National Tell a Story Day: Sharing the Love of Literacy

There’s no hiding that the Literacy Specialist in me is encouraging you and your children to read stories, write stories, and tell stories daily! However, today is the perfect opportunity to be extra intentional about making time to engage in stories. After all, today is National Tell a Story Day!

National Tell a Story Day: The Basics

In the United States, Tell a Story Day is celebrated on April 27th of each year. The purpose of this day is to encourage people of ALL ages to engage in stories. There isn’t one right way to share stories on this day…or any day! You can choose to read a book, write a short story, tell a story to someone, or even just imagine a story in your mind! No matter what story (or form of story) that you choose, make sure that you are spending today coming together with family and friends to celebrate and share those stories.

Benefits of Sharing Stories

  • Transports you to another time and place
  • Acts as a form of entertainment
  • Can connect to characters
  • Documenting memories and important moments
  • Improves language
  • Creates empathy and understanding
  • Improves problem-solving skills
  • Shares knowledge and wisdom
  • Gives hope for the future
  • Explores reality and possibility

This list sure isn’t comprehensive; what benefits have you experienced that you would add to this list?

Sharing Stories at Home

Here are just a few suggested ways you and your child can share stories today, either through writing, reading, talking, and/or listening.

Sharing Stories Through Writing

  • Look at a picture (You can find one that pops up online, in a magazine, or anywhere around you) and use that picture as a starting point to write a story.
  • What is one experience that happened so far today? What if that experience was different in one way? Imagine how everything might have been different…and write an imaginative story about it!
  • How has telling stories changed over the years? Research online to find out how storytelling has changed over time. Then, see if you and your child can create a timeline and write some text on the timeline to explain how storytelling has evolved.

Sharing Stories Through Reading

  • Read aloud a favorite story to someone. Encourage your child to read a story to a friend, sibling, neighbor, pet…or even to you! Can you then read one of your favorite childhood stories to them?

Sharing Stories Through Talking

  • Start out a story with “Once upon a time…” and verbalize a sentence to finish that. Encourage your child to come up with a sentence that aligns with yours to continue the action. Can you add a sentence after that to keep the story going? Keep taking turns adding on to the story!

Sharing Stories Through Listening

Happy Tell a Story Day from us to you! Spread the storytelling love.

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Written by

Jennifer Blanchard Read all posts by this author