Transform your classroom into a Story Shop like Uncle’s. Using objects suggested here, brought in by your children, or already housed in the classroom, create an exciting and imaginative environment in which to inspire new stories, role play and literacy activities. Tables can be dressed with blankets, cushions and pillows to suggest seating areas, and mats to signify a story telling space.

To create the sense of a real shop, it is useful to show the main front entrance. This could be a curtain; a frame built using poles or an open walkway for the children and staff to safely enter. A shop till is a useful object to signify a place of business and trade.

The children can then dress the shop with objects that can inspire story telling imagination. These objects can be from traditional stories, or more abstract items such as kitchen utensils. The objects might inspire a story, help to develop the tale, take the story into unfamiliar territory or ultimately end the story.

Below are some suggestions for useful items that might suggest a range of different characters, settings and events.  These objects might already exist in your setting with a few additions sourced elsewhere.