Boost Your Child’s Brainpower: Storytelling as a Powerful Parent-Child Activity

Why storytelling with your child does more than spark imagination

If you’re like many parents, you’ve seen your child come home from school exhausted, frustrated, or worried about falling behind. Maybe they struggle to focus on homework, have trouble retaining what they’ve read, or feel overwhelmed by academic pressure. In moments like these, it can be hard to know how to help without adding more stress—for you or for them.

But what if one of the simplest, most joyful activities you can do together—creating stories—could also strengthen their brain, boost their confidence, and support their learning in unexpectedly powerful ways?

Creating stories with your child isn’t just play. According to research on storytelling and cognitive engagement, it develops core skills like memory, logical thinking, emotional regulation, and even problem-solving. And for school-aged children (ages 6 to 12), these are the same skills they need to succeed in the classroom—and feel good about themselves outside of it.

Storytelling as brain exercise: The science behind the magic

Between the ages of 6 and 12, children go through important developmental shifts. They’re not just learning to read and write, they’re building executive functioning—the ability to plan, shift attention, and manage information. According to the key milestones in cognitive development, this is a time when abstract thinking, empathy, and internal motivation really begin to take root.

When a child creates a story, they’re naturally practicing all of these skills. Even a simple tale about a fairy who’s lost in the forest can spark enormous mental effort:

• Working memory: Remembering characters, events, and settings
• Logical sequencing: Organizing actions in a beginning, middle, and end
• Perspective-taking: Thinking how a character feels or reacts
• Flexible thinking: Imagining different ways a problem might be solved

The best part? It doesn’t feel like work. For kids, imagining a magical world or spinning a silly tale becomes a form of play—and play is the most natural learning engine they have.

How to begin: Shifting from pressure to play

If your child already associates school and thinking with stress, don’t worry. Storytelling takes the pressure off. You don’t need special tools, writing skills, or even a specific plan. All you need is a few minutes of undistracted time and an open mind.

Try this: the next time you're walking, driving, or snuggling before bed, invite your child to create a story with you. You could start with a question like, "What if animals could talk for one day?" or "Imagine a kid who wakes up with a superpower they didn’t choose. What happens next?" The point isn't to finish the story—it's to enjoy building it together, piece by piece.

Another helpful approach is co-creating. Let your child choose a character, and you add a setting. They invent a problem; you suggest a twist. This back-and-forth dynamic builds collaboration and deepens the bond between you—not to mention the countless moments of laughter, insight, and creativity it can spark.

If your child struggles with attention or academics, storytelling can still help

Parents often ask: what if my child is easily frustrated, reluctant to read, or behind in writing? Wouldn’t storytelling only create more pressure?

Quite the opposite. Because the activity is oral and imaginative, it bypasses the stress some children feel when faced with written tasks. It lets them participate without the anxiety of being “wrong.” In fact, storytelling can be especially helpful for children with learning differences, since it exercises comprehension, builds vocabulary, and gives them a sense of success through self-expression.

Supporting imagination has been shown to improve confidence and resilience. As this guide on imagination and problem-solving suggests, encouraging your child to explore fictional what-ifs helps them grow more flexible and creative in facing real-world challenges.

Simple ways to make storytelling a regular part of your routine

You don’t need to carve out hours in your week to make this work. Story creation can happen in car rides, during mealtimes, while making art, or at bedtime. Here are a few subtle ways to build it into daily life:

• Start a weekly “everyone adds a sentence” story at dinner
• Invent a “story dice” game using random objects
• Play “what happens next?” before bedtime with no pressure to finish
• Use your child’s drawings or toys to spark a new tale

And when you need a breather or want to recharge your child’s creativity with fresh ideas, there are great resources out there. For example, the LISN Kids App is filled with original audiobooks and stories designed for kids ages 3 to 12. It’s available on iOS and Android, and it can be a wonderful way to inspire your child’s storytelling instincts even when you’re both tired or short on time.

For parents who want connection without burnout

At the end of the day, storytelling doesn’t just help your child—it helps you, too. It reconnects you to joy, spontaneity, and the reason you wanted to be close to your child in the first place. If you're looking to nurture learning without pressure, prioritize connection over correction, and embrace fun as a route to growth, then storytelling may be one of the most powerful tools you haven’t fully explored yet.

And if you’re looking for more ideas on keeping your child engaged—without burning yourself out—this thoughtful list of low-effort imagination hacks for parents can help you get started.

You’re not alone. You don’t have to have all the answers. But by telling stories together, you just might help your child find some of their own.