Story Circle

The story circle is sure to be a favorite of all toddling, aspiring readers. Everything for this activity is already in your house. Your little one’s eyes will light up every time when they walk into a room to find a story circle.

Items needed for this activity:

Stuffed animals or toys

Books (5-10)

Comfort item like a pillow or lovey

Steps:

Grab the items for your story circle! Grab an armful of stuffed animals, your toddler’s comfort item and some books.

Set up everything in, you guessed it, a giant circle! Make the circle whatever size you think would be best for your child. I love having defined spaces for indoor activities because they seem to help maintain focus and engagement. It is best to give options, so set up 5 – 10 books that you have not read recently.

Once everything is set up, ask your child which book they would like to read. If they bring it to you, read it. If they want to hold it themselves, ask if they would like to read to you or to one of their stuffed animals. Have one of the stuffed animals read to your child in a funny voice.

If you have a family pet, see if they can get involved! Our dog, Max, has been an active participant in many story circles. If your little one only wants to play with the stuffed animals, let them play while you read aloud.

If your child is happiest having quiet time in the story circle, that works also because this is their experience. Toddlers love having choices and it is our job to create those options!

This activity is best done in a quiet environment. If someone is watching television, having a phone conversation or listening to music in the next room over, that is not ideal. If your neighbor decides to cut down his tree during your story circle (this actually happened to us), that is also not ideal. When we do this activity, it is typically right before naptime, so it helps with the winding down process.