By Dana Erhard-Weiss, Ph.D. Child clinical-developmental psychologist
“If you want your children to be smart, tell them stories. If you want them to be brilliant, tell them more stories.” Albert Einstein
The ancient art of storytelling is one of the best ways to communicate, share values and interact with children. Storytelling offers a great opportunity for little ones to learn about the world, relationships and about themselves. Reading a story out of a book, telling a fairy tale while driving or taking a stroll, making up a fun story while your toddler plays with a toy – all these storytelling activities make kids smarter and more emotionally balanced.
Developing language and communication
From a very young age, children are fascinated by dramatic characters, interesting plots and unfamiliar places, which spar their imagination, creativity and curiosity. The moment a child hears the words “once upon a time”, the magic begins – the child’s attention becomes focused and her imagination takes off. Storytelling introduces young children to new things and helps them enrich their vocabulary. Simply talking to babies helps them learn a language, but children learn the meaning of words even better when they are introduced in a context as part of an interesting narrative. For toddlers, who are new to the world, every story if full of previously unknown facts. For example, telling a story about a rabbit eating a carrot teaches your baby about what rabbits eat and helps him later understand that different animals eat different things.