Captivating the audiences’ imagination at Childcare Expo Midlands

6th December 2016

A story has the power to capture the imagination of children and allow them to remember it as they grow and develop through their early years. Stories are used in education to help teach a multitude of subjects and is encouraged by all practitioners to read more. You can learn lots from a good book and this is exactly what Little Creative Days wanted to get across during their workshop, ‘How to get Children to Interact with Stories’ at Childcare Expo Midlands.

Creative literacy brings together stories and creative activities to get children to interact.  The hands-on workshop taught our visitors simple craft activities that can be linked to stories, how to build interaction with a story and how to choose stories. We managed to catch up with Natasha Dennis following the workshop to have a chat about the early years sector and the passion that drives her…

What drew you to the early years sector Natasha?

A good start in life is so essential. The biggest factor in children developing well is not their social background but the number of books and words they are exposed to. Young children have a great capacity for play which is all about them making up their own stories.

What makes you passionate about your job?

We are passionate about children’s literacy and it starts from a young age. If they have good literacy skills, they can learn about all sorts of subjects and life itself. Developing their speaking and literacy skills in early years sets them up for the rest of their education.

What skills would you say are absolutely necessary for a childcare practitioner?

Patience and an understanding of how children learn. Also, if there are great storytellers they can bring learning to life.

How do you think technology will influence the sector over the next 5 years?

I hope it doesn’t mean we will lose the face to face interaction and the time to play and explore in the real world. Technology is just a tool to do a job and is no substitute for real world play.

How do you think settings can be made more appealing to men in the childcare sector?

Greater acceptance that they have a role. Publicity of role models in childcare, to counteract some of the suspicion that has been brought about by the media.

If you could make one change in the early years sector, what would it be?

To raise its professional status, this is improving.

As Natasha, rightly said, literacy is an important skill to have and utilising books in a new fun way can help improve a child’s engagement with it. For those who attended Natasha’s workshop will have come away with lots of helpful tips on how to captivate the imagination of children through storytelling. Thanks, Natasha!