Make Your Own Story Stones
Story Stones for Preschool Literacy
Preschoolers love stories, whether it's hearing them, telling them, or creating them. Storytelling is a big component of early education and these fun and creative stones will make the perfect addition to your classroom!
Story stones are a fun and simple way to ignite creativity and imagination in your little learners. They also allow for excellent prompts and conversation starters. One thing preschoolers aren't lacking is rocks...so turn that big rock collection into a fairy tale or a mystery.
Utilizing story stones is an excellent introduction to teaching preschoolers about different genres of books! Your preschoolers will have so much fun creating their stories and then telling their stories to their classmates. The best part is it's simple and doesn't require a ton of materials. Now, let's make some story stones!
*Teacher Tip: When using stickers it can be hard to place onto those bumpy rocks that many preschoolers have in their collections, this is the perfect opportunity to expand the activity by sorting the rocks into smooth and bumpy prior to starting.
Having a large variety of stickers helps preschoolers develop more complex stories.
Invite preschoolers to start with about 5 or 6 rocks as having too many rocks can make it difficult for preschoolers to develop a story. First have your preschoolers select a sticker one by one to place on the rock. And, continue until all the rocks have stickers.
*Teacher Tip: If your preschoolers are struggling with getting the stickers to stick try running a layer of Mod Podge over the sticker to keep them in place.
Once all the rocks have stickers on them, have preschoolers develop their stories to tell to one another. This activity is fun in a small-group setting as you work with your preschoolers to help them develop characters, and a story line.
Most importantly, have fun! This experience allows preschoolers to understand the process that goes into telling stories while connecting with nature and see a story being told in a nontraditional way.
Story stones are great for story re-telling after a read-aloud. Try it out with Caps for Sale by using stickers with hats, a man, and monkeys. Re-tell the story using the stones and then allow your preschoolers to use the story stones, too! Sit back and observe as they re-tell the story, it's amazing! Story stones quickly become a staple in your classrooms and preschoolers will use them in all different forms of play from literacy activities to block play. Story stones are a simple way to enhance creativity and students love them!
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