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.

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.

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.