Bedtime stories are beneficial not only for little kids but for older children as well. Parents all over the world have traditionally been using bedtime stories to prepare their children for sleep. But do you know that these stories come with multiple benefits for your children?
Bedtime stories improve kids’ storytelling skills. And a bedtime story for kids in English is perfect for improving your little one’s English vocabulary, and English speaking and listening skills. Studies show that when parents read stories for kids in English, their children excel in academic performances.
English bedtime short stories spur language development, helping kids learn English in a fun and interesting way. At the very least, these stories can help establish a healthy sleep cycle for your tiny tot.
Benefits of Reading Bedtime Stories
These are immense benefits of bedtime stories. We’ve explained the most important of them below:
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- Improve language skills: Bedtime stories in English can hone your child’s reading and listening skills, comprehension, vocabulary, and overall English learning. Remember that reading bedtime stories together in a fun and engaging environment is the foundation stone for kids to develop their language abilities.
- Boost imagination: Imagination helps children to see the big picture, set big goals, and achieve big things later in life. Stories open our minds by triggering the regions of our brains that process mental envisioning. Reading stories to children makes them picture and envision the plots. This helps them use their imagination to create and innovate things later in life.
- Promote independent reading: When kids enjoy bedtime stories, it leads them to have a passion for book reading. For example, English stories to improve English will enhance their reading and comprehension skills, which, in turn, can motivate them to read more English books independently.
- Boost vocabulary: Your English speaking ability depends on your vocabulary to a greater extent. The more words you know and understand, the better your English speaking and writing skills. Reading stories to little kids opens up a whole world of new words to them. Since children have very receptive minds, they will easily pick and remember new words. And once they learn new words, they will use them in their daily conversations and writings.
- Spur conversation and exploration: As a parent, you know that children ask many questions. They are extremely investigative when it comes to bedtime stories. During the story, they often interrupt with questions like why, who, what, when, where, etc. This provides you with a perfect opportunity to associate the story with the practical world, so they can be imaginative as well as realistic. For example, you can give them real-world examples from your surroundings to help them understand a fictional story.
English Stories to Improve English
English bedtime short stories are excellent for kids to master the English language. It is a good idea to choose stories with morals and positive messages if you want your kid to learn English through stories and develop ethics, empathy, and compassion at the same time.
Here’s our list of English stories that will help your children avail the above-explained benefits:
1. The Lion’s Whisker: This African story revolves around a woman, who was not happy with her marriage, even though she loved her husband. She followed the thrilling advice of the oldest man in the village to live a happy life with her husband.
2. A Cinderella Story: This fairytale is about Cinderella, a beautiful young girl ill-treated and oppressed by her step-sisters and step-mother. She is coerced into doing all the dishwashing and janitorial work. Suddenly, her circumstances change for the good. How her dream comes true will amaze your kiddo.
3. The Velveteen Rabbit Story: This British children’s story narrates the tale of a little boy who gets a stuffed rabbit as a present. The toy rabbit desires to turn into a real rabbit through the love of the boy.
4. Birbal and the Mango Tree: This story is about Sham and Ram, who claim to own the same mango tree. Failing to reach a settlement, they go to Birbal to resolve the dispute.
5. The Apple Dumpling Story: The plot revolves around an old woman who searches for an apple. Her quest introduces her to a lavish trade.
6. Other beneficial stories for your kids:
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- The Geese and the Fig Tree
- Akbar and the Half-Reward
- The Boy Who Cried “Wolf”
- The Golden Touch
- The Fox and the Grapes
- The Proud Rose
- A Wise Old Owl
- The Golden Egg
- The Farmer and the Well
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Conclusion
Bedtime stories play an important part in the cognitive development of children. These stories also help them to learn language and important life lessons. Now that you know the benefits of a bedtime story, there’s no excuse to not read stories to your kiddos, starting with the above list of the best bedtime stories in English.