The 5 Benefits of Storytelling in Child Development

storytellingwithst
Jul 5, 2024
6 min read

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.

From the moment that a child is read their very first story by their parents or caregivers, it stimulates their minds in a way that forever changes them. This is because our brains are naturally attracted to stories.

Think about this for one moment, when you get home after a long day at work, what’s one of the main things you seek to do so you can relax? You’re eager to dive into a good story, right?

The way you like to experience stories varies in different ways for each person (i.e. watching a movie on Netflix, catching up on a YouTube video livestream that you missed or having a conversation on the phone with your bestie while on the drive home from work).

These are all forms of storytelling that engages our brains. Why is this a major thing for the healthy development of children?

Because our brains naturally imagine things, we think about the future, we think about the past, we think about what we wanna have for dinner or a lunch meeting tomorrow etc. and since our brains naturally live in dreamland, the one thing that takes the driver's seat in our brains when it come to this naturally dreamland state is, you guessed – stories.

The simple fact is that children are enamored by the magic of storytelling, as it helps them develop better relationships with themselves and their peers, it also brings a further understanding about the world around them (and how the world impacts them and how their choices and decisions impact the world). Which is another reason why stories can play such an important role in early childhood education and within their lives.

Philip Pullman once said, “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” At the root of it, storytelling teaches us about life, and human connection and self-expression.

Children are enamored by the magic of storytelling, as it brings a further understanding about the world around them. Stories can play an important role in early childhood education.

Let’s discuss further about how and why stories are so beneficial towards child development and what are the effects of storytelling on children's learning.

1. Storytelling offers more exposure to the world around them

With storytelling, a child can imagine a world vast and far beyond their current state of being. It affords them the ability to time travel and explore space with the touch of a button.

Children can explore new cultures, learn new languages, view different worlds and brand new horizons ( cue: a whole new world 🎵 ), all from the comfort of their rooms.

There are no boundaries on subject matter, journey or character arc. Storytelling invites children to get in touch with their imagination and explore their feelings and it can make your child ask more and in-depth questions about what they know about the world and are more likely to be open to learning new things, people and places.

2. Storytelling increases empathy

Storytelling can help with children’s exposure to more people and situations they otherwise would have never encountered before. It offers them the unique ability to share in another person’s perspective and life experiences as the storyteller and has the ability to make them rethink their current position on certain issues as a reader or listener – and inspire them into action.

With storytelling having such a tangible hold on their attention by sharing additional these perspectives and introducing new kinds of characters from different parts of the world and with different personalities, a child can practice their ability to empathize with other people, see things from a different point of view (especially if it goes against what they had initially thought to be true) while also encouraging them to take more time to have understanding for those who do not have the same backgrounds and life experiences as they do.

Storytelling has such a beneficial impact on your child’s development and will change how they interact with the world. It provides them with such richness that they are able to utilize all of their senses in a way that empowers them to be leaders as they grow to become the best versions of themselves.

Our storytelling with stop motion curriculum helps children learn more about while also increasing their capacity and understanding of empathy and the importance of it as it pertains to our relationship to self as well as our inter personal relationship -- which affect how our communities and society's are shaped and formed as a whole.

3. Storytelling increases literacy

The more a child engages with stories, the more they are exposed to new words, ideas and how to use those words in real-time. Whenever you expose a new word to a child, their natural curiosity is increased and they will begin to ask what that word means. This practice is not limited to only children - even moms and dads have to look words up from time to time - we sure do!

By increasing their vocabulary and learning new words, children then have more words to better express themselves and more capacity to explore deeper meanings, which also gives them greater understanding on how to express themselves in different situations ( and we all know that life will bring about various life experiences ) By doing this, they have a higher chance of finding new ways to communicate their thoughts through their writing, speech as well as increasing their capacity for listening. Which is a huge part of communication, as children need to learn the importance of listening to gain knowledge, wisdom and understanding.

4. Storytelling allows for questions

As a parent or teacher, it’s important for both you and your children to read and share stories together. It provides both of you to pause and reflect on the words and also the lessons to be learned from the story, which is important to help broaden children’s understanding of what they are reading and or listening to. And if you take their learning to the next level, and we strongly encourage you to do so, you have your children write a few short sentences about what they learned or their understanding of what they learned from the story.

Furthermore, when you read to your children you should pause at various points in the story and ask them what they remember about what you’ve read. You can also have them practice pronouncing certain words. This type of practice is crucial for your child’s retention and will help them to not only improve their own storytelling but also help them better break down stories in a structured form that allows them to take in information and remember it.

It’s also a great idea to take this time to pose deeper questions asking the child why they thought a character behaved in a certain way, or what they think will happen next? This would be great for you to write a few short sentences similar to a mini book report, that will further solidify the overall lesson from the story.

5. Storytelling is for a win-win everyone

Stories can be about anyone or anything and come from any person - from anywhere in the world. Especially for younger children who are just learning how to read are also able to interact and enjoy a good story, be it by listening to the storyteller or verbally participating, this way, they will not feel excluded.

From reflecting on their day, to making up a magical story about a far away land as they play with their barbie dolls, legos or finger puppets, the sky's the limit for the many brilliant ways for children to start practicing and engaging with storytelling every single day.

By finding the best way to engage children with reading, writing and listening via storytelling we are preparing their imaginations to flourish from the amazing stories that have become so near and dear to their hearts.

A little homework for you moms and dads: When you think about some of your favorite childhood stories, which ones come to mind?

If you’ve been looking for something new to cultivate lifelong skills that encourage #empathy, #compassion, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence and psychological self-esteem™.