Tell It Back — Retelling with Story Props

After a story, the child retells it in their own words — using small props (toys, story stones, felt pieces, or picture cards) to move the characters and events along. The props give little hands something to do and turn “what happened?” into a playful re-performance.

  1. Read a short story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Folk tales — The Three Little Pigs, The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks — work beautifully because the events repeat and chain together.

  2. Gather a few props that match: small toys or animal figures, “story stones” (pebbles with characters drawn on), felt-board cut-outs, or 4–6 picture cards showing the main events.

  3. After reading, say “Now you tell it to me.” Lay the props between you, and as the child names each part they move the matching prop.

  4. If they get stuck, prompt gently with the story-grammar questions, one at a time: “Who was it about? Where were they? What was the problem? What did they do? How did it end?”

  5. Don’t demand the exact words — a retelling in the child’s own voice, even with detours, is exactly what you want.

  6. Across days, fade the help: fewer prompts, then fewer props, until the child can retell from memory alone.

Variation: lay picture cards face-down and have the child put them in order (“what came first?”). Or retell into a phone voice recorder and play it back. Or you start the retell and stop mid-sentence for the child to fill in ("…and then the wolf…?").

Requirements

  • Space: A table, rug, or patch of floor to lay out props
  • Surface: Flat surface for props or cards; a felt board or cookie sheet (for magnet pieces) helps but isn't required
  • Materials: A familiar story, plus optional props — small toys, story stones (drawn pebbles), felt cut-outs, or homemade picture-sequence cards; nothing but the story is essential
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; siblings can co-retell, taking a character each
  • Supervision: Light; closer if small props are used near a child who still mouths objects

Rationale & Objective

Retelling is a research-backed route to comprehension and a sense of story structure. Morrow (1985) showed that guided, repeated retelling improves kindergartners’ comprehension and their grasp of how stories are built. The props are not decoration: Dunst’s (2012) review of retelling studies coded “manipulatives — props or toys the child uses to help retell” as one of the features associated with positive outcomes. Retelling works with how children’s minds already store narrative — the “story grammar” of setting, problem, attempt, and resolution described by Stein & Glenn (1979) and Mandler & Johnson (1977). Sequencing the events (“first… then… last”) builds the temporal backbone that the UK EYFS Comprehension goal and Common Core RL.K.2 (retell familiar stories with key details) name as a core kindergarten expectation, and that Teaching Strategies GOLD tracks in dimension 18c (retells stories).

Progress Indicators

  • Early: names a favorite moment or character but not the sequence; retells one or two events out of order; relies on the adult’s questions for each step; needs the props and pictures in view
  • Developing: retells 3+ key events with props or picture prompts; keeps roughly the right order with occasional gaps; remembers the characters and setting; may skip the problem or the ending
  • Proficient: retells beginning, middle, and end in correct order with the main problem and how it was solved; borrows some of the story’s own language (“Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin”); needs few prompts
  • Advanced: retells fluently from memory without props; includes characters’ feelings and motives; uses story language and sequence words (“first,” “after that,” “finally”); can retell to a third person who didn’t hear the story

Safety Notes

  • Story stones, felt pieces, and small figures are choking hazards for under-3s — keep them away from younger siblings and use larger pieces if a toddler is nearby
  • Use non-toxic paint on any homemade story stones, seal them, and check for sharp edges before play
  • Keep it pressure-free — a child who feels quizzed may resist; if they don’t want to retell today, just read again, since retelling skill grows over weeks
  • Avoid stories with frightening content right before sleep if retelling tends to keep your child’s mind spinning at bedtime

Hints

  • Playfulness: let the child use silly voices for each character or “perform” the retell as a puppet show for a stuffed-animal audience. Make a “story basket” of props for a favorite tale they can pull out anytime.
  • Sustain interest: rotate the tale every few days but keep a couple of all-time favorites for repeated retelling — repetition is where fluency and story language take hold. Crafting new story stones together is its own fun.
  • Common mistake: demanding a word-perfect retelling or correcting every detail turns play into a test and kills it; accept the child’s own words and order. A one-off retell gives only a small gain (Morrow), so the win is gentle repetition, not perfection.
  • Limited space / no equipment: no props needed — retell with fingers (“this finger is the wolf”), or while walking, or in the bath. A familiar story you both know by heart needs nothing at all.
  • Cross-domain: ordering picture cards builds sequencing and early math (first/next/last); acting it out builds gross-motor confidence; naming feelings builds social-emotional vocabulary; drawing the events feeds early writing and composition.
  • Progression: retell with the book open for reference → retell with props and picture cards → order the cards from memory → retell with props but no pictures → retell from memory with prompts → retell unaided to someone new.

Sources

  • Morrow, L. M. (1985). “Retelling stories: A strategy for improving young children’s comprehension, concept of story structure, and oral language complexity.” The Elementary School Journal, 85(5), 647–661
  • Stein, N. L. & Glenn, C. G. (1979). “An analysis of story comprehension in elementary school children.” In R. O. Freedle (Ed.), New Directions in Discourse Processing (Vol. 2, pp. 53–120). Ablex
  • Mandler, J. M. & Johnson, N. S. (1977). “Remembrance of things parsed: Story structure and recall.” Cognitive Psychology, 9(1), 111–151
  • Dunst, C. J. (2012). “Children’s story retelling as a literacy and language enhancement strategy.” CELLreviews, 5(2). Center for Early Literacy Learning
  • Common Core RL.K.2 (retell familiar stories, including key details)
  • Head Start ELOF — Goal P-LIT 4 (understanding of narrative structure through storytelling/re-telling)
  • UK EYFS — Comprehension ELG (retell stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary)
  • Teaching Strategies GOLD Objective 18c (retells stories)