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Supporting wellbeing through stories: helping children develop skills for life

As part of the National Year of Reading 2026, Partnership for Children's Early Years Programme Development Lead, Jayne Carter, recently delivered a webinar in partnership with Nottingham Trent University exploring how stories can be used to support children's emotional wellbeing. The session, Supporting Wellbeing Through Stories, highlighted the vital role storytelling can play in helping children and young people develop the social and emotional skills they need to thrive.

Stories have a unique ability to engage children emotionally. Through characters, challenges and relationships, children can explore feelings, understand different perspectives and develop empathy in a safe and meaningful way. Stories help make complex social and emotional concepts accessible, giving children opportunities to recognise emotions, reflect on choices and consider how they might respond to situations in their own lives.

At Partnership for Children, this belief sits at the heart of our Skills for Life programmes, which are built around carefully developed stories, recognising that storytelling is one of the most effective ways for young children to explore emotions and social situations. Through following relatable characters as they experience everyday challenges, children are encouraged to identify feelings, consider different perspectives, discuss solutions and develop coping strategies. The stories provide a safe, engaging context for conversations about friendship, communication, resilience and wellbeing, helping children build the confidence and skills they need in their own lives.

Teachers can easily embed wellbeing into everyday reading experiences through simple strategies such as pausing to discuss a character's feelings, exploring "What would you do?" scenarios, using role-play, or encouraging children to reflect on characters' choices and motivations. These approaches help children develop emotional vocabulary, communication skills and problem-solving abilities while fostering a love of reading.

“Using stories as a starting point made sensitive conversations feel natural and accessible for the children.​”

Early Years Practitioner

To complement our Skills for Life programmes Partnership for Children offers a wide range of free resources and activities designed to bring social and emotional learning to life. From story-based discussion prompts and classroom activities to practical teaching tools, our resources help practitioners and parents create meaningful opportunities for children to build wellbeing through stories and shared experiences. The resources include Good Books for Tough Times, a suggested list of books to share with children as a starting point for discussing difficult issues. These are books that are well worth reading with your child, whether or not they are going through difficulties.

As we celebrate the National Year of Reading, we encourage educators to harness the power of storytelling, not only to inspire a love of books but also to nurture the essential skills children need for life.

29 July 2026