Story Cards For Writers That Help With Oral Storytelling And Writing A Narrative

Story Cards to help build oral storytelling skills and writing a narrative

Do your kids LOVE to talk but have trouble expressing their thoughts in a clear manner? I feel like I have a bunch of chatty Kathys in this house. Everyone loves to talk, but sometimes the kids have trouble putting their thoughts into words that people can understand and follow. Like, when I ask my daughter how school is, she sometimes tells me random events that happened. There is just no sequence and organization to her ideas.

What you'll find in this post

Teaching Kids To Tell Stories And Write A Narrative

As the big kids enter first grade and preK, we are working on improving communication skills and our storytelling.

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How Story Cards For Writers Help Build The Narrative

Story cards are a great way to help kids build their imagination. Instead of turning on the TV, I do this activity when we’re all sitting at the table. I spend a few minutes right after school or during meal time (usually breakfast) and give each one a turn. I usually start with myself so it sets the example and removes any hesitation the kids might have.

Story Cards help kids focus on four main components of a story: Characters, Setting, Problem, and Solution. Breaking it down this way helps them figure out what 4 bases they need to cover to tell a home run on a story.

The “Who” cards help them identify a character. The “Where” cards help them identify a setting. And every good narrative has a problem and solution and those are covered with the “When” and “What” cards.

Writing a narrative requires two things: a good imagination and organization of ideas. These story cards help kids from young as 3 and as old as middle school to use their imagination to tell a story (and eventually get that story on to paper) and organize it with the 4 basic structures of a plot.

Getting Ready to Use the Story Cards

What’s Included:

The set comes with a parent and teacher guide in the first few pages. There are four types of cards in the set: Who? What? Where? When? There are 20 cards of each type, giving you a total of 80 cards.

What Else You’ll Need:

a printer
regular paper or card stock
laminator
scissors
a binder hook or bins to store it

How To Use It

With my 6 year old, we use these story cards as a bouncing board to practice writing a narrative in three to four sentences. We practice sounding out the words instead of just focusing on the pictures, and we count the syllables! We are practicing the four parts of a sentence (capital letter, punctuation, two-finger space, and a complete idea) and combining several sentences to write a story.

With one of my 3 year olds, we use these story cards to practice using our imagination. We still start each story with “Once upon a time,” but we’re getting into more descriptive details! With our other 3 year old who has a slight delay, we are working on speech, communication, and vocabulary. We use these cards to foster creativity and encourage vivid imaginations!

I simply put each category of card into a plastic bin that I got from the Dollar Tree. Each bin is labeled on the bottom with the type of card so clean up easy. You can also use binder clips to keep them all secure.

I have seen so much improvement with how they are all able to not just communicate, but with other things like identify a problem, recall their day, use vocabulary. As you practice more and keep playing, you see their imagination grow!

Remember, you can also print out two sets of these flashcards and use them as a memory game! And make sure to check out our Instagram Stories to see how we use the story cards in the mornings!

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