Yes, telling stories really does help children read better — and here is why
If your child would rather make up tales than sit down with a book, you might be surprised to hear that this is not something to worry about. In fact, it is something to encourage. Research in early years education and literacy development consistently shows that children who practise telling stories orally develop stronger reading skills over time. The two activities are far more connected than they might appear.
This article explains what the research tells us, why storytelling and reading reinforce each other, and what you can practically do at home to make the most of your child's natural love of making things up.
What storytelling and reading actually have in common
At first glance, telling a story and reading a book seem like opposite activities — one is talking, the other is decoding print. But underneath the surface, they draw on many of the same mental skills.
Narrative structure
Every story, whether spoken or written, follows a basic shape: something happens, it creates a problem or change, and things are resolved. When children learn to structure their own stories — even loosely — they begin to expect that same shape when they read. This makes text easier to follow and easier to remember. Children who understand that stories have a beginning, middle and end are better equipped to make sense of what they are reading, not just decode the words.
Vocabulary
Storytelling pushes children to find words for things they are imagining. They reach for vocabulary that describes feelings, settings, actions and consequences. This active use of language is quite different from passively hearing words used around them. When a child has already used a word like trembling or enormous in their own story, they are far more likely to recognise and understand it when they encounter it in print.
Comprehension
Good reading comprehension is not just about reading the words accurately — it is about understanding what is happening, why characters behave as they do, and what might happen next. These are exactly the cognitive muscles that oral storytelling exercises. Children who tell stories regularly tend to be better at inferring meaning and predicting outcomes when they read, because they are used to thinking about narrative cause and effect.
Motivation
This is perhaps the most immediate and tangible benefit. A child who has invented a character, given them a problem to solve and narrated their adventure has a personal, emotional investment in stories. That investment transfers. Children who see themselves as storytellers are more likely to see themselves as readers, too — because stories feel like something they belong to, not something imposed on them.
What the evidence tells us
Educators and literacy specialists have been paying attention to the link between oral language and reading for decades. Here is what is well established:
- Oral language is the foundation of literacy. Children learn to read far more easily when they already have a strong spoken language base. The richer a child's spoken vocabulary and their ability to construct sentences, the smoother the transition to reading and writing tends to be.
- Storytelling develops what specialists call "narrative competence" — the ability to organise events logically, use connective language (words like because, then, although, suddenly) and maintain a coherent thread. This competence is a reliable predictor of later reading comprehension.
- Children learn best when they are active participants, not passive recipients. Listening to stories is valuable. Telling them is even more powerful for developing language, because it requires the child to generate meaning rather than receive it.
- Play-based storytelling — including imaginative, made-up stories — is educationally significant. It is not a distraction from learning; it is a mode of learning. Early years frameworks in England recognise this explicitly.
The age it matters most — and the ages it keeps mattering
The early years — roughly from age two to seven — are when oral language development has the most direct influence on emerging literacy. Children in Nursery and Reception who are encouraged to tell stories, retell events and construct simple narratives arrive at reading with real advantages.
But the benefit does not stop there. Children in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 — Years 1 through 6 — continue to develop reading comprehension skills that are directly nourished by storytelling. A Year 3 child who regularly invents their own stories will typically have a better grasp of plot, character motivation and language nuance than one who has not.
And for older children who are struggling with reading — whether due to dyslexia, developmental language disorder, or simply a lack of confidence — being positioned as a storyteller rather than a struggling reader can be transformative. It shifts the child's identity in their own eyes, which matters enormously.
Why reluctant readers in particular benefit from storytelling
If your child resists reading, you are not alone. Many children find books feel like school, like effort, like something they are not very good at. Storytelling sidesteps that resistance entirely.
When a child tells their own story, there is no wrong answer. They cannot fail. There is no page to decode, no unfamiliar words to stumble over. This matters because children who associate books and literacy with failure or frustration will avoid them — which creates a cycle that is genuinely hard to break.
Oral storytelling breaks the cycle. It rebuilds a child's relationship with narrative from a position of success and control. And once a child feels like a storyteller — someone who creates and shapes stories — books become less threatening. They become the place where other people's stories live, and the child already knows that stories are their territory.
This is one of the reasons that turning a child's own invented story into a real printed book — as Storywizard does — can be such a powerful step. Seeing their own words and characters in a proper book, with their name on the cover as the author, makes the connection between storytelling and reading entirely concrete. The book is theirs. Reading it is not a chore; it is a pleasure they have earned.
Practical ways to encourage storytelling at home
You do not need special equipment, a quiet room or a lot of time. Here are approaches that genuinely work:
Start with "what if"
Ask your child a simple "what if" question and see where they take it. What if a fox could talk? What if your school was on the moon? What if your cat was actually a spy? You do not need to guide the story — just listen and ask follow-up questions. What happened next? How did she feel? Why did he do that? These prompts naturally develop narrative thinking.
Retell the day
Ask your child to tell you about their day as if it were a story, with a beginning, a middle and an end. This is a gentle, low-pressure way of practising narrative structure using real events. You can model it yourself: "This morning I was in a bit of a rush, then I found my keys in the most unexpected place, and by the time I got to the car I was laughing..."
Collaborative storytelling
Take turns adding to a story, one sentence or one paragraph at a time. This is a lovely activity for car journeys or bedtime, and it gives children a scaffold — they can follow what you have established and build from it. It also shows them, naturally, how stories develop and shift.
Draw first, then tell
Some children find it easier to start visually. Let your child draw a character, a setting or a scene, and then ask them to tell you about it. The picture acts as a prompt and removes the blank-page pressure. This works particularly well for children who find verbal expression difficult or who have speech and language needs.
Record it
Use your phone to record your child telling a story, then play it back to them. Many children are fascinated by hearing their own voice, and listening back helps them notice structure and detail in a way that is engaging rather than corrective. Some children will immediately want to add to or improve their story — which is exactly the kind of reflective thinking that supports writing development later on.
Give the story somewhere to go
Children are more motivated when their story feels like it has a purpose. Writing it down together, turning it into a little handmade book, acting it out, or sharing it with grandparents are all ways of giving the story an audience. Purpose drives engagement, and engagement drives the language development that feeds reading.
A note on children with SEN
For children with dyslexia, autism, speech and language difficulties, or other additional needs, oral storytelling can be especially valuable. It meets children where their strengths are, rather than where their difficulties are. A child who finds reading and writing genuinely hard can still be a brilliant, inventive storyteller — and building on that strength, rather than leading with the areas of difficulty, is both more effective and kinder.
Specialists in speech and language therapy and educational psychology regularly use narrative-based approaches precisely because storytelling is a strength-based activity that develops language without triggering the anxiety that reading and writing tasks can cause.
The short version
Telling stories is not a distraction from learning to read. It is one of the most direct routes towards it. Children who tell stories build vocabulary, narrative understanding, comprehension and — crucially — a sense of themselves as people who belong in the world of books.
So the next time your child launches into an elaborate tale about a dragon who runs a chip shop, or a girl who discovers a secret door under the stairs, do not hurry them along. Ask what happens next. That story is doing real work.