Voices from the Kindergarten classroom : listening to children’s narratives during play

Abstract

“Between the ages of 1 to 8, children travel an extraordinary path, from uttering their first words to becoming complex and sometimes avid storytellers.” (Engel, 1995, preface vii). In light of this, this study attempts to examine the narratives of a group of four to five year old children in their kindergarten class as they engaged in free flow play and in organised story telling activities. Analysis of young children’s narratives shed light on their views about what they see happening around them and how they interpret this by incorporating real life episode and fantasy into their own made up stories. The narratives presented in this study involve verbal communication and interaction between children which is highly significant for the social and educational development of children, particularly in the early years. Results show that children from a young age are competent in narrating their own stories and that the use of narrative is an engaging learning tool which challenges children to explore their ideas and voice their opinions in a natural way.