Tell Stories

The more you talk with babies, the more language they will learn.

Engage babies with stories during your daily routines. Talk in your natural, storytelling manner and use your voice to keep them engaged and entertained. Here are a few story ideas to get you started.

Talk about something that happened that morning.
Tell a tale you remember from childhood.
Make up a story about something you see.
Recite parts of a favorite children’s book from memory.

Keep your stories short and simple enough to hold the babies’ attention. With young babies, tell a story about what’s happening around you––like a sportscaster narrating a game.

Talk about what you are doing or what babies are doing.
Vary the volume and pitch of your voice to hold and direct babies’ attention. When you sound excited about something you see or do, babies will perk up to see what you’re talking about.
Turn an ordinary walk or a memory into a “once upon a time” story. Babies enjoy storybook language. Use interesting and varied language including verbs in past tense, descriptive words, and longer sentences.

Tell stories to babies and engage them as worthy conversation partners. This will help them learn more language and storytelling skills and find more ways to respond to you.

Soon babies will be using their first words, along with gestures and sound effects, to tell you about something interesting or important that has happened. They will tell you their first stories!