Nursery World - Speech & Language: Part 11

What type of expressive language should you expect three- to five-year-olds to be able to use when re-telling a story or event? Anne-Marie Tassoni and Penny Tassoni advise

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QUESTION…

We have a mix of children aged three to five in our pre-school room. We have noticed that some children are very good at explaining what they have been doing. Others seem to find this very difficult without a lot of prompting, even a few minutes after an activity. We would like to know at what age children should be able to re-tell an event or story, and also what we can do to encourage this skill.

Being able to re-tell a story or explain what has happened comes under the umbrella term of ‘narrative’. It is an important skill for children for many reasons. First, it allows children to explain to others what has happened. This is important if there has been a tussle in the playground or if a significant event has happened in the child’s life. Being able to use narrative is also a skill that helps children when it comes to writing.

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