Try This: Storytime Soundtrack

Listen, Imagine, and Create

Try this activity if you’re a classroom teacher, active parent, or a librarian at story time.

Here’s how:

Gather a group of children and play an episode of Planet Storytime or choose another children’s storytelling podcast. An audio book works, too.

Invite the kids to close their eyes and imagine what they hear. You can explain this as playing a movie in their minds, or picturing the people, places, and actions they are hearing about.

As you listen, write down some key vocabulary words. Your list should include both words that are new for the kids and words that represent essential details.

Afterwards, repeat your word list and ask the children to use these words themselves—in a new sentence or in their own description of the story. Give them time to think before they speak and encourage all answers.

Skills:

• Listening and concentrating
• Imagining and visualizing
• Vocabulary development
• Verbal Expression
• Sequencing

Time: 15 minutes

Ages: 4 -10 years old