A lane
The Storyteller lane
Words, books, and telling it back. Longer Story & Snack, letters everywhere, puppets, and 'and then what happened?' at every transition. Lanes never change the bones of the week; they add one concrete tilt toward what your kid loves, at every age.
You might be here if…
- Asks for the same book a hundred times and corrects you when you skip a page
- Narrates their own play out loud
- Loves puppets, voices, and 'once upon a time'
Not sure? Start in Explorer. Squad Brain watches what your kid returns to and you can switch lanes anytime from your Family page.
How the lane tilts every stage
- 🌱 Newborn Squad
A board book at every feed and the same three rhymes all week; your voice is the curriculum.
- 🍼 Infant Squad
Two board books a day and the babble echoed back with one real word added.
- 🧸 Crawler Squad
Point-and-name books, animal sounds, and the first 'uh oh' story.
- 👣 Young Toddler Squad
Ten words to say all week, plus a puppet who tells the plan.
- ☀️ Toddler Squad
Longer Story & Snack, letters on real things, puppets at transitions.
- 🎨 Preschool Squad
Write the menu, the sign, and the ticket; beginning-middle-end with puppets.
- 📚 Early Elementary Squad
Daily writing that serves the project, a chapter book bound and shelved.
- 🔬 Elementary Squad
A podcast, a published piece, and critique in pod studio.
- 🧭 Middle Squad
An op-ed submitted somewhere real; long-form writing every week.
- 🎓 High School Squad
Portfolio-grade writing: essays, publications, and the personal statement built from one true story.
Twelve weeks of Storyteller tilts in the Toddler Squad
Week 1
👋 Hello, Squad!
Read the week's book twice a day. On the second read, stop before the last word of each page and let them finish it.
Week 2
🌈 Color Splash
Make a color book: one page per color, a photo or scribble each, their name on the cover in your handwriting.
Week 3
🚗 Wheels & Roads
Tell the Wheels story with three toy cars as characters. Ask 'and then what happened?' at every stop.
Week 4
💧 Water & Weather
Puppet weather report: a sock puppet announces the sky every morning at the weather window.
Week 5
🦋 Bugs & Butterflies
Retell The Very Hungry Caterpillar with fruit: they hold up each food as you read it.
Week 6
🍌 Farm & Food
Farm sounds are the first 'reading': point to the animal, they make the sound. Now point to the word.
Week 7
🚒 Community Helpers
Helpers' names: write 'FIRE' on the truck, 'POLICE' on the car. Letters attached to real things stick.
Week 8
🔨 Build It!
Build a reading nook inside Cardboard City and read one book in it every day.
Week 9
🐢 Ocean & Beach
Beach story stones: draw a wave, a shell, a crab on stones and pull three to tell a story.
Week 10
🦁 Wild Animals
This is the Storyteller's week: act out Wild Animals with masks, then let them tell it back with the puppets.
Week 11
🥧 Thankful Harvest
Gratitude story at dinner: everyone says one thing; you write theirs on a leaf and read it back.
Week 12
🎉 Lights, Music & Celebration
Showcase station: a stage with the puppets and a sign that says the show's name in their letters.