The Significance of Stories in a Kid’s Development

The Importance of Stories for Children

Storytelling has been around since time immemorial. It is that rare practice capable of enriching children and adults alike. Alas! Over the years, this practice of storytelling has been largely relegated to the shadows. In its place, at the forefront, are digital gadgets. Devices that are a far cry from the powerful medium of storytelling.

The difference lies in the ‘human touch’ provided by storytelling, which is glaringly absent in technology despite all its advancements. The significance of stories for children is even greater. After all, the conversations we have right from our earliest childhood years, only serve to make a wonderful collage of stories.

The Importance of Stories for the development of Children

Storytelling is a way of making even the most mundane things interesting. Here’s a look at why there’s far more to storytelling than meets the eye.

Stories excite the imagination

Storytelling will pique the curiosity of children and help them navigate their imagination seamlessly, taking them to exciting new places. The rich imagery evoked thus in the mind, will encourage children to explore their creativity and churn out experiences without the fear of being judged or criticized.

They develop social and emotional skills

It’s certainly easier to talk about emotions in a story than having to face them upfront in real life! The process of weaving common emotions like sadness, frustration and anger into stories, provides little children an opportunity to understand their own emotions. Further it helps them regulate their emotions, the way characters do in the story.

They keep children engaged

Does your child have difficulty concentrating? Stories are a great way to keep kids engrossed for long periods of time, transporting them into another world they seldom wish to return from soon.

They help instill values

Stories can help your child imbibe values in the most effective fashion. Easy to read stories for kindergartners that are laced with sound morals, are definitely a better way to help kids walk on the right path, as opposed to any lectures or advice you might give them.

They build vocabulary

The significance of stories also lies in the fact that they help expand a child’s vocabulary. When they read stories, they are exposed to all sorts of different words. If they don’t know the meaning of a word, they will be eager to find out what it is. This expanding sense of vocabulary will only help your child to articulate themselves clearly over the passage of time. That’s how stories for children to read in kindergarten assume an even greater importance.

Children’s stories to read

The benefits of reading are many, as we have just seen. However, how does one possibly zone in on the best children’s stories to read, given the vast amount of literature lying around?

Here’s a look at a handful of moral-infused stories for children in kindergarten to read. These easy to read stories for kindergarteners will only have them wanting to continually escape into the alternate worlds that books afford us all.

#1 The Boy who Cried Wolf

A boy looking after sheep grazing on a hillside would play truant, calling ‘Wolf!’ on several occasions when there was no wolf in sight. The villagers arrived each time, only to find they had been fooled. Until one day, when the wolf actually came and nobody responded to the boy’s cries.

Moral: Lying breaks trust

#2. The Midas Touch

There was once a king called Midas, who asked the god Dionysus to grant him a wish. He wished that everything he touched would be turned into gold. It all seemed to be going great for Midas, until he touched his daughter and she turned into gold, too.

Moral: Greed will inevitably lead to downfall

#3. The Proud Rose

A rose that lived in a faraway desert often taunted the ‘ugly’ cactus next to her on account of its appearance. One scorching summer, she began to wilt. She saw a sparrow dip its beak into the cactus to get some water. Ashamed, she asked the cactus if she, too, could get some water.

Moral: Never judge anyone based on their appearance.

#4. The Golden Egg

A farmer and his wife had a goose that laid a golden egg every day. One day the farmer came up with a plan of killing the goose so that they could get all the golden eggs at once. Foolishly, he cut it open to find only guts and blood. As the days went by, the farmer and his wife only became poorer.

#5. When Adversity Knocks

Asha was getting tired of life. She told her father, who asked her to get an egg, two leaves and a potato. He then filled three vessels with water and put the respective items Asha brought, in each of them. Then he set the water to boil in all vessels. After 10 minutes, he told Asha to see the result of the experiment. The egg, earlier soft, was now hard. The potato was hard, and was now soft. As for the tea leaves? Why, they changed the water itself. Asha’s father asked her, ‘Are you an egg, potato or tea leaf?’

Moral: We can choose how to respond in difficult situations

#6. A Glass of Milk

There was once a newspaper boy who felt very weak one day, when delivering his newspapers. He asked for food at every door but was denied every single time, until a young girl, taking pity on him, offered him a glass of milk. Years later, the girl, now an old woman, was terribly sick. The doctor spent months treating her, and finally she was cured. Afraid that she couldn’t pay the bill, she was shocked when the hospital handed her the bill and it read, ‘Paid in full, with a glass of milk’.

At EuroKids, storytelling is an important part of our curriculum. We strongly believe that it is the oldest form of teaching for children, that brings the vital process of language learning early on in their lives.