Stories are important for infants and toddlers for several reasons: - Stories help develop language skills, relationships, and understanding of the world. They support communication, literacy, and concept development. - Developmentally appropriate stories can be told or read, involve pictures, rhymes, or the child's interests, and don't need complex plots. - Telling stories in everyday interactions, songs, play, and books helps children's cognitive and language development while strengthening relationships.

1. Why Stories Matter – The Joys
and Benefits for Infants and
Toddlers
Chapter 1 from
Birckmayer, J., & Kennedy, A. (2008). From lullabies to literature: Stories in the
lives of infants and toddlers. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

2. Objectives
• Identify the basic components of language and cognitive processes in
developing curriculum activities
• Identify and plan developmentally appropriate curriculum activities
for infants and toddlers that enhance language and cognitive
development.

3. The Role of Stories Across Domains
• Stories help develop healthy attachment and relationships with
infants and toddlers
• They provide language skills for communication and future reading
and writing (literacy) skills
• Stories help children understand the world around them through
concept development, vocabulary, and positive interactions

4. What Constitutes a Story?
• “events plus emotion” (p. 2)
• Stories may be told or read
• More involved stories may have the components of beginning,
middle, and end with characters, plots and settings, but those may
not be appropriate for infants and toddlers.
• Stories may be rhythmic in nature such as poems, songs and chants.
• They may be formal or informal
• For our purposes, stories encompass all the early language
experiences in which we engage the infants and toddlers in our care

5. Identifying Developmentally Appropriate
Stories
• Pictures are important for storytelling, whether stories are oral or
have text
• Example: Family pictures at the infant or toddler’s eye level allow for many
spontaneous stories about the baby’s family.
• Simple rhymes and knee games promote language development and
strengthen relationships
• Example: Simple rhymes for younger babies. More complex rhymes can be
introduced for older toddlers.
• Books, pictures, stories that interest babies and toddlers
• Example: Many babies love books with simple objects they begin to identify
as they gain skills. Toddlers may have a favorite book they want to hear over
and over.

6. How Do We Offer Stories?
• There is a wonderful chart on p. 4 of your text that describes a variety
of ways in which we share stories. Some examples include:
• Everyday conversations
• Singing songs
• Oral traditions
• Writing the stories they tell you
• Encouraging dramatic play with props that support their play and interests
• Providing a variety of books for the children to use independently
• Reading with children
• Allowing children to talk about the pictures they see in a book. Older toddlers
may even create their own story to go with the pictures.

7. Language and Cognitive Enrichment through
Stories
• There are many suggestions for how stories enrich the lives of young
children on pp. 4 & 5 in your text.
• Can you provide an example of each of these suggestions that you
have experienced with a young child?
• Can you add anything to the list of ways in which story telling has
enhanced and enriched the lives of the infants and toddlers in your
care?
• Which of the suggestions do you think is most important and why?
• Which is the most difficult to do regularly and why?

8. Strengthening Relationships
• Healthy attachments and bonding are crucial in positive development
in all an infant’s developmental domains
• Read the many positive impacts that sharing stories with infants and
toddlers has on healthy relationships (pp. 6 & 7)
• Can you add others?

9. Telling Stories Promotes Literacy
Development
• Literacy is “language in use”.
• Literacy is social and reflects a community’s culture, values and beliefs.
• Literacy promotes communication skills, both receptive and expressive
• Literacy helps children understand the differences between formal and
informal language, the language of speaking and writing, and making
meaning from various forms of language.
• Experience (or lack of) with multiple forms of language, including written
language, has a direct correlation with a child’s later success with literacy

10. Review
• Tell and read stories to small children to:
• Enrich children’s lives
• Develop positive relationships
• Promote literacy development