National Storytelling Week

Posted: 1st February 2026

Gymboree Play & Music is celebrating National Storytelling Week 2026 because stories don’t just live in words — they live in sound, movement, and emotion. With the theme Soundtrack My Story, we’re highlighting how music, rhythm, and sensory play help young children express who they are and how they feel. From familiar songs to imaginative soundscapes, music gives children a voice before they have all the words. At Gymboree Play & Music, our classes weave storytelling through music and play, supporting confidence, creativity, and connection. By celebrating this week, we champion every child’s unique story — and the joyful soundtrack that brings it to life.

At home, reading stories together is a wonderful way for children and carers to bond, particularly before bedtime. And in our classes, there are also huge benefits for each child. Storytelling can help with developing both cognitive and social skills. This is especially true for our Family Play (6 months to 5 years), Explorers Plus (28 months to 3 years) and Pre-schooler Steps (22 months to 5 years) classes.

Expert Guidance

pre-school children enjoying storytime

Our expert teachers help to nurture little ones to school readiness through brain games like puzzles, playdough and storytime. This is part of what enables children to become independent learners. Gymboree Play & Music classes are designed to progressively and gently guide children towards school readiness. We use a custom designed curriculum challenging your child as they grow, with changing playscapes and themes every two weeks.

Developing Skills

Storytelling develops literacy and communication skills, encouraging children to ask questions and develop their vocabulary. Stories also help to transport children beyond their immediate environment. They do this by feeding their imagination and help them to build better understanding around real-life situations. There is also evidence that by reading books and engaging in stories, children can become nicer people! Storytelling can develop a better understanding of other people, helping them to develop empathy.

So, whether it is the Hungry Caterpillar, Harry Potter, the Gruffalo or Mr Grumpy, storytelling can help to build a foundation for life for babies and toddlers. National Storytelling Week takes place from 2nd to 8th February and is hosted by the Society for Storytelling. The charity provides free resources available for schools.

Storytime – The Tiger Who Came to Tea

Gymboree Play & Music teachers read The Tiger Who Came to Tea – why not sit down for 3 minutes and enjoy the story with your little ones!

#NSW2026 #nationalstorytellingweek #storytelling

child development, classes, reading

Reviews

Both of my children (3.5 years and 11 months) go to Gymboree Play & Music and love it. My toddler goes to their drop-off Lego class which she raves about. It's very creative, working not only on Lego skills but also painting, drawing etc. My infant son loves his Gymboree Play & Music Crawlers class - particularly loves crawling all over their props, through the tunnels, etc. Great way to get the infant crawling over obstacles! Gymboree Play & Music is part of our weekly schedule for both kids and we look forward to participating every week. Invaluable!

Natalia

Gymboree Play & Music was a lovely and positive experience for my son Leo. We started when he was 9 months and he is now 3 years old, I wish we had started sooner.
He loves the songs (which is part of our daily singing at home), the freedom to explore and he was happy there. He looks forward to class every week and once class is over he will tell everyone about Gymbo and what he did.
For me, I liked that it taught him how to get down safely from a height, how to learn to use his body, and touching on different topics every 2 weeks. It gave me confidence in other environments to trust that he has the ability that he learned from Gymboree Play & Music and to trust him.

Sheena

I’ve been taking both my newborn and toddler to Gymboree Play & Music for a couple of months now and both boys are really loving the classes and open gym sessions. It’s a great way to meet other mums, entertain toddlers at witching hour(!) and get ideas for sensory play with babies. Sophie and Cat are fantastic and have so much energy and loads of different ideas for the classes, plus make sure the activities it’s help children meet their development milestones as well. Highly recommend this if you’re thinking about joining!! Thanks so much Sophie, Cat and the wider team :-)

Pippa