Preschool Sticker Stories

A month ago, I purchased a bunch of sticker books at A.C. Moore. I wasn't really sure what my plan for them was, but they were cute and cheap.

One afternoon I needed to get a rambunctious group of boys to settle down and called them to the table. I grabbed my set of "Big Rig" truck stickers. I told them I was going to give them each a truck sticker, but first they had to draw a road to put their truck on. As the boys added to their pictures, I gave them more stickers: traffic cones, signs, and more trucks. They were all working so hard on their pictures, but I quickly realized that more importantly they were storytelling.  I also asked them what the weather was for their trucks. Some added suns and some added storms. Several of them had elaborate stories about their trucks having to go through the cones and the storm and more.

I was pretty proud to see the rich language that came from that impromptu activity.

Several weeks later I decided to try it again, but this time I wanted to record their stories. I chose pirate stickers this time. What I love the most about these stickers is that they had both girl and boy pirates (as it should be).  I worked with them in a similar way. As they added to their picture I would hand them another sticker. Here's a monkey, so now you might need to draw a tree.  Here's a whale can you draw some waves for him. 

This was a younger group (ages 2.5 to 3.5) and their "maps" didn't look like much, 

but they had quite the stories to tell. 

In January, we are working on building language and storytelling and 

I am excited to see what other stories they come up with during this month.

The monkey is heading to the water and the ship is steering. The captain is driving the ship.
The whale is doing a backflip and a fo-fish and diving.
The pirate is a diver. And the telescope is looking for the treasure.
The monkey is heading to the jungle.  

The pirate is going to the treasure. And the pirate is going in the boat.
The pirate is going to the jungle. 

He is supposed to go to the ship and he's going to the deep deep dark in the woods.
In the jungle. He's going to the boat with his steering wheel.

The pirate can't find the treasure. That stops the pirate from danger. These things are water that gets the fire.
The fire is getting closer to the pirate. But it's not getting closer to the parrot.
So the parrot is following the way to the treasure. 

The monkey was driving the boat and then he sinked in the boat. Then he realized
the pirate came and saved him. And then a crocodile ate them. The monkey found
the treasure and the man came looking for him but the alligator ate him too quick.
And then he went to bed and had a dream about it.

The pirate is looking for treasure and a parrot. And the whale is looking for an elephant seal.
She misses her little pet seal. She's looking for that trap so she can
recognize it. 

Storytelling: Who? What? Where?

This week we have been focusing on the parts of a story. This includes both storytelling and also investigating the books that we are reading.

We have been focusing on the Who? What? and Where? of the story. 

When we create the story, we start with "where?" and create  a scene. This can be as basic as setting out a piece of fabric to stand on. 

Then we move to who. Who is going to be there? We choose fabric or costumes to show our characters. 

And then finally, what are they doing there and what props do we need? 

One of the stories we worked on was our own version of "The Big Turnip."

Each child got to choose their character and the costume they needed to represent that character. We also practiced taking turns being in the audience and clapping at the end of the show.

Group One

A bear planting the seeds in the garden.

Bear's friend Chicken watering
the seeds.

The sun shining on the seeds.

Bear pulling on the vine of the giant berry, but it was TOO BIG!

Bear, Chicken and another Bear trying to pick the berry.

Two chickens, two bears, and a blue monster all working together.  And the sun up in the sky.
"And the pulled, and they pulled, and they pulled..."

Group Two

Blue Monster planting seeds in his garden.

The sun shining on the seeds. 

Blue monster, a bear, a duck and a red monster trying to pick the watermelon.

Along came a tiny green chicken. They pulled. And they pulled. And they pulled.
Until FINALLY! Pop!

The children continued the storytelling after I stepped away. A couple of the children took turns being the narrator/director of the play. I can't wait to see if the same story line appears again during free play. This has been just as much of a learning process for me as it is for them and I look forward to taking it further with them.