Listening Ears Are On!: Storytimes for Preschoolers!

Turn on your listening ears friends, it's time for story time! Story time is not only a wonderful way to interest young children in reading, but provides social and group interaction with teachers, parents, their students and children!

Check out the benefits of story time below! 

• Greater attention spans. Story times help children gain a better attention span and focus due to having to listen intently on the stories and activities 
• Interaction with children of similar ages or adult role models. This in turn increases, a child's self esteem and social skills. 
• Desire to read to gain more information about the world around them. 
• Recognition of print awareness. In other words, print has meaning. One way you can show this during a story time is by pointing to each word as your read the story. 
• Reading bolsters creativity. You never know, a story time participant may become interested in illustration, writing, or even engineering just by reading a book that sparked the learning bug along with a touch of wonder! 
• And much more! 

So aren't you ready to put together your very own story time! It doesn't have to be a long or drawn out process or even take place at one time. Reading is a joy that can be done at any time of the day! Whether it be at nap time when your child is snuggling down for a good night's rest or a busy afternoon where your preschool students are ready for a boisterous and fun time! 

Be sure to remember to alter you story times based on the time of day when you create your story times. Classic bedtime songs such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and the absence of action rhymes would be appropriate for nap time story times, and lots of action would be perfect for a rainy afternoon when you can not take your children/students outside to play. 

Story time How-To 

1. Choose books that contain stories that interest your age group, not just you. There have been many times that I have been jazzed to read a book that I thought would be a crowd-pleaser that turned out to be a ho-hum, unlikable read. Young children love bright, colorful illustrations, silly premises and simple, straight-forward text. Make sure that the stories do not include many adult-oriented puns that children may not understand or small indistinct pictures. 
2. Choose a topic. While story times do not need to be topical, I find that these story times, tend to flow more easily. When you select a topic such as dinosaurs, you can easily locate songs, dances, and flannel boards by easily performing a web search. Story time Favorite Topics include dogs, dinosaurs, food, and seasonal  favorites such as Halloween (pumpkins, costumes, candy) Christmas (Santa, reindeer). 
3. Try to choose several songs, dances, flannel boards, action rhymes, or fingerplays. Some wonderful sites to find these include: Preschool Education, Childcare Lounge (Click on a theme) and Everything Preschool
4. Remember, to add movement to your story times. Scarf dancing to music and movement activities such as"If You're Happy and You Know It" are a great way to add physical activity to a child's daily schedule. 
5. Base your story time length on your children's attention spans. A half-hour story time may be appropriate for preschoolers, while a 10-15 minute story time may be appropriate for toddlers. When you start to see your audience become antsy, it is time to stop and move on to another activity. 
6. Enjoy yourself! Remember, the children are not judging you if you sing off-key or stumble over a few words. They just enjoy spending time with you, listening to a story and most of all having fun! 
7. Provide a simple craft for your students or children. From coloring a picture to a simple pasting craft children can learn a plethora of skills including eye-hand coordination, proper crayon grip, how to use a glue stick and more. 

So grab and book, sit down with your child/students and read!