Dr. Stig BroströmThe Danish Educational UniversityInstitute of Curriculum ResearchTuborgvej 1642400 Copenhagen NVDenmarkstbr@dpu.dk

Paper presented at ARECE – January 22 to 23, 2008 at MONASH University

Literacy competence based on fiction

AbstractA survey about fiction and literacy carried through in Denmark fall 2007 in 212 after schools, kindergarten classes and grade 1 and 2 shows the fact, that 83 % of the teachers read fiction aloud every day (37 %) or several times during the week (46 %). More 65% of the teachers demonstrate that they think this supports the development of children’s reading competence. 44% of the teachers mark that they often have dialogues with the children about the stories and 41 % often organize drawing activities. However, only 10 % mark that they often organize play activities related to the reading aloud activities. We raise following research questions:

How to define fiction which holds a personal and language ”Bildung”? How to define the importance of fiction related to children’s literacy competence? What kind of fiction do teachers use? How do teachers mediate fiction, how and in what extend do teachers make use of drawing

and play activities?

Based on the hypothesis that children’s literature (fiction, imaginative literature) might be a useful tool towards children’s literacy competence in the first years of school, a research group has constructed an education approach, where reading of good quality literature are followed by literature dialogues (Chambers, 1994), and children’s own storytelling, drawing and play activities (Broström, 2002, 2005 & 2006).

Here children’s literature is seen as a cultural tool, which related to Vygotsky (1978a, 1981) allow for the mastery of psychological processes. However, referring to Stetsenko (1999) it is of importance to se the interrelation of three cornerstones in Vygotsky’s theoretical universe – social interaction, cultural tools and zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978a, 1978d). These cornerstones and new interpretations and constructions of cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) are a basis for the educational approach using literature, dialogues and aesthetical means and processes as drawing and expanding forms of play (Broström, 1999b).

This approach has been carried out in a group of 50 preschoolers aged five to six and in an age integrated classroom with 40 children between six and eight years. Analysis of data collected via observations, video recording and interviews with the children shows structural similarities (patterns) between storytelling, drawing and play. 1) A common telling structure defined by roles, actions, context, goals and means; 2) a common basic structure (Labov, 1972), and 3) a numbers of

common themes (Propp, 1958; Broström, 2002). More storytelling, drawing and play are ways to communicate (Bruner, 1996); and with references to Vygotsky (1978c) both play and drawing are forms of languages (signs and symbols). Finally storytelling, drawing and play are forms of activities characterised by fantasy and creativity, and also help children to solve problems and thus mediate thinking (Vygotsky, 1978b, 1978c).

Keywords: Reading, fiction, drawing, play, social interaction, cultural tools, zone of proximal development

THE INVESTIGATIONThe investigation was carried out in 212 educational settings with equal representations of after schools, kindergarten classes and classes with grade 1, 2 and 3. There was also an equal representation of schools situated east and west inn Denmark and from rural districts and urban areas.

We made use of a questionnaire with 5 parts with a total of 28 questions. First part contains factual information, second part deals with frequency, manners and routines about reading aloud of literature. Third part focuses on aims and objectives of reading aloud, and the fourth part deals with what happens after the reading aloud process, in other words how children reflect the text. The fifth part focuses directly on literature as a part of children’s learning to read, and the last part ask for information about the teacher’s use of book systems for reading, text books.

In general the questions consist of fixed reply categories alternating with only one possible tick off and a list of four possible answers (always, often, seldom, never – or extremely, to some extend, to a lesser extend, not at all). Additional to most of the question it was possible to write personal comments.

Through the survey we strive for to get knowledge about teachers’ use of fiction literature as a part of the teachers teaching and children’s process of learning to read.

Frequency of reading aloudIn order to get an overview of the frequency of teachers and pedagogue’s use of fiction literature we asked “how often do you read fiction aloud for children?” To this question 37% respond to the category “every day”, 46% marked the category “several times a week”, and the rest were distributed among the categories “several times a month”, “several times a year”, “periodic” and “never happens” .

The frequency of reading differs from setting to setting. It seems to be much more reading aloud in kindergarten class and grade 1-3 compared with after school. In 77% of the kindergarten class the teachers read aloud every day (and 21% several times a week), in 27% of grade 1-3 the teachers read aloud every day (and 60% several times a week), and finally only 7% of after schools the pedagogues read aloud every day (and 33% several times a week).

Genre of literatureTo the question about which genre the teachers read aloud three genres have a high priority, namely: Stories/tales, imaginative literature (books with chapters) and rhyme-jingles; respectively 94%, 88% and 84% the teachers read this genre always or often.

We also asked how the teachers read different genres aloud. Concerning children’s imaginative literature in general the teachers do not read the text more than one time. However, they give space for conversation during the reading session (15% always; 65% often), and they also speak with the children about the relation between text and picture (12% always; 60% often). In

general they do not skip parts of the text (55% mark “seldom; 39% “never”, 6% “often”, 0% “always”), but when the do 50% answer it is due to the fact that “the text is literacy too difficult for the children”, 35% tick off “there is parts which do not fit the children”, and 20% use the category “here and there the text is too boring”.

Reasons for reading aloud of fiction literatureThe teachers and pedagogues’ reasons for reading aloud are manifold. In general they respond positively to all the answer categories. However language competence and reading competence have a high score (respectively 82%, 64% respond “extremely” and 16%, 27% respond “to some extend”. However also pleasure and enjoyment are seen as important reasons (75% respond “extremely” and 22% respond “to some extend”).

Thus above result seems to show that teachers and pedagogues think that children’s imaginative literature might play a central role in the process of learning to read.

Forms of reflectionHowever one might say that reading aloud is not sufficiently, there is also a need for different kinds of reflections. So what happens after is of importance. Here dialogues about the text have a high score, 39% indicate that they “always” have conversation with the children, and 57% say “often”.

Also children’s retelling has a priority. Yet only 10% tick off “always” and 44% “often”.Concerning the item “to give the children a possibility to reconstruct the story” only 1% tick

of the answer category “always” and no more than 26% marked the category “often”. According to other aesthetical forms of reflections and activities the score is too rather low;

the answer category “always” is almost not in use. About half (49%) of the teachers and pedagogues mark, that they “often” give the children a

possibility to draw and paint in relation to the text”, and only 1% use the category “always”. When it comes to play and drama the category “seldom” and “never” are much more in use.

To do drama and play theatre in relation to the story are a little more common than to play. 18% indicate, that they “often” let children do drama in relation to the text, and only 10% make “often” use of play (and none tick off the category “always”).

It is also of interest to observe that in general the aesthetical forms of reflections are more in use in school setting than in after school. Drawing and painting are “often” used in kindergarten class (46%) and in grade 1-3 (60%) but in after school only 11% tick off the category “often”.

Same tendency is seen related to the play as form of reflection. Also here none mark the category “always”, and “often” is marked like this: After school 7%, kindergarten class 17% and grade 1-3 8%.

Drama and theatre are also expressed more in school than after school: After school 7%, kindergarten class 18% and 21% in grade 1-3

Thus in general one might say that aesthetical forms of reflections are not used as tool for reflection in after schools but are seen “often” in school. Thus drawing and painting is used in about the half of the kindergarten class (46%) and grade 1-3 (60%). But play (and also theatre) has a very low priority as tool for reflection both in after school (7%) and grade 1-3 (8%); in kindergarten class (17%) a little better but is still only slightly expressed.

The above mentioned parts from the investigation show that teachers and pedagogues in after school, kindergarten class and grade 1-3 read aloud fiction both for pleasure and also related to support children’s language and reading competence. More they all use conversations and dialogues as tool for reflection. However it is surprising that pedagogues in after school read aloud in lesser extend than settings in school, and it is also surprising that pedagogues in after school in a very little

extend make use of drawing, painting, play and drama as tools for reflection. It is surprising because the aesthetical subjects and activities are underlined in the education of pedagogues and are a strong part of the educational tradition. However this paradox can be understood in the light of the fact, that (Nordic) pedagogues (still) are linked to a child centred understanding, where the self-governed child take the initiative himself and have a reservation for participating in children’s aesthetical activities (play, drawing etc.). Thus pedagogues in after school stress children’s freedom, their own choice, an idea of a not schoolish life etc.

In spite of pedagogues reasonably anxiety, we try to set up en educational approach where children’s fiction literature can be a central part of the educational program in both after school, kindergarten class and grade 1-3, and where the aesthetical activities can be tool for reflection.

AN EDUCATIONAL APPROACHBased on the hypothesis that children’s literature (fiction, imaginative literature) might be a useful tool towards children’s literacy competence in the first years of school (kindergarten class, grade one and two) in 2004 a research group (Broström, Frandsen & Vilhelmsen) carried through a developmental research in a Danish school with an integrated group of children aged 5-8 years. We constructed an educational approach, where reading of good quality literature was followed by literature dialogues and creative activities (Broström, 2005 & 2006). Thus we establish an aesthetical and narrative approach with following activities:

1. Reading aloud a short story of high literary quality.2. Based on the story, teacher and children carry engage in a structured conversation

(Chambers, 1994) called a literature dialogue.3. After the dialogue they make drawings to illustrate their understanding of the text.4. Then the children, in formal groups, are challenged to turn their literature experiences

into play. The teacher has an observer role and also participates as ‘teacher-in-role’.5. Sometimes the teacher asks the children to present their version of the play/story for their

classmates and teachers.6. After the presentation, the teachers and each play group hold a structured conversation

called a learning dialogue.7. During all phases, the teacher and the children have philosophical dialogues reflecting

their ideas.

Reading aloud With the children in small groups, the teacher read aloud five short books in the series Miss Ignora in the Water Tower. All five books display strong emotions which all children experience—friendship, anger, happiness, sorrow, shyness, disappointment and love -- and inspire children to participate in philosophical dialogues which may support the development of children’s meta-cognitive thinking.

The books make up a series with a recognizable structure and a permanent gallery of characters. The series differs from most traditional series for young children in that the main character develops during the books. Each book has 21 pages dominated by vigorous and expressive illustrations which support and expand on the text.

The Miss Ignora books are of a high literary quality. The stories are told in simple, rhythmical and unsentimental language, and the reader can identify with Ignora. The titles reflect Miss Ignora’s development.

- Miss Ignora Explodes

- Miss Ignora in the Schoolyard- Miss Ignora and the Starry Sky- Miss Ignora Falls in Love- Miss Ignora and George Influence their World

In the first two books, Miss Ignora and her universe are presented. When she loses her temper in front of her teacher, her best friend Nina becomes afraid and Ignora is sorry. Ignora sometimes speaks with her neighbour, a fish dealer, from whom she also occasionally steals fish.

In the third book Ignora is alone: her mother has left her, and her father has died in a traffic accident. However, during the night, sitting on the top of the water tower, she speaks with him. The book also contains an episode in the schoolyard where a boy, George, scolds her. However, the fourth book focuses on the friendship with George, and the fifth book tells how Ignora and George come to the assistance of a dog in distress, and they reflect on the theme of being a person who makes a difference in the world.

Literature dialogueIn order to influence and enrich children’s play we first introduced the Miss Ignora stories in class, and then arranged a structured conversation around the stories. Some changes to the literary conversation method used with older children (Chambers, 1994) made it a useful tool to help young appreciate complex children’s literature and also to observe and document children’s reactions. The following four fundamental questions were included in our literature dialogue:

1. Did you find elements in the story which you liked?2. Did you find something which you disliked?3. Did you find something which concerned you?4. Did you find patterns in the story which you recognised, and which remind you

of other stories?

The first day story we read aloud was Miss Ignora Explodes, in which Ignora loses her temper—becoming ‘crazy’ and ‘exploding’, which upset her friend Nina. The children were also introduced to Miss Ignora’s neighbour, the fish dealer. Many cats live around his shop.

After the reading session the children were invited to discuss the book. They were asked the four questions mentioned earlier. In answer to the first question, Did you find elements in the story which you liked? a lot of the boys said they thought it ‘was cool when Miss Ignora exploded’, while the girls liked ‘when Miss Ignora apologised to the teacher’ (because of her explosion), and ‘she was nice to the cats’. In answer to the second question Did you find something which you disliked? many girls mentioned the explosion as a problem. A few other girls also disliked Ignora stealing from the fish dealer. Some boys also expressed reservations about stealing fish and also about Miss Ignora’s explosion. But a number of boys said: ‘There was nothing we disliked’.

Children make drawingsAfter the reading session and the dialogues, the children were invited to write and draw their answers related to the two questions. Some children made collective drawings in small groups, and other children made individual drawings. A typical drawing was a an isolated episode from the story, for example Miss Ignora’s explosion in front of the teacher, but there was also examples of drawings, where more than one episode was situated in the picture. Thus the narrative dimension became more visible. And especially in the collective drawings children managed to express the narrative dimension clearly.

When they had finished, the teachers displayed the results on two bulletin boards, placing similar ideas side-by-side. This enabled the children to view their own answers in line with similar answers. This session led to a new dialogue, and the third question was asked: Did you find something which concerned you? Common concerns were:

- Why does she not have a mother?- Why does she come to that point that she explodes?- Why does she live in that strange house?- Why does she not ask for help from the fish dealer?- Why Miss Ignora’s father died in a traffic accident: ‘They do not use to die in books’, one girl said.

The children’s comments formed a basis for rich conversations.Most of the children had reached a high level of attention by the time they replied to the fourth question: Did you find patterns in the story which you recognised and which remind you of other stories?

Some children were able to compare the stories of Miss Ignora with other well-known books for children. For example, one boy said: ‘Pippi Longstocking, both Pippi and Miss Ignora do not have a father and mother’. Another boy said: ‘It reminds me of Superman. That story starts with he has no father and mother’. A number of boys and girls referred to the story of Sleeping Beauty.

PlayIn continuation of the children’s interest in the first three books, the teacher read the last Miss Ignora story: Miss Ignora and George Influence their World. The plot deals with Ignora and George becoming friends and freeing a dog which is wedged in a door. Then they talk about how, in doing so, they had influenced their world.

After the reading session the children were invited to establish their own play events, and they quickly set up different groups to discuss the play theme, roles and actions. . One group of boys and girls was inspired by the incident involving the wedged dog, and they spent some time planning a play with many details.

The characters were Ignora, George, a sour man, Ignora’s friend Nina, a dog and some cats. An extract from a transcript follows:

Miss Ignora said: ‘Hey, do you like to be my boy friend’?George answered: ‘Yes’.Miss Ignora said: ‘Then we take a promenade in the park’. Miss Ignora and George danced around.George: ‘Oh, see an old shack, it’s ugly’, and then he continued: ‘Something is whining’.Miss Ignora: ‘Yes, it is from over there, inside’.George looked around and then he said: ‘Oh, it is a nice little dog’.‘Come here’ Miss Ignora said and then she kissed the dog at the nose.Suddenly a man showed up from the old shack. He scolded the children and cried: ‘Get out, now’!Miss Ignora said: ‘Sorry, we will …’. And then she whispered to George: ‘What a sour man’.The sour man cried: ‘This is my place; buzz off, stupid children’!The two children disappeared quickly, and went away from the place. Then George said: ‘Oh, I am so hungry; let’s eat’.

George and Miss Ignora established a place to eat. They sat up a table and some chairs illustrating a restaurant where they placed themselves. They sat in front of each other and ate their food. Suddenly Miss Ignora burst out: ‘Oh, I for-got an appointment with Nina’. She left the table and ran over to her best friend Nina who was loudly snuffling. Then she sobbed: ‘You forgot our appointment’.‘Sorry Nina’, Miss Ignora said, ‘I was out eating with George. Sorry, should we not play all together’?Then they started to skip. George and Nina swung the jump rope.A bit later Nina said: ‘I do not like this any more’, and Miss Ignora said: ‘I agree’.‘Hey’, George said, ‘look at that nice dog’.Miss Ignora said: ‘It is the sour man’s dog. Let’s return the dog to him’.George said: ‘I really don’t like to do it, but we have to’.The three children went to the sour mans house and they knocked at his door. Then he opened and snapped: ‘Pooh… you again, toddlers’.Nina timidly said: ‘We just want to return…’, but here the sour man interrupted her with an angry ‘Buzz off’. He closed the door, and when the three children were alone with the dog, Nina said: ‘Ugh how sour he was’. ‘Right’ Miss Ignora complimented, ‘he was old, big and fat’.While the children talked together the sour man arrived and said: ‘I just want to apologize because I was so sour. I would like to give you my dog as a present’.With this remark the children decided to return to their house with the dog and eat soft rolls and drink cocoa.

The above extract seems to show that the children had established a relation with the characters, the action and some of the themes in the five Miss Ignora books. They managed to set up a story line, or what Markova and Zaporozhetz (1983) calls plot: Children’s ‘reflections of certain actions, events, and interrelationships from surrounding life’. In other words, they made up a script.

They focused on some specific existential themes—those mentioned in the books and those they created themselves. Thus their play displayed productive and creative dimensions close to the concept of expanding learning (Engeström, 1987) and expanding play (Broström, 1999).

Above practical educational approach is based in cultural historical activity theory and especially the interrelation of three cornerstones in Vygotsky’s theoretical universe –social interaction, cultural tools and zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978a, 1978d; Stetsenko, 1999). More the approach is based on theories of aesthetics and narrative theories, and the idea of a similarity between storytelling, drawing and play. Both dimensions are stated in the following:

BASIC CONCEPTS

Three cornerstones in Vygotsky’s theoryIn Vygotsky’s two books Mind and society (1978) and Thinking and speech (1997) he focus on the relation between learning and development. Via an analysis of three basic understandings, which Newman & Holzman (1993, p. 57) call “mistaken paradigms” - the separatist perspective (no relation between learning and development), the identity perspective (learning is development) and the unified process (learning and development has mutual influence on each other) – Vygotsky establishes a new understanding and the relation between learning and development: Learning and

development as a dialectical unity in which learning leads development. Vygotsky writes: “Learning is not development; however, properly organized learning results in mental development and sets inmotion a variety of developmental processes that would be impossible apart from learning” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 90).

The thesis that learning leads to development form the basis of construction of three concepts, which with reference to Stetsenko (1999) makes up the learning landscape of the cultural historical school: 1) Adult-child interaction as source for development of mental processes; 2) cultural tools as mediating factors for the development of higher psychological functions; 3) the concept and theory of zone of proximal development as the main road for learning and development. The three concepts are embedded in each other and united together via the child’s activity. The activity is the crank for them mental development.

Social interactionIn Vygotsky’s writings again and again the concept social interaction appears, and he argues that the social interaction between child and adult is the main source for development of higher mental functions. From Vygotsky’s point of view cognitive functions first are seen as an outer appearance between the child and adult and then step by step become internalized and with that a part of the child’s own mind. This understanding is expressed in following often used quotation: “An interpersonal process is transformed into an intrapersonal one. Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological), and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relations between human individuals” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 57).

According to above understanding one might set up several educational ideas. As human minds originates in and from social interactions in a specific culture, the educator has to highlight the social interaction between teacher/pedagogue and child, but also in general ensure the occurrence of social and shared situations in which children can construct meanings and where individual cognitive development take place. The interaction between adult and child (and also the child-child interaction) is expressed in different ways in social cultural educational models of teaching and learning. In the community of praxis and learning in apprenticeship children gives opportunities for learning. Barbara Rogoff (1990, 1993) argues for guided participation in culturally organized activity as an important form of activity, which results in children’s cognitive learning and development. In guided participation adult and child/children has a shared perspective on the activity, and they have a shared role in social cultural structural activities (Rogoff, 1993, p. 134) but the adult takes responsibility and ensures that each child is challenged in an appropriate manner and is brought in shared developing activities. The idea with the concept guiding is the fact, that the adult leads the child, but still in accordance with the child’s perspective. Taking responsibility there is a risk for missing the child’s own initiative, motive and interest. The claim is to establish a shared and joint interaction, to stress the mutual complementarity; in short to make up an activity and relationship characterized by dialogue and intersubjectivity.

James Wertsch (1985) illustrates the concept intersubjectivity in an analysis of a dialogue of a mother-child interaction doing a puzzle together. Although the mother adjusted her communication to the child’s capacity at the same time she also challenged the child. Thus intersubjectivity is not only a symmetrical dialogue (Wertsch, 1998; Rogoff, 1990). Inspired of Bakhtin (1981) ther American scholar James Wertsch (1985, p. 225) states that intersubjectivity reach a new quality when the dialogue holds voices in conflict.

The educational call for creating interactions between adults and children characterized by intersubjectivity in order to support the movement from inter-psychological to

intra-psychological processes can better be understood and realized by use of the Russian psychologist Galperin (1989a, 1989b. He describes three levels and steps in the transformation from outer to the inner (from inter to intra). First the child has to concentrate his attention on the object, thus the teacher must support the child’s sense perception and practical activity. The quality of this orientation determines the quality of the child’s learning. Next level we see a release from the concrete objects, and the language has a prominent role. In play for example the child does not need to do the action, it is enough to say “and then vi slept all night”. From this level the internalization continues, the exterior language fade away and the inner speak/thinking and other mental operations established.

Following the educational approach with reading, literature dialogues, children’s own storytelling, drawing and play children are constant involved in social interaction with both the adults and also with other children.

Cultural tools – symbols and signsThe second component – cultural tools or signs and symbols – helps the individual to master own mental processes, just as technical tools helps to master the work process. Vygotsky (1985, p. 310) mentions a number of examples of cultural tools: the language, numbering, algebraic signs, art, writing, drawings etc. In Internalization of higher psychological functions and in Tool and symbols in child development (both in Vygotsky, 1978) the mediating functions of cultural tools are described. Via the child’s meeting with and use of the cultural tools higher mental functions are mediated, for example thinking and perception (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 54-57).

Related to the mentioned educational approach the teacher and pedagogue have a chance to support children’s active work with cultural tools. The reading activity and the literature dialogues are carried through by use of signs and symbols – and too children’s drawings processes.

Zone of proximal developmentThe third cornerstone in Vygotsky’s theory is the idea of the zone of proximal development. In social interaction with adults and more developed peers the child is able to imitate a variation of an action which goes beyond the border of its own capacity (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 88). In other words the child crosses his actual developmental level, which is defined as mastering specific mental functions. Going beyond this level the child constructs his zone of proximal development, which defines as not developed functions but functions under development. For that reason Vygotsky very poetic uses the word flowers of development, and not fruits of development. The educational interest is focused towards the adults’ possibility to define the distance between activities the child is able to handle independent and what he can manage together with more competent partners. This is what Vygotsky names zone of proximal development, defines as: “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86).

This well known quotation suggests an educational approach where the children gives possibilities to bring themselves (or be brought) in situations and activities, which they can not handle and master alone but only via social interaction (for example vi a guided participation). Such an interaction leads to learning and development. Or with Vygotsky’s words: “We propose that an essential feature of learning is that it creates the zone of proximal development; that is, learning awakes a variety of internal developmental processes that are able to operate only when the child is interacting with people in his environment and in cooperation with peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 90).

Though the idea of ZPD has resulted in lots of creative education, there also is a risk for simplification and to use the idea as a mechanic instrument (Holzman 1997, p. 60). Holzman

(1997, p. 60) warn us saying this is not at all a zone but a lifespace, which human being are involved in and through which higher mental functions arise and develops. Also Cole and Griffin (1984), Engeström (1987) and Stetsenko (1999) warn against to see ZPD just as a tool for learning existing knowledge.

Together with the two earlier mentioned cornerstones ZPD can be seen as tools for creating educational strategies, which not only supports children’s appropriation of the culture (and with that the development of higher psychical functions) but also to gives children a tool for creation of “new”. Engeström (1987) uses the concept learning by expanding about learning processes which result in something new, unexpected and creative changes. Taking an aesthetical and narrative educational approach and arrange a challenging lifespace (in close connection with the other two cornerstones) this might give children a possibility to be creative individuals which produce quite new dimensions (content, knowledge and methods) in their lives and activities.

Aesthetics To support children’s literacy competence, including reading ability, good fictional literature is a pivotal point. The literature holds an aesthetic dimension, and more children reflect the stories via aesthetical activities: their own storytelling, drawing and play. We define and use the concept aesthetics as an activity based on sense perception and emotions where children receive and adapt impressions in a creative, interpreting and imaginative way, and their expression make use of figure of speech, a symbolic language and a conscious reflected idiom.

The concept aesthetics are rooted in the Antiquity, where the Greek word aisthesis stand for sense, feeling and emotions plus the knowledge about the beautiful; among others it was developed further by the German philosopher Alaxander Baumgarten (1750), and the aesthetical dimension are strongly established in to days modern pedagogy, where focus no more are directed towards “the beautiful” but more on the form, the expression symbolizing emotions and senses.

Aesthetics is close connected with imagination/fantasy and creativity. In the tradition of early childhood education creativity has been seen as an inner inborn ability, which among others is described by humanistic psychologists like Charlotte Bühler, Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. In order to place creativity outside the individual one can name the inner creative and exceeding imaginations which are based on the brains combinational abilities for imagination or fantasy Vygotsky (1995, s. 13; 2004). Rubenstein (1973) and Petrowsky (1976) use the term creative fantasy to describe the inner process, where the subject puts together different imaginations resulting in quite new pictures of imagination.

Vygotsky describes that fantasy is constructed on the basic of elements from reality constructed in quite new ways. The extent of the creative fantasy depends on the richness and manifold in the child’s experiences, because these experiences are the material which makes up the construction of fantasy (Vygotsky, 2004).

Because imagination or fantasy is seen as an inner process inside the individual, creativity can be seen as both an interior and external process, through which fantasy is transformed to a visible aesthetical expression or product. Vygotsky describes the route from fantasy to the external material manifestation as crystallized imagination (2004, p.11-20). Based on imagination often the creative process results in a visible or audible product though this can be superficially for example children’s play, dance and song. The above described understanding can be expressed like this:

Imagination → Creativity → Aesthetical productionInterior world External worldProcess ProductInvisible Visible, audibleIndividual Social

Although the individual in interaction with the world at the same time uses his senses and understanding, in the Western world there is a tendency to give a higher priority to the rational and intellectual. More there is a tendency to relate aesthetical processes only to senses and perception and to see aesthetics in contrast to the intellectual, scientific and rational. Such a separation is seen in education, which many scholars have mentioned (Ross, 1978; Witkin, 1974; Bruner, 1990). However it is both wrong and inappropriate. Actually there is a dialectic movement between fantasy and the intellectual, image and concept. Petrowsky (1976, p. 346) writes: “Fantasy makes it possible to chose an image and thinking offers to combine new concepts…. and the system of image and concepts are closely connected to each other.” A strive to combine emotion and reason is expressed by many scholars in order to make up en education where emotions is connected to the educational content. This claims theoretical constructions, which are able to describe the dynamic relation between emotions and intellectuality: Daniel Elkonin (1982), Whitkin & Ross (Ross, 1978, 1984), Howard Gardner and many others.

When children via individual or collective activity express their inner experiences, we talk about an aesthetical production. In one way this expression is a reproduction, a reflection, or with another word an imitation of the world (the heard story, the seen action etc.). However the child’s storytelling, drawing or play is not a mechanic and precise reproduction, but a subjective and emotional reproduction and in many cases the children have added quite new dimensions.

Describing such a reproduction often in literature on aesthetics one uses the Greek word of Aristotle mimieshai, which is translated to English as mimicry (Diamond, 1997). Mimicry holds two meanings, namely imitation and mimesis. In this understanding imitation implies a copy of the original (which is in contradiction to the vygotskian understanding) the concept of mimesis implies a change and a transformation of the original starting point in an interpretative form. In short one miht say that in imitation the original model will be recognizable in the expression, but in mimesis the original form may not longer be visible in the new form. The Marxist aesthete Lukács (1971) made use of the mimesis concept, and too Bruner (1990), whish describes mimesis as a metaphor which refers to reality, not for doing a copy but in order to create a new content. Diamond (1997) writes that in artistic representation mimesis is a sensual, critical receptivity to, and transformation of, the object. In other words we do not only see a rational reproduction but much more a sensuous moment of discovery, and a critical movement away from traditional norms and standards.

In line with Diamond one might say, that often children’s (role)play or dramatic play holds above characteristic (Broström, 1999b). Thus the Norwegian play researcher Faith Guss (2005, 2001) “contributes to our understandings of playing as an aesthetic and critically reflective, cultural activity among children of day-care age” (Guss, 2005, p. 234). This corresponds with Vygotsky’s (1978b; 2004) view on play. Here they create an imaginative situation and not only an echo of what it has seen and heard but a creative transformation of his impressions and with that a creation of a new reality (Vygotsky, 2004).

The American Vygotsky researcher Lois Holzman (1997) also understands imitation as a process characterized by dynamic and creative dimensions for which reason she uses the concept

creative imitation. Referring to a dialogue with 21-month-old boy she claims that “the babbling baby’s rudimentary speech is a creative imitation of the more developed speaker. It is not, Vygotsky warns us, to be understood as the kind of mimicry that some parrots and monkeys do. It is creative, relational revolutionary activity… In imitation in the linguistic zone of proximal development, the child is performing (beyond himself) as a speaker (Holzman, 1997, p. 62). In continuation of the concept creative imitation she adds Vygotskys the term completion. Vygotsky introduced the concept (1978, p. 251) in order to underline, that when we speak we are not only expressing our thoughts, but the thoughts are completed in the words (like learning leads development).

In children’s storytelling, drawing and play we see such a creative imitation resulting in a “completely new content, which is not seen in human experience and does not correspond to existing conditions” (Vygotsky, 2004). Via such exceeding and expanding activities often new learning processes arise, which Engeström (1987, p. 174) names learning by expanding. Because play (and also storytelling and drawings) holds such intense moments we can use the concept expanding play (Broström, 1999b)

NarrativeThe aesthetical approach holds a narrative dimension. In literature and children’s storytelling the narrative is obviously but also children’s drawings and play. According to Aristotle (1993, p. 23-24) a narrative is characterized by a whole or a ground plan with a beginning, middle and end, which brings the story to function. In general and with reference to Polkinghorne (1988) and Pitcher and Prelinger (1978) the word narrative can be used when the described activities and events holds a beginning-middle-end, uses the past tent and are tied up and expressed verbal, written or by drawings in meaningful coherence.

Referring to Bruner, 1990) “a narrative is constructed by a unique sequence of actions, state of minds and events in which human beings act as persons or actors”. Or using Quasthoff & Gülich (1985) “a narrative refers to a series of real or fictional actions or events that take place in the past relative to the time of narration (…). The course of actions or events that makes up the story contains some kind of transformation or change (…). The participants involved in the actions or events are animate, usually humans (…). Narratives are specified by certain formal characteristics.”

In other words a number of persons are involved in situations they continuous change because they interact with each other, create new dramatic situations, which the actors solve or give a new appearance and with that brings the story to an end. Thus expressed in another way, the term narrative can be used when following criteria are visible:

- The storyteller uses a model consisting of a beginning, a middle and an ending- The actions or events take place in the past and are carried out by humans- The actions are intended (Bruner, 1986; Polanye, 1995), and are expressed in for example

drama or other kind of performance in order to understand or organise the world- The content describes the development in a plot, and a row of actions are connected (opposite a

rattling of occurrence), and a meaning will arise from the ground of the whole story and not only from one sentence.

According to Labov, (1992, p. 370) Aristotle’s ground plan ‘beginning-middle-end’ can be described as following:

- Beginning – what is the story about? – explanations- Orientation – who, when, what, where?- Sequences of actions – what happens? Context

- Evaluation – and what happens then?- Result – what happens in the end? And then? What do the persons learn? What can the

storyteller tells?- End – new beginningTabel 1: Beginning-middle-end

For instance the story has a beginning, then some logical sequences of actions resulting in formulation of a dramatic problem, which finally is solved by the hero. In continuation of previous mentioned criteria, one might say a narrative is made up of following elements:

- it takes place in the past- it contains some elements which make up a sequence- it includes one or more important persons, main characters, agents- the persons create intended activities, actions or events- the action is expressed inside a frame, a context, a scene- the actions are directed towards gaining a goal, something the persons aim at- the persons carry through the actions using some particular tools and instruments, means- the narrative contains elements which contribute to the interpretation of sense and meaning

When these elements are related to each other, and combined in a creative way, a plot is established. And behind the specific words and sentences in a story, there is a deeper structure, which keeps the story together. According to a theory of narrative structuralism, the structure of a story can be described through five levels:

- A starting position with balance and peace (there was a cottage in the forest…)- The peace is destroyed, a break appears, a problem is formulated (the father became ill…)- A period with chaos and an attempt to solve the problem and re-establish the peace and

harmony (two of the sons went to the forest in order to…)- A phase with re-establishment where the unrest removes (the third son killed the troll…)- A new balance arise, a final situation where a new quality comes up (the poor but brave boy

were married with the princess)Tabel 2: Balance-chaos-new balance

Here some characteristics have importance. First an overall pattern fit the actions and events together, which is a plot, an intrigue, which makes the story to function (Bruner, 1999, Eng. 1990). This is central in children’s storytelling, plan and also in (but less) in children’s drawings. In role play the children negotiate with each other about the play theme and the roles, they define that situation, in which the role is realized, they invent play actions, and often they formulate a plot (Elkonin, 1980). The plot is defined “as the reflection of certain actions, events and interrelationships from surrounding life and activity by children at play” (Markova & Zaporozhetz, 1983, p. 89). Thus a narrative has a point to tell, typical something new and dramatic, as earlier mentioned “a course of actions or events that makes up the story contains some kind of transformation or change (Quasthoff & Gülich, 1985).

The second characteristic is the chronology of the story and not the question about reality or fantasy (Bruner, 1990). The order of the sequences of the story is central, again the idea of beginning-middle-end.

As a third characteristic Bruner (1999, p. 56) mentions the quality to connect the ordinary and usual with the unusual and improbable, or expressed in another way the relation between

fibula and plot. In the narrative universe the listener is ready to seek up a meaning to explain the break of the usual and accustomed which Bruner name rule of situation (Bruner, 1990).

The fourth typical trait of a narrative is the dramatic quality whish is carried through via a numbers of elements. These elements make up a scheme the narrative is constructed by help of (Bruner, 1990):

- There is one or more persons, main characters, agents- A problem, chaos, contradiction appear- The persons create activity, actions - The actions focus towards attaining goals, something the actors strive for- The actions are expressed within a frame, a given context, a scene- The persons carry out actions by help of certain tools and instruments, means Tabel 3: The elements of a narrative

In next section it will shortly be described how children’s storytelling, play and drawing are seen as narratives, and following five common narrative characteristics.

Narrative patterns in children’s stories, play, and drawingIn the Nordic research project - The Storyride Project, Nordic children from 400 preschools and schools produced their own stories, which in great extend hold above described narrative characteristics (Broström, 2002). This is expressed in below story told of six-year old girl:

The Knight Who Got Some FriendsOnce there was a knight, who owned everything what is worth owning, but was without friends. He sent for an old hunter and asked him to set out in the world and seek out somebody he could make friends with. He crossed a big bridge. Here he met a troll and asked: "Do you know where I can find friends?" "Sure, but first you have to solve three tasks. The first one is, you have to stay under water for two hours, without to come up. The second task is to walk through the ghost-castle, called The Old Castle. The third task is to show, that you are a real hunter." As the very first thing the boy tried the first task. He cheated having oxygen cylinder on his bag. Afterwards doing this task, he marched to the ghost-castle. But at first he bought a gun, shoot the ghost, who tried to frighten him, but he was not afraid of ghosts. Then he walked to the village, showed people he had bought a gun, and now they thought he was a hunter. Then he returned to the troll at the bridge. Here he got a mermaid friend and a princess friend. Then he returned in order to have a giant party. More the hunter returned to the knight in order to pass over his new friends. Then they lived safely the rest of their days (Line, girl, 6.4 years).

In an active way, Line uses many of the literary narration strategies from the fairy tales: a problem has to be solved and a character sets out on a journey through the whole world in search of a solution. Here the troll gives three tasks, which he completes in cunning ways, paving the way for a very happy ending. Line's fairy tale shows that she has learned to construct a story by using many recognisable narrative conventions. She is master of a storytelling structure.

Observations of children’s play view a similar narrative structure. In play one sequence succeeds the next. In a father-mother play for example the children sleep, they awake and eat breakfast, then a child suggests they should do a picnic and suddenly a which appears from the forest, and everybody become afraid whereupon a play with the theme chase and being chased is established. Such a play holds not only one story but a series of stories. Like this the Norwegian philosopher Kjetil

Steinholt (1969) and Michael Bakhtin (1968) compare play with the carnival because in both activities many stories are brought together.

Analysis of Danish children’s stories and play from the The Storyride Project (Broström, 2002) shows, that both context and structure in children’s stories and role play are almost identical. Yet one difference is seen. Namely according to the pattern beginning-middle-end children’s play does not have a clear ending as most stories. But according to the question about roles, themes and description of the context there are many similarities. In children’s play and stories we often see the same themes, for example children decide to play police and robbers, princess at the castle or dangerous animals in the jungle. Corresponding, the storyteller and the children in play distribute a number of roles, for example in Line’s above story there is a knight, a hunter, a troll, a mermaid friend, in play there is a robber, police etc. They also define a context, the imaginary play situation (Elkonin, 1980). In a police play the children quickly build up a police station by help of two chairs and a blanket, and then a boy pointed at a spot saying “here we have the prison”. In some stories the context are described, yet in Line’s story there only is a hint about the context, The Old Castle.

Children’s drawings can also be seen as a narrative. Besides the context, the theme, the drawings also holds a narrative pattern according to movement and development. The drawing tells a story. Something happens in the drawing, a story line is hidden in the drawing. Kress and Leevuen (1996, p. 56) distinguish between two typical patterns in children’s drawings: concept patterns and narrative patterns.

The concept patterns show the characteristics of the drawn objects and phenomena and how these can be understood. Opposite the narrative patterns show how actions and events are expressed, and also identify different processes of change and spatial arrangements and situations; for example both an airport and a police station and also the police car on its way to the airport.

In a research the Norwegian scholars Ekern and Zacharisen (2003) show, that children’s drawings are characterised by such narrative patterns (se also Zacharisen, 2003).. The drawings hold action and drama, which both are expressed in an isolated drawing and obviously in a series of drawings. However research on children’s drawing activity show different results. The Norwegian researcher Hopperstad (2002) only finds few narrative patterns in children’s drawings, whereas the Danish preschool teacher Jytte Andersen (2000) and the Danish researcher Kirsten Meisner Christensen (2000) both find many drawings with narrative patterns. From Ekern and Zachariasen’s (2003) point of view this difference might relate to the fact that Hopperstad’s research focuses on children’s drawing in planned situations and Andersen’s approaches children in free situations.

Children often mark the narrative dimension in their drawings by help of lines and spots. For example a car in action can be illustrated by help of so called speed lines, and a drawing about storm can be illustrated via spots and lines. Ekern and Zachariasen (2003, p. 177) report how children illustrated a story about a cat who tried to avoid a wolf: they draw track in the snow in a curve round the wolf’s cave.

Children also illustrate the story line when they draw many events in the same drawings. For example some boys make war drawings, and they completed their paper with lots of war actions: exploding mines, soldiers shooting with guns, airplanes dumping bombs etc. n the end their drawings was a chaotic mess where the one episode was drawn upon the next (Broström, 1983b).

Five common characteristics at stories, play, and drawingAbove short comments on children’s storytelling, play and drawings indicate that all three modes of expressions hold narrative patterns. These can be summarized in following five common characteristics:

- The narratives have a ground plan: beginning-middle-end (table 1)- The narratives are structured via the pattern balance-chaos-new balance (table 2)

- The narratives contain a number of elements: Persons (roles), actions, scene (context), goal, means and problems (table 3)

- The narratives contain a number of common themes- The narratives are (often) expressed in past tense

1. Beginning-middle-endAnalysis of the stories in the Storyride project (Broström, 2002) shows that most of the stories were told using the narrative pattern beginning-middle-end as shown in above story of 6 years old Line. However, often it is shown in a very easy way as expressed in Freja’s (4,4 years) story:

Once there was a wolf, he lived far off from his Mum, and then the Dad arrived, then they returned to the Mum. Now it is over.

In continuation of the short starting phrase “once there was a wolf”, the problem is expressed through the sentence “he lived far off from his Mum”. Before Freja, expressed the problem and the dramatic climax, she solved this underlying problem saying: “Then the Dad arrived, then they returned to the Mum”.

A slightly older child has learned to construct a story with dramatic episodes and a hero as problem solver:

Once there was a girl, who lived in a forest, then she met a wolf she brought her to the wolf cubs. And then next day the wolf ate the little girl, but it was only the Mum who did it; but the girl's mother returned and she could not at all find the girl. Then she heard somebody snore. This was the wolf. Then her Mum picked her sick bag and then cut through the wolf's paunch, and then they ran home (Louise, girl, 5.0 years).

A similar narrative pattern is seen in children’s play. In planning the play they often decide a plot. For example in a doctor play a boy said “then we called the hospital telling them an ambulance was on it way”. After this beginning, they planned a formidable operation, and after the doctor’s and nurses work the patient should be placed calmed in a sickbed. Thus we also in play see the pattern beginning, middle and end (Broström, 1999b.

In children’s drawings we also see this pattern, especially when we are able to follow the process of drawing. For example in a situation were three boys sitting around a table in order to draw one boy suggested to draw cars. “I will do the McQueen Lighting” he expressed and then he drew a red car. He looked at the car and said: “McQeen Lighting will take a race against the king”, and quickly he drew the King, and in continuation of this he made a lot of flourish and lines, which more or less covered the two cars. Then he made out: “Yes! Again McQeen Lighting was the winner”. As observer of the process of drawing it is easy to see the narrative pattern of beginning, middle and end. First he drew the red McQueen car and the middle the two cars, which challenged each other, and the end the winner of the race. The boy did not draw the two cars with details and accuracy, for him the car race was the important content.

2. Balance, chaos-new balanceStudies of play and children’s narratives show that these have a shared line of development. Above ground plan beginning-middle-end has a variation with five levels as earlier expressed in figure 2: a movement from balance towards a period with problem and chaos, then a reestablishment and in the end often a final situation with a new quality.

Sutton-Smith (1981) refers to Maranda & Maranda (1970) in setting up a model for describing the plot in children’s stories:

- At a first level one power conquers another power, who submits without defiance or defence. This narrative strategy is seen in Louise’s above story about the wolf, which brought the girl to a cave. In this story, the girl is conquered (eaten) by the wolf without a struggle, but the child is later rescued by her own mother. This theme is frequently seen in children’s role playing, with such variations as chase and catch, as, for example, when the police lock the thief in prison.

- At the next level the subordinate power tries to defend himself, but without success. A familiar example can be seen in children’s stories and role play when the police catch a thief, who escapes briefly, but is recaptured.

- At level three the subordinate power succeeds in neutralising the origin threat. In such a play or narrative episode, the captured character successfully escapes.

- At level four the subordinate power succeeds in neutralising the threat and also manages to change circumstances. An example would be a story or play in which the poor boy kills the monster, saves the princess and becomes king himself.

Children seem especially attracted to level four themes in their favourite stories, such as The Beauty and the Beast, as well as in their story re-enactments and story telling. Such a plot is seen in Line’s story about the knight who needs friends. The problem is beaten, and the hunter finds friends for the knight. Here new qualities arise. However, often young children are not able to make a story which ends up with a new situation. Below story is an example on this:

There was a policeman and he should catch an egg thief. Then he caught him, but they began fighting. Then the policeman got his police club, handcuffed the thief and put him to jail. But the thief found a hole in the prison, and he climbed out. And two policemen were talking and they saw the thief. Then they raced the police car, caught him, handcuffed him, and returned him to jail. And they repaired the hole (Nilaus, boy, 6.3 years).

In this story Nilaus almost jumps over the harmonious starting phase in order to enter directly to the problem and actions of the story. Hereby the storyteller solves the problem, and he brings the chaos to an end when he returns the thief to jail. The storyteller creates a balance, but not a new balance. He does not establish a new situation or new state.

In children’s play we often see a similar narrative structure starting with balance, a problem is viewed, and a period with chaos. As in some stories the rise of a new situation is not seen very often I children’s play. It seems like children do not like to stop the play. The children plan a play, they describe a starting point and they add a problem and a period with chaos, but very seldom they arrange a proper ending. The boy’s chivalry play, Superman and Spiderman play are characterized by fight and dramatic climax but very seldom they hold an ending realizing a new situation. For example the fighting persons make up a shared country where the evil group live in harmony with each other.

The narrative structure with balance, chaos and new balance is more and less seen in children’s drawings. As earlier mentioned this structure becomes much clearer when one follows the process of drawing, when children’s voices are helpful to understand the embedded structure. Because children often combine their drawings with storytelling in the Storyride Project we use the term “drawing stories” (Broström, 1999a, s. 107). Such stories-drawings are often characterized by listing, which is seen in below story a boy told at the same time he made a drawing:

There was a monster, which was going to catch a girl. Then the prince tried to save the girl. He cuts the monster’s arms. The monster died and they were married and then they shall live at the castle (Chris, 5,7 years).

The story enters directly the level of chaos, the problem is solved and a new situation emerges. In the parallel drawing the narrative pattern is expressed: The prince is situated between the monster and the girl ready to cut the arms of the monster (drawing in Broström, 1999a, s. 55).

3. The elements of a narrative: Persons/roles, actions, scene/context, goal, means, problemsIn children’s storytelling, play and drawings all above mentioned elements are often visible. Often children’s stories are drove by a number of defined roles the children for the moment have interest in, for example a princess, a monster, a dangerous crocodile. In the earlier described story of Louise we see a girl, a wolf and her mother, which gave rise to the story.

The chosen roles determine the actions and the construction of the plot. For example often the existence of trolls and wild animals result in a hunt for innocent children. However, the description of a given context can also give rise to the roles: “Once there was an enormous castle made of copper. There was a queen and a price”. Bruner (1990) mentioned that most often human beings take the main characters. In the Storyride Project besides human beings also animals, trolls, living trees, speaking fruits etc. take such main characters. And also figures from well known stories as for example Snow White, Power Rangers, Pippi Longstocking, Superman etc.

Children’s play holds in general all the mentioned elements. Often the roles determine the story in the play, but an underlying theme determines the roles. In a police play the boys discuss the roles, and they decide who to be police and who to be robbers. Via this dialogue the boys reflect the theme to chase and to be chased, which is a common theme in many (boys) play. Sutton-Smith uses the term ‘text and context’ to describe the story of the play (text) and that scene where the story is expressed (context). When the roles are stated the children negotiate about the actions, you might say they write the script. Here they also include the context of the play, which Elkonin (1980) calls the imaginary play situation. In the police play for example the boys said: “And here we have the prison, and here the police have their bikes”.

In play children also make use of many means, which according to Vygotsky the children ascribe a subjective and symbolic meaning to. The stick becomes a sword or a horse, the stone a bomb etc. In general the form of the objects has a certain likeness with the object it symbolizes, for example the shape of the stone has a likeness with a bomb.

There are also differences between children stories and play. Often in children’s play they have more than one story at a time. A Danish observer Bastian (1999) describes a princess play where the queen stole babies and torment dogs and other roles tried to free the babies and dogs, at the same time two girls played dogs and a third girl arranged a bed for a princess. Though the three groups of children had their own play, continuously they negotiated the three play themes in such a range that these were interconnected.

In children’s drawing activity the narrative elements are also included. First of all children draw the main characters, for example Superman, the princess and the prince, the cars from the McQueen universe: Lighting McQueen, the King, Duc Hudson etc. But also the context is often expressed in children’s drawings. They draw the castle behind the princess and in the McQueen drawings the children not only draw the main characters but also elements from the racing ring, for example the chequered flag.

4. Common themes

A forth shared characteristic in children’s storytelling, play and drawing is the appearance of contradictions, which according to the Russian folk literature scholar Propp (1968) and Sutton-Smith (1981) has the function to structure a story. In accordance with Propp, Sutton-Smith and also the Norwegian scholar Åse Enerstvedt (1997) the most typical themes in children’s stories and play are following themes, which also were found in the stories of the Storyride Project (Broström, 2002):

- Power and weakness- The good versus the wicked- Attack and defence- Chase and being chased- Care and friendship- Happiness and unhappiness

In both their play and their storytelling, children often incorporate power vs. weakness (big vs. little, adult vs. child) themes. For example, in a role play, the mother is often characterised by correcting and scolding, often towards the baby character. Paired contradiction as a literary device can once again be seen in the baby character itself as it shifts between powerlessness (being small, asking for care) and powerfulness (being defiant, obstinate, and rebellious, or, in some cases, showing extraordinary, sometimes supernatural, power).

Contradictive power dyads, either within a single character, such as the baby character described above, or between characters, are often seen in familiar folk stories, e.g. in the story of Cinderella, where the two sisters push Cinderella around and treat her like a dog. Ultimately, though, it is Cinderella who becomes more powerful in all versions of this familiar tale, as she marries Prince Charming. In the young children’s stories, power is often expressed through a dangerous animal: a wolf, a crocodile or an eagle.

The themes good versus wicked, attack verses defence, and chase verses run away are all expressed in Louise’s story about the wolf, which brings the girl to the cave, where the wolf eat the girl. In the following story about the quarrelling monkeys, we also see these themes. The monkeys quarrel, they fight, the yellow monkey is killed, and the red one throws the white one into the water:

Once there were many monkeys, and they found a weapon, and they quarrelled about the weapon, and there was one, who was jailed, and they meet some dangerous ones with rocking teeth, and they went to the forest. And there was two monkeys, a yellow monkey, and he was killed, - and he never lived again. Suddenly he lived op in the air together with another one. And there was a red monkey and he threw the white monkey into the water. And there came a tiger and a monkey shot the tiger (Ronnie, 5.1 years).

Evil is often seen as a theme in children’s storytelling, play and drawings. In play for example I role play children arrange their small plastic figures as Pokomon, knights and dangerous animals showing the scene good versus wicked. The evil theme is also expressed in children’s drawings. For example had six years old Peter made a drawing of a monster with five heads, which he comments like this: “In the corner there is a spider’s web, there are also black clouds. There is another castle. Here lives the power of the dark. The cloud has pointed teeth because it is also evil. This is all about violence then you can see what violence is.”

Though themes mentioned above are expressed both in both the boys’ and girls’ stories, the girls have some additional favourite themes. Not surprisingly, themes like happiness verses unhappiness, as well as care and friendship are more frequent in the girls’ stories. These

themes are typically expressed in situations where children or young animals are lost or attacked by dangerous figures, whereupon a hero (Mum, Dad or a helping animal) goes into action.

5. Using the past tense A story is a series of real or fictive actions and events which previously have taken place Gülich & Quasthoff, 1985). Logically a story is told in past tense. Obviously children’s use of the past tense is depending on their experience with literature plus age and development. In the Storyride Project for example 59% of the 5-6 years old children’s stories were told in past tense (Broström, 1999a, p. 81).

However, not only stories are told in past tense. This is also seen in children’s planning of play: “Then we said, you were little sister, and I was the bigger sister. Then I went to school and you were in preschool”. This sentence is taken from a typical play situation between to girls in a preschool. The two girls negotiate the roles, the play situation and possible actions, which are expressed I past tense. The reason seems to be the fact, that using the past tense the children demonstrate they are in a play world. The inspiration to this “role play language” is probably originated from their experiences with reading books. Most of stories and fairytales are written in past tense, and children make use of that experience when they plan the play. However they do not always use the past tense. Now and then they stop the play and discuss the next play sequences, and these dialogues are in general expressed in present tense. For example a child said: “I do not like to be little sister anymore”. A Danish researcher on child culture Flemming Mouritsen (1996, p. 102) states: Though the children are not conscious about the grammatical rules, the shift in tense is a signal showing they know they move in and out of the play world.

In agreement with this the Italian author Gianni Rodari (1987, p. 168) analyses a play where to children aged 5 and 7 carried out a tiger play in the jungle and later they sailed on the see. Here he shows how children use the past tense when they talk on their play and comment what they are doing. For example they made a fire in the play and they gathered firewood, and they made up a woodpile. This happens in “reality”. However in order to demonstrate that now they transit to play, the one boy said: “I threw piece of wood on the fire”. This is what Bateson (1972, 1971) calls a play signal: This is play.

How the children speak about the main characters, actions and events in the drawing situation is at present time not investigated – may be interesting findings can be uncovered in this field. ConclusionOur first experiences with group of five-six years old preschool children experimenting with reading of stories followed by literature dialogues, own storytelling, drawing and play seem to show the fact, that when these children transit to school there were very interested in and willing to do literacy activities. We do not have research data but teachers in school express this understanding when they compare with how other groups of children at same age start with literacy studies in school. – Sure such a daily life experience must be followed up with a real scientific study. However our theoretical study of children’s storytelling, drawing and play activities showing that they all (more than less) are build on same narrative structure, supports our idea: Children’s first reading skills and general reading competences will be enriched via use of children’s literature followed by literature dialogues and different narrative and aesthetical activities.

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