Guidelines For Parents & Teachers
Storytelling and reading books are meaningful when they are age appropriate and fits child’s developments stage.
Age groups.
- Ages up to 3: Toddler books
- Ages 2-5: Early picture books
- Ages 4 -8: Early readers picture books
- Ages 6-9: First chapter books and novels
- Ages 8- 12: Middle grade novels and graphic novels
Toddlers: Ages up to 3
- At 18 months your child will begin to respond to story-time. Rhyming books and simple word stories will help training children’s ear to the sound of language. Choose baby books or stories with simple sentences with lots of illustrations. Stories for this age group mostly revolve around familiar daily life happenings like eating, taking a nap etc. Read one story for whole week or a month depending upon child’s interest and age group.
- Repetition helps children to learn and understand the concepts better.
Early Readers: Ages 4 -8
- Introduce the story title and share name of the author.
- Ask questions; what the child thinks the story may be?
- Read the story for young children or let the child read with your support. Discuss the illustrations.
- Ask questions after the story to assess comprehension.
- Discuss possibility of a different ending.
Extended activities:
- Pair songs and stories with related games, crafts, activity sheets or recipes for enhanced family bonding experience.
- Try providing story books from different genres to support literacy development.
- Encourage children to choose books for themselves.
- Ask questions about the book they have read and initiate a meaningful conversation.
Types of stories
- Traditional stories such as folktales, fairytales, fables and legends.
- Realistic fiction: Modern times and situations.
- Fantasy and science fiction: World of imagination, myth and magic.
- Poetry books: introduce children to language, creative expressions and imaginative perceptions
What age can children write stories?
10 – 13 years children start developing accurate vocabulary and grammatical complexity. They should be able to write narratives of simple events and their opinions.
