What are the best kinds of stories to tell your child? It depends on how old your child is, among other things. Here are recommendations for what types of tales are most appropriate for young children.

Telling–or reading stories–is one of the marvels of being human. And a wonderful way to connect with your child.

So let’s break it down. Remember, these are suggestions. You know your child better than anyone, so you might want to wait to add some of these or add some sooner. And, of course, you can always try something and see how it goes.

Best kinds of stories for the first year

Really, babies probably aren’t ready to hear what we usually think of as story. But they love the sound of your voice. And in order for them to learn language, we want to bathe them in the sounds of your mother tongue. The best way to do this is–

• Nursery or other rhymes–spoken and sung. Gentle touching or tickling games, especially of fingers and toes can go along with them. And when your child can sit up on their own, gentle bouncing games are fun.
• Songs–lullabies, made-up songs, any song you like to sing
• The story of now–describe what you are doing now, filling it with warmth and love. For example: “My little Katie, you are wet. Let’s change your diaper. Then you’ll feel all snug and warm. I’m picking you up and we’re going to the changing table. And look, here we are! …”

Best kind of story for one and two-year-olds

You’ll want to keep it really simple, still for your one-year-old

• Nursery rhymes and songs will travel with you through the years
• Simple stories in verse can be fun at this age. Reading these and looking at pictures is especially fun, when your child is ready.
• You can also add a simple finger puppet to your story or rhyme
• Keep telling the story of now.

Best stories for three and four-year-olds

• More nursery rhymes and simple verse tales!
• Stories about what happened in the course of your day. Children of this age love to hear stories about themselves–but try using your child’s name instead of “you”–today Tommy went to the park and saw two squirrels chasing each other up and down the trees.. You can use this at bedtime to look back on the day–or anytime.
• Stories about your childhood. Your child will love to hear about what you did when you were their age (or thereabouts).
• Picture books with simple stories in prose are good–as well as verse. Or try wordless books and tell the story together.
• If your child is having a hard time, you can find or tell a story that parallels your child difficulty and gets resolved. Sometimes you can find a story like this and sometimes you have to come up with your own. For example, if your child doesn’t like to share toys with a younger sibling, you can tell a story about a bunny whose little brother or sister keeps stealing her carrots and tell how they work things out and become friends. It can be a little daunting if you’re not used to making up stories, but your child will love your story because it comes from you. For guidance, check out books by Susan Perrow, like Healing Stories for Challenging Behavior. She shares stories about all sorts of challenges. I used them occasionally in my classroom.
• Repetitive stories–like The little red hen are great fun at this age. Or check out my story, Little Mouse eats a sandwich.

Nature tales

• Simple nature stories-about little animals, flowers, stones, the changing of the seasons, anything you find in nature. You can find these or make up your own. Remember, everything is alive for your young one. Tell tales about animals, etc. that your child is familiar with–save the stories about exotic animals for a little later.
• Telling about Mother Earth, Father Sun, Sister Rain,… will comfort your child and make them feel a strong connection with the earth.
• Along with nature tales, bring in simple stories about fairies and gnomes or other elemental beings.

Fairy tales for 3-4s

• Really simple fairy tales–here are some from a list compiled by Joan Almon (please follow this link to see all of her recommendations)
  • Sweet Porridge (Grimm)
  • The giant turnip (Russian)
  • The mitten (Russian– check out the picture book by Jan Brett)
  • Little Louse and Little Flea (Grimms)
• For older fours, you can add slightly more complicated stories
  • 3 Billy Goats Gruff
  • 3 Little Pigs
  • The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids (Grimm)
  • The Elves (Grimm)
  • Star Money (Grimm)
  • Huggin and the Turnip

Best stories for five and six-year-olds

Children of this age will still enjoy nursery rhymes, and tales in verse. You can continue with all of the above-mentioned kinds of story as long as your child continues to enjoy them. Certainly, the guiding stories–ones that meet specific challenges your child is experiencing–can continue to be helpful.

• More complex fairy tales can be added. Be sure to read the fairy tales first. Some of them are pretty dark. I’ll share more about the archetypal qualities of fairy tales in another post–and how to tell the stories to bring out that aspect of them. For more suggestions of stories for this age, refer to Joan Almon’s article (link is above). These are all Grimm stories, but every culture has it’s own fairy tales, so choose age appropriate ones from whatever stories you like and use these as a guide. Basically, you still want stories that have clear “good guys” and “bad guys” and an ending where the “good guys” win.
  • The Frog Prince
  • Mother Holle
  • Little Red Cap
  • The Golden Goose
  • The Queen Bee
  • Snow White and Rose Red.

The End!

I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Storytelling is a wonderful way to connect with your child. And it gets even better when they start telling you stories!

Have fun! And thanks for stopping by.

xoxo