As parents of young children, many of us dream of the day when we ask our little ones: “How was your day?” and they are ready to tell us their day’s story. However, some children have challenges grasping this concept, leading parents to ask how to develop narrative skills. In this post, I will provide tips on how you can encourage your child to tell stories and understand stories in their academic lessons.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links.
How to develop narrative skills: My personal experience
Although my son is not in the developmental age where he already tells stories, I have my own experience teaching children narrative skills in speech therapy.
There are things one has to establish first before children can understand and make their own narratives, while comprehending the chronological order of events. I will be sharing some helpful tips and resources you can use in order to successfully teach narrative skills or develop the precursors so your child can grasp narrative skills.
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How to develop narrative skills: Tips that help
Provide awareness with chronological order of events
The most simple thing you can do for your child in order to develop their narrative skills is to provide awareness with the sequence of events in their daily lives.
Some narrative skills examples of events you can give awareness include:
- brushing one’s teeth
- washing hands
- preparing a sandwich
- tying one’s shoes
You can tell the child statements such as “first, we get the toothbrush, then we squeeze some toothpaste, and then we brush our teeth”. By building awareness on the simple chronological order of events in day-to-day, it is easier to develop narrative skills in children.
Use workbooks and learning resources
Another resource to truly help your child in learning about narratives are through sequencing cards and workbooks.
In my workbook called Sequencing Games for Kids, children can practice and master skills of understanding the step-by-step events and what comes before or after a given event. These are integral skills for understanding narratives later on. Workbooks give you a structured and complete way to teach sequencing and narrative skills preschool level and beyond. You can find it on Amazon here.
Some other resources you can use are sequencing cards.
Ask questions about order of events
When your child has some idea about the concept of “before” and “after”, you can ask questions casually about “what comes before” or “what comes after”.
For example, you can ask them:
- When you go to the store, what comes before putting things in the cart?
- When you go to the bathroom, what comes after wiping yourself?
These questions can help children think about the scenarios in their head and practice chronological order.
Read to your plot-related storybooks
If you are finding ways on how to develop narrative skills using books, you can use storybooks with a clear plot. Some of my favorite ones for a younger age are Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Busy Spider.
For older children, you can try Aesop’s fables or any other book with a clear sequence of events and plots. You can ask questions about what happened first, the consequences of some events, and even why the ending turned in such a way.
That’s it! I hope you found this post helpful, and you are more empowered on how to develop narrative skills.
Also, don’t forget to check out my Sequencing Games for Kids Workbook for a valuable narratives skills resource.
Also read:
- Best Bedtime Fables: Good Night Little Turtles
- Best Military Christmas Books: The Holiday Wishing Well
- How To Make Child Speak Clearly: Effective Tips
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