Did you know that you can use every day household items to create and tell your own story? Recently, our LitMoms at Ngului Primary School used items like forks, combs, plates, cup, calabashes and egg shakers to tell and act out their stories. Creativity was at a peak! Story telling helps children get ready to make the most of learning opportunities while having a lot of fun. Moms are acquiring storytelling strategies to use with their children which are creating safe and nurturing spaces and strengthening the parent-child bond. These stories also stimulate their children’s imagination through picturing characters, places and events.
Our Read Aloud book was The Princess and the Pea by Rachel Isadora. Guess what was in our story box? It held a pea, twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds! The story was brought to life with a lot of joy and fun. Julia exclaimed, “How on earth could someone feel the pea that was under twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds!” During the book discussion Theresiah critiqued the story, “Can you imagine climbing with a ladder on a bed with twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds? Maybe the princess was scared of falling down that’s why she did not close her eyes the all night.” The moms learned a moral understanding of telling the truth and being real like the princess.
Stories are food for a child’s mind and heart and they shape language, values, imagination and emotional intelligence while strengthening relationships.
