To increase your child’s expressive vocabulary, let her retell her favorite story with craft stick puppets you can create together. Retelling favorite books will help your child understand the story events, the characters, and theme. Help your child become a storyteller by becoming an attentive listener. Look at your child, make eye contact and remember to wait until your child has finished speaking. Occasionally rephrase and add to what your child has said.
- copier
- magazines
- scissors
- glue or double stick tape
- craft sticks
- paper
- crayons or markers
Step 1: Choose a familiar storybook book that your child enjoys and knows the storyline and characters. You can make copies of the characters and main events from the book or use magazines to find pictures similar to the characters and events in the book.
Step 2: Attach the pictures to craft sticks using glue or double stick tape.
Step 3: Gather as many pictures as there are characters and main events in the story.
Step 4: Read the story again and encourage your child to use the puppets as you read. Then ask your child to retell the story using just the puppets. Assist as necessary.
Make a puppet for just the main character of the story. As you read the story, ask your child to participate with the role of the main character.
See if your child can retell the story without props.
