It sounds simple, but pairing favourite books with linked resources in a story sack can supercharge children’s learning at home. And any early years setting can do it, says Maria Kay…
Sending home a ‘story sack’ is a fabulous way to link home and nursery activities. At St Thomas’ Nursery in Keith, Scotland, staff have made up over 40 exciting story sacks.
These are full of a wide range of educational activities that parents and children can enjoy together at home.
The staff at St Thomas’ report that although putting together the story sacks was initially a time-consuming process, the effort has been well-rewarded.
This is particularly in terms of parental involvement with the nursery – and of course in encouraging focused interaction between parents and children.
You may have heard of story sacks. The concept was conceived by Neil Griffiths in 1995. This was in response to research suggesting that just half the number of children were being read a bedtime story as in their parents’ generation.
St Thomas’ story sacks contain a storybook and a wide range of objects and activities. This includes:
Many of the sacks include puppets or soft toys of the characters from the story. Children can put these into their own scenes or use them to enter their own world of imagination and storytelling.
In addition to the book and activities, the bags contain an evaluation notebook for parents to complete. This gives staff at St Thomas’ an insight into how well received the activities were – and feedback has been very positive. The nursery also records comments from children and staff.
Story sacks have much to recommend them. Their multisensory nature makes them visually and physically appealing.
The combination of much-loved stories and associated activities creates an ideal learning environment. Children are relaxed, engaged and can be active and integral to a story, rather than passive observers.
At St Thomas’, each child takes a story sack home for a week. A favourite bag is without doubt that containing Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo.
Accompanying the book is a range of puppets from The Puppet Company, which were very reasonably priced.
Also included is a ‘Gruffalo – spot the difference’ activity sheet. Other favourites tales include Monkey Do by Allan Ahlberg and André Amsutz.
The benefits of the story bags are far-reaching; they encourage children to enter into the story through the accompanying activities.
This enables them to feel from another’s point of view. It also helps to promote skills in emotional literacy, encouraging children to explore their own thoughts and feelings.
Storytelling, of course, also helps to encourage speaking skills and increases vocabulary; it helps children to learn about the world, either theirs or the worlds of others.
Stories can be ‘social,’ helping children to learn how to behave in certain circumstances, to learn about dangers – from the road to chemicals in the kitchen – or to learn about what happens at the dentist or the hospital.
A bag containing Topsy and Tim Go to the Dentist might include a dentist’s mirror for looking at teeth or a pretend drill, for example.
It could include a chart for recording when children clean their teeth and a timer. You could include picture instructions to help develop independence.
The scope for developing story bags in early years settings is near infinite, and the benefits – such as those achieved at St Thomas’ – speak for themselves.
Maria Kay is the author of Sound Before Symbol: Developing Literacy Through Music and Alphabet Book + More: A Sounds and Symbols ‘Literacy Through Music’ Book.
