Find activities to build on your favorite children's stories in the eXtension Alliance for Better Child Care database of story-stretching activities.Welcome to the eXtension Alliance for Better Child Care database of story-stretching ideas for child care. Here you will find lots of hands-on, ready-to-try ways to extend some of your favorite children's stories into additional learning experiences. Search or browse these story-stretching ideas to find great ways to expand children's books with related language and literacy, math, science, art, social skills, music, movement, and more.
The ideas are especially designed to help young children of different ages expand their learning from children's books. The story-stretching ideas can be used in many different areas of the curriculum in both child care classrooms and family child care homes.
There are three ways to see the story-stretching ideas:
- Search for story-stretching ideas that meet your specific needs.
- View an alphabetical list (by title) of all story-stretching ideas.
- Browse individual story-stretching ideas to see what catches your eye.
We hope you find these story-stretching ideas fun and useful. Whether you are a seasoned child care provider or just starting out, feel free to try these ideas and adapt them to your specific needs. Parents and grandparents may also enjoy sharing some of the stories and story-stretching ideas with children at home.
For More Information
To learn more about supporting young children's learning in child care, visit the eXtension Alliance for Better Child Care section on Early Learning and School Readiness, or take a look at the following articles:
- Helping Young Children Learn to Love Literacy
- Language and Literacy in Child Care
- Helping Young Children Learn New Words
- Helping Young Children Learn the Sounds of Letters
- Ways to Get Children in Your Child Care Program Ready For Reading
For more specific activity ideas to use in your child care program, check out the database of Hands-on Activities for Child Care.
