Stories are short - usually around 5-8 minutes

Few character

Action in the story is more desirable than lots of descriptive passages

Participation is vital but be consistant

Simple vocabulary and humor

Simple linear plot with repetition

Events that children can relate to.

Stories with talking animals and inanimate objects and stories in rhyme

Prop stories - lap puppets, acetate boards, flannel boards, pocket and swallowing stories, 3-dimensional objects from the story, flip stories, glove mitt stories and fingerplays, apron stories, draw-and-tell tales and storytelling dolls

Avoid fractured fairy tales, stories with trick endings, riddles, or stories that use too many unusual or foreign words.

Any of the standard nursery tales including - Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, The Gingerbread Man, Chicken Little, The Little Red Hen, The Three Billy Goats Gruff…

Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock (African) - one version by Eric Kimmel

Anansi The Spider (African, Ashanti) by Gerald Mc Dermott

Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak)

The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything (Linda Williams)

The Humpback Gorrible with the Hole in it's Head (Cricket Magazine, Oct., 1986)

The Wishing Star and Looking for Spring by Bethany Roberts in

 Waiting For Spring Stories

 Nursery Rhymes. Recite and then have the class do it with you.

,I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson. Great for Thanksgiving and Christmas

 Brown, Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle - great with props or pictures

The Big-Mouth Frog - version in Margaret Read MacDonald's book, The Parent's Guide to Storytelling.

The Lion and the Mouse by Aesop.   

Who's in Rabbit's House by Aardema The Belly Button Monster - More Ready to Tell Tales by Holt and Mooney

The Barking Mouse - More Ready to Tell Tales by Holt and Mooney

The Enormous Turnip – (Russian) retold by Kathy Parkinson

The Snow Queen With the Cold Cold Heart - Very interactive. Crazy Gibberish by Naomi Baltuck

Mabela the Clever - Limba folktale adapted by Margaret Read MacDonald

Darby, the Tailor – adaptation by Marilyn Kinsella of “The Tailor” story, a Jewish version retold by Steve Sanfield in Bit by Bit.

Why the Bear Has A Stumpy Tale a version in “Why” Stories with Basic Vocabulary by Edward and Margurite Dolce

Tiddalick the Frog - Australian folktale by Susan Nunes

Jump Frog Jump by Robert Kalan

Ten Little Rabbits by Virginia Grossman

Hermie: a Common Caterpillar  by Max Lucado

The Mitten (Ukrainian folktale) retold by Jan Brett

Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag

Harry and the Terrible Whatzit and A Bagful of Pups by Dick Gackenbach

Dark, Dark Night a version in A Dark, Dark Tale  by Ruth Brown

The Little Red House with No Window or Doors

Cheese, Peas, and Chocolate Pudding in It’s Time For Storyhour by Sechrist and Woolsey

Caps for Sale by Slobokin

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Stone Soup a version by Marcia Brown

Monkey Face by Frank Asch. Makes a good draw-and-tell story

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Kraus

Jennie's Hat by Ezra Jack Keats

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

Mother, Mother, I want Another by Maria Polushkin

The Tail Who Wagged the Dog by Robert Kraus

Crictor the Boa Constrictor  by Tom Ungerer

Mortimer by Robert Munsch

Frog and Toad  (and any of the sequels) by Arnold Lobel

The Toothwitch by Nurit Karlin

Too Much Noise

Bremen Town Musicians

Feegbah the enormous pumpkin (Fran Stallings in The Ghost and I)

Grandfather bear is hungry (found in 1 of Margaret Read MadDonald's books)

Sody Sallyratus (American southern folktale)

The Old Woman who Swallowed a Fly....

The Clay Pot Boy  by Cynthia Jameson

The Fat Cat (Danish folktale) by Jack Kent

The Singing Snake (Australian folktale) by Stefan Czernecki and Timothy   Rhodes

The Eye of the Needle (Alaskan story) by Teri Sloat

Mr. Wiggle and Mr. Waggle

If you're ready for a story find your seat,
If you're ready for a story find your seat,
If you're ready for a story
Check your hands and then your feet,
If you're ready for a story find your seat.
(You can also use this as a story stretch and add all kinds of other movement as well and let the above be the last stanza. Example: clap your hands, stomp your feet, take a bow, turn around, etc.)

“Hi, My Name is Joe” a version on “WOOF hits home” by Bill Wellington (audio-cassette)

 "My Aunt Came Back" found in Crazy Gibberish by Naomi Baltuck.

“Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear” found in Crazy Gibberish by Naomi Baltuck works great. It is gentle and quiet, offering movement but the ending line "teddy bear teddy bear sit back down" and gets them ready for stories.

Five Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

Bought me a Cat - traditional Ozark nonsense story or song found in Wee Sing Fun ‘n Folk

Going On a Lion Hunt (variants) David Axtel in We’re Going on a Lion Hunt

Boa Constrictor in Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends

The Slithery-Dee lives under the sea. He might eat you but he won’t eat me. The Slithery-Dee lives under the sea. He might eat you but he won’t (Slurp!)

The More We Get Together song is a good closing:
The more we get together, together, together
The more we get together, the happier we'll be
For your friends are my friends & my friends are your friends
The more we get together, the happier we'll be.

Another closing: Skinnamarinky dinky dink
                       Skinnamarinky doo.
                       I love you.
                       Skinnamarinky dinky dink
                       Skinnamarinky doo.
                       I love you.

                       I love you in the morning
                       And in the afternoon.
                       I love you in the evening,
                       Underneath the moon.

                       Skinnamarinky dinky dink
                       Skinnamarinky doo.
                       I love you.


 

 Be animated, use gestures, funny voices, and faces

Avoid scary voices and being too loud

Tell to small groups (about 25 max) - no need for microphone

Teller should sit in a chair with students on the floor. Try to keep them fairly close. The further back they are from you, the less attentive they are to the stories.

If a word is used in the story that is unfamiliar to the class talk about it ahead of time or incorporate its definition into the story.

Do not ask questions of the group during the story unless you are prepared to answer all the questions and be ready for inappropriate and long responses. Some children will raise their hands and have to tell you about what their brother or sister did that morning, and you are stuck listening – that’s not a bad thing – except you are being paid to tell stories not to listen to them.

Don’t ask this age group, if they have any questions. They (for the most part) don’t understand the concept of what a question is. If they raise their hands, it’s probably to relate something that is not even remotely related to what you are talking about.

What do you say when the child can't remember what he/she was about to say? The little ones get their feeling hurt rather easily.

Participation is key to telling to this age. Keep the participation the same. Once you've set it up - don't change the words or rhythm. Recognize that the participation has to be short and simple enough so they can follow along yet snappy and “ear” catching so they “want” to follow along.

Participation can include making nature sounds, onomatopoeia, simple rhymes and songs, musical sounds, physical gestures and noises (hand clapping, snapping, etc), machine sounds, animal noises, a repeated word or phrase

Have a familiar gesture that allows the students to join in on the participation and, if it is a repeated sound, tell them how many times to do it. Ex. “ For thunder let’s clap 3 times (and as you clap say) one, two, three.” Have a signal that lets them know the participation is over.

You will notice that with very young children that once you set up that they are allowed to participate, they will want to join in on many more things in the story than you are prepared for. So, just go with the flow. Let them finish your sentences or a word that has become familiar in the story.

Keep the participation simple - make sure they can do it. Some of the little ones can’t snap their fingers or remember over two lines. Parents or teachers should be present and aware that you appreciate their presence in keeping the young children focused on the storytelling by joining in on participation and correcting any inappropriate behavior

Use a rhythm clap or "Open Them, Shut Them" rhyme to get their attention and settle them down.

End the story with something that lets them know the story is over “And that’s the end of the that story” of  “And they all lived…(let them join in with) happily, ever after.”

Probably the most important thing for telling to really young children is to be playful and to present the stories with a positive, energetic attitude. Smile when the children arrive. If time, ask them to do a fingerplay or song that they are working on.