When we gather around a good book to tell or listen to a story we feel good. However, what happens when the story is over? We have never had a greater opportunity to extend the time we spend together as a family than in our current circumstances. This post supports the use of artwork to provide an extra opportunity to learn together as a family during Covid-19.
Lately, I have been hearing a lot on social media about the extra burden on parents to step into a teaching role as the ‘home-school educator’. As a parent of older children, I appreciate this is no easy task. Interesting, I have heard very little coverage discussing the opportunity that teaching and learning can give parents to connect with their child (and themselves) in a new way.
The following activities are child-led and work best when they take place after a story has been told. Because this is child-led, the adult has minimal input to the thinking from which the activity will develop. For that reason, the adult’s role is to encourage all children to participate in the activities and to facilitate and implement the children’s ideas.
Would you like to become a source of entertainment for your child? During these unpredictable times, the most important message I can offer is to enjoy your time with your children. Stories are a great way to do this because people are hardwired to listen to stories.
As a Children in Hospital volunteer, I asked a three-year-old, 'would you like to paint'. His mother said, 'oh wow, I am sure he would love that, he has never painted before'. His dad said, 'oh it is okay, you don't need to bother, he will make a mess and you are busy'. I assured the father that it would be no bother and when the parents agreed it might be a good distraction from being in the hospital, I took out some art materials.
The art of storytelling is one of the oldest cultural universal tools used to share knowledge between humans. Everyone everywhere loves stories. This blog briefly describes the difference between traditional oral storytelling and contemporary storytelling.
What is a story but a tale about something that happened, to something or someone at a specific time and place, which ended in somewhat of a conclusion or solution. Maybe a tale with a start, middle and end?
County childcare boards across Ireland work collaboratively with a variety of stakeholders in the early childcare community to promote and supply equality of access and participation to affordable programs that support the holistic development and well-being of all children.
Once upon a time, storytelling was how people learned about their history and came to make sense of their world. I argue that this tradition of learning through storytelling is as powerful now as it was over 2000 years ago.