This week several bloggers are participating in Share a Story - Shape a Future, a weeklong blog event for literacy. It's a way for bloggers share ideas on ways to nurture reading and support children's literacy efforts. I'm excited to host a giveaway sponsored by GoodNights brand of sleep pants in conjunction with this event.
A good story draws attention. Parents can use storytelling to increase interest in reading and books. Storytelling goes hand in hand with reading and literacy development because oral communication provides the basis for beginning reading. Children that tell stories increase their understanding of word development and grow their vocabularies.
Bedtime is the perfect time for parents and children to engage in storytelling. Kimberly-Clark is sharing its commitment to literacy and wants to help parents and children bond at night with the magic of storytelling. Their GoodNites website offers several storytelling bedtime activity suggestions:
Play with Finger Puppets [pdf] - Put on a puppet show with the finger puppets and have your child act out their own made up story.
Use Template Word Games [pdf] - Create wacky stories by filling in the blanks of a short story with words and phrases. Read the story aloud together.
Make Hand Shadows [pdf] - Tell a story and illustrate it with your hand shadows on the wall.
The GoodNites brand of sleep pants also recently launched Bedtime Theater,™ a series audio bedtime stories available for free download online (CD versions are available in packages of GoodNites Sleep Pants). The story is about a boy Iggy and his exciting adventures with his magical bed. Along with listening to the story, families and storytellers can participate in the Iggy's Next Adventure Contest by creating a new adventure for Iggy and entering it in the contest. Only a story summary is required (approximately 275 words), so the contest isn't overly difficult to enter. Take a moment and enter your story idea for a chance to win the $2500 grand prize or one of the smaller weekly prizes. The contest ends on 4/15/2010. See the official rules for contest information.
The Bedtime Theater helps parents establish a nightly bedtime story routine with their children and reduce anxiety around bedtime. According to Dr. Jennifer Trachtenberg, one of the GoodNites NiteLite experts, "having a regular evening ritual, such as a bedtime story, can quell nighttime issues like bedwetting and become an important step in building your child’s self-confidence." Even though the website is geared toward those needing help with bedwetting, all parents and children can enjoy the Bedtime Theater.
It's always fun to take the tent out, camp in the living room in our pajamas, and read a suspenseful story.
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i use puppets...kids love puppets!!!!!!!!
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For now I use lots of different voices in my story telling. It help keeps the interest of an almost one-year old!
I love asking questions during storytime - What is that? What is going to happen next? Do we do that? I want the kids to get involved and enjoy the stories we share with them.
I used hand puppets (Pooh & a beehive) to retell the story of Winnie-the-Pooh and the Bees (Chapter 1 from Winnie-the-Pooh) for my preschool story time. The Kids loved. I loved it. I can't wait to try something like this again.
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I have had all the kids in my bed lights out and used a flashlight to read the story to make it scarier and we love the scary tales books.
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I always loved making crafts so finding a fun one to make that fits with a book would be great. That or eat a snack that works...ex. if the book is about the movies, use popcorn...if it's about the park, maybe a hotdog or something.
-Lauren
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What a great prize! ( I don't live in the US, so I'm not entering.)
Bedtime Theater have really added value to their product with these ideas. Wonderful to see companies getting on board with the literacy message. I listened to some of Iggy's story too, and it is very nicely done.
Thanks for sharing, and for visiting The Book Chook!
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we like to do art projects after reading a story and use it for the next time we read the story!
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My son is at an age where he likes to make his own little story books (age 5).
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We have used around the camp fire
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I actually wrote a post about this very topic --
http://imaginationsoup.net/2009/09/storytelling-made-simple/
We tell stories all the time - one of my favorite storytelling ideas is the Tell Me A Story Cards. (On my post.)
Great giveaway!
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I take turns reading books with my daughter. I love hearing her tell the stories - it reveals what's in her imagination.
Thanks for the giveaway!
Amy B
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Thanks for the giveaway!
Amy B.
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I've had the kids in my Sunday School class draw what the story means to them after we have read it.
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I borrowed a blow up planetarium from a nearby university that would hold an entire class of students at one time. With the lights out in the classroom, I was able to shine pictures of different constellations of the ceiling of the planetarium. The students would try to trace the figure that that constellation was supposed to represent with their finger. I would then tell them the story of how that constellation got its name. We could only do at most two constellations for each class period and I tried to cover different constellations with each class. Each class period went by very quickly according to the students.
Thank you,
Christine
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I entered Iggy's Next Adventure Contest Adventure on March 10, 2010.
Thank you,
Christine
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I follow you on Twitter and tweeted about this giveaway http://twitter.com/ossmcalc/status/10260465854
Thank you,
Christine
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Christine
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we tell stories in the car, with everyone taking a turn
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One storytelling technique I like to try with young kids is to forget about the words every once and awhile and have them tell me the story, based on the pictures. It stretches their imagination to come up with what's going on and I'll prod them with questions. It's always quite entertaining!
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I've always liked dress-up storytelling. For a bedtime story, you could get dress-up or character pajamas.
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I love reading with my kids and we would all gather on the bed and take turns telling parts of our favorite books.
As the kids got older we would pass the book around and read different parts.
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My son enjoys hearing "real" stories about things my husband and I did as kids and often asks us to tell the same ones over and over again. When a story is a favorite, we write it down on paper and let him draw pictures to go with it- then we have a new "book" to read together.
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I always loved playing the game where someone starts a story and the next person adds on a few sentences and you go around the room until someone finishes the story.
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We've used cut-outs or made our own pictures and told stories with flannel boards.
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