Story Telling through Art

This is an activity I often got ready for Early Morning Work when I was a Special Needs Teacher. It is a great activity for encouraging your toddler to talk through art. I also found doodling great for my own mental health. If I’m having a bit of a rough day this is an activity I will get ready for the afternoon. As my little one and I can just be. There is no pressure to entertain, to chat. Just happy in each others company.

As he gets older I hope this will be an activity we still do together and I can glean some small snippets of his day by encouraging my son to talk.

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Set Up

This activity was really quick to set up. I covered my little one’s table with a big piece of paper and sellotape it to the table so that didn’t move around. In the past I have put out all the crayons, felt tips, stickers and colouring pencils but my son always swiped them off the table. I assume that he found the choice overwhelming. Therefore I only put a few bits out now and interchange them as the activity develops.

My little one was off ‘exploring’ initially and I just sat at his table doodling (with a cup of tea). He quickly spotted where I was and headed over and just watched me as I created different patterns. For this activity I don’t chat or prompt him to take a crayon and draw. My son then copied and started just chatting away about “choos choos, big slides, Ninky Nonk, bonks, park, bus.” I responded in each longer pause and he’d carry on telling me his story. This is a great way to build your toddler’s speech and build conversation skills.

For an older toddler they may use this space to create their own stories using their imaginations or retell a story that has been read to them. The key to this activity is just to see what happens.

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During this activity my son would often leave the table and start playing with his toys or look through a book. But he always came back for a bit more drawing and chatting.

Every now and then I’d change what we were using to draw and at the end I added some stickers because my son loves stickers.

We’d had a hectic morning, a short nap (!) and a trip to Lidl. I wasn’t feeling at my parenting best. I could feel myself becoming short tempered but we both felt so much better after doing this activity together.

The finished artwork.