Two year olds wont sit still for anything, how do I get them to listen to a story? Help.?

Question

I am a pre school teacher in the 2 year old room, and im new to this age group.

There are 8 to 16 two year olds in my room at any given time.

They refuse to sit and listen to even short stories.

Answer 1

I worked in a 2y/o room for over two years.  I read stories that had a lot of repetition and predicability.  Try big books too, they can see them better.  Maybe have 2-3 kids sit with you at a time for lap reading.  The kids in my room loved the "No, David" books by David Shannon.  I actually had kids that by the time the were moving into the 3y/o room that had memorized each page!  Try stories that you can incorporate finger plays and singing too.

Answer 2

read them a short story with lots of repetition, and encourage them to join in on the repeated lines. Make sure you are using different voices for each character and really going over the top with your voice and gestures. You might feel like a fool but they'll love it!

Answer 3

Um, yeah... because they're two-years-old.

Keep them completely short sentences. Keep it interactive and ask follow-up questions. Like, if you're reading Seuss' 'One Fish Two Fish'. After the line, "Red fish, Green fish". Call one child to come and point to the green fish. And one to point to the red fish.

THEN you can keep going with the rest of the story.

Also use puppets. Consider putting something quiet in EACH of their hands during the story. Like, MATCHING toy spiders when reading PARTS of Charlotte's Web.

It's important to make sure all the 'distractions' are equal. Or you're really going to have a problem.

At that age, keep them in your vicinity. Have a designated story area. Such as a round carpet. Or a corner with pillows. If they leave the area, then they can't play with anything else. But no, they will NOT sit in a calm quiet circle and listen intently.

But trust... they are listening.

Answer 4

Don't expect 2 yr olds to sit for a group/circle time. We had story time, but did not try to make all the kids come. We'd just "drop and do." In other words, have a book and announce "I'm going to read a story. Who wants to come listen?" and read it to whoever wants. We'd also join children in the book corner and read books as they selected them. Often other children would come listen. Sometimes just reading one-on-one to the children is better anyway.

Also consider the books you are choosing. Be sure they are appropriate for 2's. Not too long. Stories that aren't very involved. They like stories that are repetitive, stories that are interactive. Choose ones like The Little Red Hen (I'd have the kids say the "Not I!" line with me in the different voices), The Doorbell Rang (have the kids say "ding dong" every time you say "the doorbell rang"; pretend to pass out cookies to them), etc. Big Red Barn and The Three Little Kittens were also favorites with my 2's.  They will also still really like board books.

Consider your reading style. Use lots of animation and different voices. That will attract them.

Answer 5

First I have to say all the answers are great, I have done similar teaching in a two year old class as yourhono. I found with twos I would sit with a book and the children would come to me to listen. Sitting on my lap or by me. Many even played but were listening to the book. I remember that the first time I decided to try this I had children bringing me books to read as I was still reading a book. I would stop a second and say ok after I finish this one. Luckily I had an assistant who went along with it and watched out for all the little ones going in ten other directions. Before long most of the children were sitting close by listening to as many books as I could read. Forget having a time to sit, let them play and teach on the run.

Answer 6

yeah. don't expect them to sit them down as a group for a story. kids at this age are very independent. they don't really do "group" well.

a good way to get them to do group things is to sing and do story songs. it gets them focused on one activity and it keeps them moving an entertained. at this age these kids need to learn (and you are teaching them) to be in a group and interact. try dr. jean or steve and greg cd's.

they need to touch and feel and taste and smell things. they need to run and play and push things (like toys) and throw!

lots of coloring and arts and crafts and free play.

DON'T STOP READING AS A GROUP, just let it be okay if they aren't focused or if they get up and go play something else!