2014-01-02



Today we are celebrating the very best kids activities posts from the entire Kid Blogger Network! I shared my most popular posts (per Google Analytics) a few days ago, but this guest post tutorial on how to tell bedtime stories by my fabulous husband Mike was an easy favorite pick as my favorite of the year! Mike tells our kids these stories every single night he is home, and they are one of my kids’ favorite family traditions! Mike’s stories pretty much always feature Yoda, at some point, and they often incorporate other Star Wars characters, but you could take his guidelines and adapt them for any kind of storytelling you like!

Our family is on a bit of a storytelling kick – as you probably know if you follow me on Instagram. So many of my fondest childhood memories involve storytelling! My dad would tell us silly, silly stories about how he met my mom (different every time), as well as how he “found” us kids. My grandma is an amazing storyteller, and I loved her stories growing up and have been working on this skill for a while. I have been (slowly) working my way through (affiliate link) Healing Stories for Challenging Behaviour – the Kindle version, actually, and I really like it! So if Mike’s notes leave you wanting to learn more, I recommend Susan Perrow’s book for a more structured approach – although, really, the most important ingredient is to have fun and not worry about perfection!

Do you tell stories? Did you grow up hearing stories? Family stories are as important – probably more important, even, than the made-up version – happy stories as well as sad ones.

If you’re looking for ways to get your kids involved with storytelling, pretend play is a great way to start (blocks, small figurines, and dress-up clothes). My kids have also enjoyed using pictures as story prompts, as well as making up fingerprint-based characters that tell stories.



Happy New Year from the KBN Best of 2013 Blog Hop Co-Hosts!

Powerful Mothering, The Good Long Road, All Done Monkey, Afterschool for Smarty Pants,B-Inspired Mama, Babble Dabble Do, Bits of Positivity, Boy Mama Teacher Mama, Caution! Twins at Play, Child Central Station, Creative Family Fun, Creative World of Varya, Cute and Peculiar, Dirt and Boogers, Edventures with Kids, The European Mama, The Eyes of a Boy, The Fairy and the Frog, Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails, Fun-A-Day!,  Glittering Muffins, , Growing Book by Book, Hands on: as we grow, Here Come The Girls, iGame Mom, I Heart Crafty Things, Inspiration Laboratories, Kid World Citizen, Kiddie Foodies, Kids Yoga Stories, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, Lalymom, Lemon Lime Adventures, Let’s Play Music, Living Montessori Now, Makeovers and Motherhood, Mama Smiles, Multicultural Kids Blog, My Little 3 and Me, P is for Preschooler, Peakle Pie, Pennies of Time, Playdough to Plato, PlayDrMom, Preschool Powol Packets, Racheous – Lovable Learning, Still Playing School, Smiling Like Sunshine, Stir the Wonder, Teach Me Mommy,Teach Preschool, There’s Just One Mommy, Toddler Approved, True Aim Education, Tutus and Tea Parties, Where Imagination Grows, and Wildflower Ramblings.

We know you’ll find tons of wonderful ideas to browse, pin and share. We’d love for you to join the blog hop and share your favorite activity of 2013 too, and make sure you’re following the Kid Blogger Network on Pinterest for more ideas throughout the year!

Thank you for sharing!
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