By Sadie Parrinello, Head Teacher
Sharing a story at the close of each school day is viewed by Bing Nursery School as an important experience for young children. It is a time when they enjoy a special opportunity to develop a love for literature, build community in a peer-shared space, and mark the end of their time together. Picture books are a foundational tool for introducing stories to children. Discovering worlds through artful illustration and narration stimulates children’s imaginative thinking and awe. While picture books provide an essential foundation for fostering children’s love of literature, there are many possibilities for engaging children with stories that expand their experience and perspectives.
Story plays—wherein children enact picture books and literally bring them to life—offer children a powerful experience to explore characters, plot, story sequence and events, central issues, and fantastical moments. The process typically begins with a discussion at the language table, a hub for investigating print, bookmaking, and stories. Here, the book that’s read each day at story time is available for children to peruse at their leisure. It’s not uncommon for a small group to gather and ask the teacher to read and re-read the book of the week. Rich conversations develop as the children reflect on a book’s themes and major events, often posing questions and generating ideas together.
A story play can take many shapes and directions. It may look like the teacher reading a story aloud while guiding children’s role-play as they act it out. By speaking lines of dialogue and inhabiting the nuances of characters, children connect more intimately with stories and develop an appreciation for elements that are more elusive when they’re being read to. Interpreting and engaging with stories also provides a context for children to grapple with ideas in a way that invites curiosity, creative self-expression, and spontaneity. Children delight in delving into characters’ personalities and big picture themes, such as humor, power, and mystery. Children approach concepts from multiple perspectives in a way that helps them process themes that hold special interest for them, including family, friendship, and fantasy.
Story plays can easily be extended by incorporating props, which are useful for representing key ideas, honing children’s attention to detail, and offering another way to participate in the enactment. Children may pull from items already available in the classroom or dramatic play dress-up items—or perhaps make props from the open-ended materials at the design table. While props can add a visual element for engaging children’s interest, they needn’t complicate the story play process; their main purpose is to enhance the children’s experience.
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina was a wonderful vehicle for the children to view the book through the lens of a story play. The premise: A peddler comes to town to sell caps; he stops to rest under a tree and falls asleep; a group of mischievous monkeys take his caps, launching the peddler on a quest to retrieve them. In this story play, one child acts out the role of peddler, many children can be the monkeys, and our dramatic play area contained an assortment of hats to choose from. It’s worth noting that story plays needn’t be one-time events: Some stories invite multiple iterations, giving children the chance to take turns trying on different roles. Caps for Sale is the type of story play that is ideal for involving many children and calls on their senses of humor and feelings of suspense as they recreate the peddler’s dilemma. It also offers a clear resolution when the peddler successfully retrieves his caps. It is reassuring to children when stories present solutions to problems, and Caps for Sale does just that, in a context that sparks children’s playfulness and joy.
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell inspired a story play in which three children assume the roles of Sarah, Percy, and Bill—three nesting baby owls who carry on a conversation as they eagerly anticipate the return of their mother (played by a fourth child). An important element of this story play was dialogue, as each child spoke lines that advanced the story from beginning to end. Navigating separation from family is a major theme in young children’s lives—one every child has personal experience with. This story gave children the opportunity to enact the process of missing their caregivers, feeling afraid when they’re gone, and rejoicing in their return. This story also offered children a story sequence that was as tangible as it was relatable. Being in the classroom, separated from their loved ones, children can relate to the swings of emotion that come with moments of missing their important people.
Enacting this idea as a group brought moments of lightheartedness and ease to a fairly complex aspect of development during the early years. For this story play, children used our classroom’s set of open-ended play silks to represent owl wings. Simple and straightforward, this prop is wonderfully effective at eliciting children’s imaginations.
Incorporating music, sound, song, and instruments is another way for children to participate in bringing stories to life. The Lion and the Little Red Bird by Elisa Klevin—about the creativity and connection that grows between a lion and a bird—inspired the story teacher, in collaboration with Bing’s music specialist, to have children engage with combining storytelling and music. Teachers described their idea to the children and made a plan with those who wanted to play a part. A reoccurring theme in the story is the appearance of a particular color that frames the lion and the bird’s interactions. At story time, with each turning of the page, as a new color was revealed, the teacher cued the children to play their drums and ukuleles—a gentle and nuanced approach to engaging them in a way that added depth to their experience. Another key moment in the story is when a storm occurs. Again, the teacher prompted children to respond to the event in real time by playing their instruments. Many stories present opportunities to select and elevate a distinct or reoccurring moment in the narrative—and adding music makes these elements more pronounced and impactful for children as they explore stories from a range of perspectives.
Viewing books through the lens of story plays engages children by adding a bit of magic to the experience. The nursery school classroom is a special environment for exposing children to stories and encouraging them to take the tales off the page and into the present moment. Fueled by their fertile imaginations and creative energy, children embrace story plays as a creative way to express themselves and to move and grow in new directions.