moral of the story”, right?
When children learn foundational knowledge and wisdom such as morals and values, you are equipping them with soft skills that will sustain them to live a life of integrity, because they will know from an early age that it is important to do what is right – even when no one else is looking.
For example, when you read stories to children, you can incorporate the characters and plot to help you discuss the importance of morals such as kindness, honesty and not standing by idly as someone else is experiencing injustice.
Stories are also important as they play a huge factor in helping children develop more empathy and compassion for others, while also learning how to resolve conflicts effectively - and not be afraid of conflict or confrontation (more on this topic in a future blog post)
Benefit #4. Storytelling Helps Foster A Love Of Reading
#leadersarereaders is not only a great hashtag, it’s also a very true statement. In fact, one of the best things about storytelling is that it often leads to a love of reading, which is integral for a young child’s mind as it grows and develops into adulthood. Furthermore, when children are exposed to a myriad of stories from an early age, they’re more likely to become lifelong readers, to thoroughly enjoy reading and have an overall more open and expansive mind - which is vital for them to being able to become nimble and pivot when life’s difficulties come knocking on their front door.
In addition to helping children develop a better understanding of the world around them, hearing stories can also be a lot of fun since reading stories together, children can share an enjoyable experience that will last a lifetime and also develop a knack for collaboration and sharing ideas – which is key in the workplace.
Benefit #5. Storytelling Builds Emotional Intelligence
Stories have been shown to help children identify and regulate their emotions, learn how to deal with difficult situations and better express themselves in times of stress/anxiety.
One note here is that social-emotional learning is further cultivated through storytelling and when children hear stories about characters who are facing challenging circumstances, they can learn how to cope with their problems and take the reins in their life as leaders of themselves, with the desired outcome of them being victorious and not a victim.
Additionally, storytelling can help children learn how to understand others’ feelings by developing better listening skills by hearing stories about kind, helpful, and forgiving characters. Children can learn how to empathize with others by also hearing about the power of redemption and transformative outcomes in life.
Benefit #6. Storytelling Is A Fun and Engaging Way To Learn
Take a look at any classroom or outdoor camp and it’s very easy to see that storytelling is a fun and engaging way for children to learn. Stories engage their imaginations by expanding their horizons, which inspires children to want to know more about different stories that can help children discover new things about themselves, their peers and the world around them. Furthermore, storytelling offers an extensive range of benefits for children and their educational and personal development in ways that researchers and science have been discovering more and more about everyday.
One of the things we know is that the importance of storytelling to children is further rooted in how stories teach them about daily activities of living, how this knowledge applies to the world and how other people are impacted. This is important because, for children, hearing stories can equip them with skills that they will use throughout their lives. Skills that will sustain them and most importantly, it provides them with hours of fun and enjoyment while learning something new.
Benefit #7. Storytelling Enhances Language Development
It’s a wonderful benefit that stories are full of rich and varied sources of language learning opportunities and touch points. Not only can they help children learn new words, improve their grammar, and develop their reading skills. Stories introduce new vocabulary and they give children opportunities to use them in various contexts as they can listen to the different words being used in the written text that is read aloud.
We briefly mentioned social-emotional learning earlier and we want to make sure to highlight how storytelling can also help children learn how to express their emotions in a healthy and conducive manner. When children hear (and read) stories about characters who feel sad, happy, scared or excited and proud, they can discover how to identify and cope with their own feelings by seeing through the eyes of the characters who overcame their personal problem and hearing how they were able to navigate and express their emotions in various kinds of settings.
As we stated previously, the importance of storytelling for children is vital for their education and holistic development. Children typically have shorter attention spans and can be easily distracted - not to mention impressionable. Being able to keep children excited and engaged while also enhancing their creativity and education is not an easy thing to do – until we decided to develop a program to do just that!
If you’ve been looking for something new to cultivate lifelong skills that encourage #empathy, #compassion, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence and psychological self-esteem™.
Check out our website: storytellingwithstopmotion.com to learn more about our curriculums, courses and educational events.
What is Storytelling With Stop Motion?
It's unique“Edu-Tainment” that studies have shown to hold children’s attention spans while also adding value to their education.
This is the perfect curriculum addition to your child(ren's) homeschool or traditional school curriculum.
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