"How would you feel if you were the Little Engine?" Mrs. McCoy asks her class of 4- and 5-year-olds, after reading The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. "Happy ‘cause I brought the toys to the children," says Michelle. "Tired after all that pushing," says Alex. "Strong!" shouts Dennis, jumping up and pretending to carry a heavy load on his back. "I can be a train, too," says Marcie, joining him. "Let’s play like we’re the trains," the others say, clapping their hands.

Mrs. McCoy brings out cardboard boxes, and the children begin making the trains in the story. Eagerly, they measure, mark, and paint the boxes, fill them with small toys, and build an imaginary mountain from blocks and a balance beam.

One by one, the trains cross over the mountain. As the smallest train enters the play area, little voices chant, "I think I can, I think I can." As the train goes higher, the voices get louder. Finally, it crosses over the top: "Chug, chug, puff, puff."

Reading a book to children lays a foundation for new adventures. Reading can be a springboard for other activities, including retelling the story, interacting in dramatic play, writing, doing art projects, and having fun with music.

Introducing books, stories, and other language experiences to children can strengthen their desire to play and interact with each other. In acting out The Little Engine That Could, for example, children learn words and practice communication skills.

Reading often draws a response from children. Their excitement and interest may add to the story or even become woven into it, such as having them "huff and puff" with the big bad wolf in The Three Little Pigs.

Storytelling expands the language experience. By retelling a story they have heard or making up one, children express themselves, interact with others, and use their creativity. Encouraging children to use their imagination is especially important. This stretches their minds and promotes thinking skills.

Think about the books in your facility and how you can use them for open-ended language activities. If you don’t have many books, borrow some from the public library. Think about puppets, dress-up clothes, and props that children can use for storytelling. Plan how you can use writing, art materials, and recyclables such as boxes and milk jugs to help children explore and create.

By extending stories with activities, you help children refine their language skills, enhance their imagination, and foster self-esteem.

A number of books for this age include sensory experiences. One example is Pat the Bunny by D. Kundhardt. As the story unfolds, children feel a man’s sandpaper beard, examine their reflections in a mirror, and touch a bunny’s plush fur. Each page gives children a sensory learning experience and involves them in the story.

As an extended activity, bring a pet rabbit to the classroom for a day, and let children pat it. Find a realistic photograph of a rabbit, paste it to cardboard, laminate it, and cut it into a four piece puzzle for children to work. Provide pillows and stuffed toy bunnies at nap time.

After reading The Little Red Hen, for example, encourage children as a group to reenact the story. Make sure everyone has a part by adding more barnyard friends or chicks. Let children use their own words and improvise the actions.

In some instances, you may want to let children to work through a story on their own. Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Weber, for example, combines the fun of sleeping over at a friend’s house with the lonely feeling of leaving a teddy bear at home.

After reading the book, create a quiet area in the dramatic play center. Add a rug, soft pillows, and a large teddy bear. This gives children an opportunity to reenact the story, either individually or in pairs. In doing so, they will see that other children have similar feelings.

Folk tales and legends make ideal stories, but you can use almost any story that you like or find meaningful. This includes stories from your own family and personal life

In telling the story, try to paint a mental picture for the children. Assume the roles of different characters and talk as they would. In telling The Legend of the Bluebonnet, for example, use facial expressions and hand gestures to dramatize how the little girl gives up her favorite doll to the Great Spirit.

After telling the story, have the children describe how they felt, what they liked or didn’t like, and what they didn’t understand. Encourage children to retell the story to a friend or to the group.

You can also use a puppet as the narrator who tells a story. In one class, for example, the storyteller is "Mel," a talkative tennis ball. He has eyes painted on his yellow, fuzzy face and yarn hair pasted on his head. To make him come alive, the teacher—or a child—pokes an index finger in the hole on the underside. Then Mel bobs up and down and from side to side, telling his tale. At times, he may stop and invite children to share their thoughts and ideas.

Make a puppet like Mel from a mitten, sock, paper bag, paper plate, or box. Draw a face using markers, or glue on facial features using fabric or paper scraps, buttons, and other objects.

Use a hand puppet to tell a story or read a book, and a finger puppet or glove puppet to do finger plays. Make stick puppets for children to use with finger plays or stories. Trace or copy a picture of the story character on stiff paper, and glue the picture to a craft stick or tongue depressor.

For Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow, make monkey stick puppets or posters from posterboard. Encourage children to use the stick puppets to reenact their version of the story about five little monkeys discovering the consequences of jumping on the bed.

In some instances, you can incorporate art into a story while telling it. For example, when telling Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni, give each child a small piece of blue and yellow play dough. In the story, Little Blue looks for his friend, Little Yellow. When Little Blue finds his friend, something amazing happens. Can you guess what the children discover?

In Pickle, Pickle, Pickle Juice by Patty Wolcott, mountains of pickles become pickle juice. You can extend the story by providing a variety of pickles—sweet, sour, and dill—for children to sample. Children can also make pickles using a simple recipe.

Some stories mention music subjects or describe musical experiences. Something Special for Me by Vera B. Williams tells about a girl who shops for a birthday present for herself and finally decides on an accordion. This story would be a perfect opportunity to invite an accordion player to come to your classroom.

Likewise the forest animals in The Happy Hedgehog Band by Martin Waddell have so much fun playing music that children will want to reenact the story with their own drums and rhythm instruments.

Christolow, Eileen. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. New York: Clarion, 1989.

DePaola, Tomie. The Legend of the Bluebonnet. New York: Putnam, 1983.

Kundhart, Dorothy. Pat the Bunny. Racine, Wis.: Western Pub. Co., 1997.

Lionni, Leo. Little Blue and Little Yellow. New York: Obolensky Inc., 1959.

Piper, Watty. The Little Engine That Could. New York: Platt & Munk Co., 1954.

Waddell, Martin. The Happy Hedgehog Band. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 1991.

Weber, Bernard. Ira Sleeps Over. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972.

Williams, Vera B. Something Special for Me. New York: Greenwillow, 1983.

Wolcott, Patty. Pickle, Pickle, Pickle Juice. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1975.