What effect does story time have on toddlers’ social and emotional skills

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of story time and reading stories on the development of toddlers’ social and emotional skills between 24 and 36 months of age. A sample of 10 toddlers was randomly selected from three different classes at the laboratory nursery of The University of Jordan. A pre-test and post-test were developed to measure the social and emotional skills of toddlers. Data were collected by administrating the measure for the lead teacher at the toddlers' room. Results from the data presented indicated that social and emotional skills for toddlers have improved positively. Also the results indicated that toddlers' mean scores in the post-test were higher and more significant than that in the pre-test. This indicated that story time in toddlers' daily routine affects their social skills significantly. Recommendations and suggestions for future research are presented.