I would LOVE to claim all the credit for this idea; however, at my last professional development meeting we actually did this activity as a project! It was SO much fun to make and my class had even more fun using them while telling stories. I’m talking about story sticks. If you have heard of them, you know how amazing they are! If you haven’t get ready to have story time turned into a new exciting adventure! This preschool literacy activity will bring the fun back to story time!
What are Story Sticks?
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Story Sticks are simple wooden spoons that are decorated with story characters. These story sticks can be decorated with marker, fabrics, strings, paper, or anything else that can bring your sticks to life!
For my preschool class, we created sticks for “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie“. We used paper to create the mouse. To create the boy, we used paint, yarn, ribbon, and buttons. We also created props for each squentical part in the story!
For my daughter, who is 18 months old, I stuck with simply marker. I just know that if I got too crafty fabrics and yarns would get torn off of the stick.
How Do You Use Story Sticks: A Preschool Literacy Activity?
Now that you have your Story Sticks, how do you use your new favorite preschool literacy activity? They are so EASY to use! You simple hold them up and turn into the character on the stick!
For each new part in the story, have a new stick. For “Mr. Brown Can Moo. Can You?”, we created a stick for Mr. Brown, the Cow, the Bee, the Horse, and a couple other characters. You can create as many story sticks as you would like!
Why I LOVE this Preschool Literacy Activity
One of Evie’s milestones that I am actively working on with her is her language skills. We are always encouraging her to start using more and more words. I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent on Pinterest looking for ways to encourage Evie to use her words and speak more.
One activity that has really made a difference is reading with her! As a part of our daily routine. Evie and I read together at least three times a day: after breakfast, before naptime, and after dinner. She LOVES to read. She will bring either her dad or myself a book, we would read it to her, and they she will take the book to the other parent. This cycle goes on about five more times.
We have so many different books, it isn’t even fun. With that being said, Evie has 5 favorite books. She likes the books that make noise, have moving pieces, or have interesting textures.
With this preschool literacy activity, Evie has become interested in other books. With the Story Sticks, Evie will interact with the different stories we read her. For “Mr. Brown Can Moo. Can You?”, I hold up Mr. Brown while reading the book, I ask Evie which stick is the cow, bee, horse, etc. and she will hold up the character. When Mr. Brown says ‘MOO’, Evie will hold up the cow and I would encourage her to ‘MOO’ too. While we are still working on this part, she engages with the books. This was my main purpose for creating these sticks. It is a bonus that she is also practicing making these sounds and using her words!
I’m so happy to share that since starting this activity, Evie has started saying four new words! I am so excited to see Evie’s development as we continue with this fun addition to our story time!
Making Your Own Story Sticks
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I love this activity because your imagination is your only limitation! You can create these sticks for just about any book! Create a Story Stick with wooden spoons, fabric, yarn, paper, glitter, or any of your favorite craft supplies! When you are done, send me some pictures! I would love to see how you are using your story sticks!
Need some help or want do discuss some ideas? Feel free to reach out, send me a message, and we can create some awesome story sticks together!
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Feel free to comment below! I would love to hear your story and share in your child’s learning journey with you! Thank you for reading!
[…] For this activity, we used the book “Nibbles Colors” and I created a Story Stick! […]
[…] For this activity, we used the book “Nibbles Colors” and I created a Story Stick! […]