Telling stories with wooden pieces

Because I'm a craft hoarder, throughout the years, I'd built up a little collection of these painted wooden pieces (most craft stores carry them). I never knew why I was collecting them, but because they were cute and cheap (anywhere from $0.29 to $0.59), I of course had to have them.

Anyway, imagine my excitement when I saw how other bloggin' mamas were using them as storytelling tools.

I squealed when I first saw it on Chasing Cheerios because I wanted to try it with Maddie.

And so, we do and it's always fun.

Here are some of our wooden pieces.

Every time we're at a craft store, I let Maddie select a new one that we can add to our collection.

She loves to search for just the right one to tell a story...

She's learning how to tell stories (most start out with, "It was a dark and spooooooky night...") and she's being exposed to literature components. If I ask her who the characters in her story are, she's able to tell me which animals or princesses or pirates are at the lead.

I don't know if it's the wood, the bright colors or the fact that they're just fun (some even have felt pieces on top), but she always gets excited when we get these out. They also make a great activity pack, since she can use them to tell stories at restaurants, trace around them or sort them (we recently did a sort of things that are alive and not alive).

Next time you're at a craft store which is daily for us, pick a couple up and try telling some stories with them!