stories for 4 year old

[welsh_mummy]

hi my 4 year old is constantly asking questions like why is there night? why is the grass green? etc im sure many are familiar with this also! obviously he is too young to explain things in detail but i would love to explain things to him using beautiful stories that will help relate him to his surroundings and the world through his heart not simply his head. the problem being i dont know any and am not very good making stories up. does anyone know of any good books that contain these kinds of stories or know of any to tell me? he still has quite a short attention span so short stories would be best.

also we are a muslim famliy and would love to start explain parts of our faith and history through stories but the ones i know again are too old for him to fully understand and i know would not catch his attention so if there is anyone out there that knows any that would be great too!!!

[boatbaby]

I would let your child tell YOU the stories. I think they usually have an answer or idea in their minds, and in my experience when a child asks a question, it's not necessarily because they want an answer (that's a very adult point of view) but more because they want to engage you into their thinking. So my answer was at ahe 4 and continues to be now that my son is 6... "Hmmmm, what do you think?" And then they are off. Be sure to have something to write with b/c I'll bet your child will have the most wonderful answers that you will want to hold on to for a very long time.

When they are old enough to REALLY want the answer, they will let you know. In the mean time let your child guide the story telling and you can jump in now and again... or not.

[welsh_mummy]

thank you for your reply, someone i know actually suggested that to me already and it did work for a while but unfortunatly now he does want an answer...lol!!!  when i say  'why do you think?' his reply is either 'i dont know, thats why im asking you!!!' or 'just tell me please, i want to know!' but of course a lot of the time he is too young for a proper explaination which is why im now looking for stories to explain in a simple but insipring way, or by stretching his imagination.

[honeybunmom]

My daughter turned 5 at the end of October and now the questions have turned to, "Well, didn't you learn that in school?"  LOL!  But, I still respond in a voice filled with wonder and say that I don't know and invite her to wonder aloud with me.  If she doesn't and insists I know, I insist back that I really don't and try to maintain that sense of wonder in my voice.  When she's particularly insistent, I'm working on just disengaging or trying to turn her attention to something we previously talked about that she was enjoying or otherwise introduce some levity.

ETA:  there is an online source for stories organized by age.  If I can find it again, I'll come back with the link.

ETAA:  I was thinking of The Baldwin Project.  It has a Waldorf curriculum tab on the left side panel.  Hope something here is helpful!

Edited by honeybunmom - 1/14/11 at 4:00pm