Activity instructions

Step 1. Find somewhere comfy, with minimal distractions, to sit and read with your children.

Step 2. Before you start, have a look at the cover image and the title of the text. What does this tell you about what might happen in the story?

Asking quality questions
Open-ended questions encourage children to develop their language by encouraging them to use a wider range of vocabulary to answer the question in a more nuanced way, because they cannot be responded to with one word answers such as yes or no. Open-ended questions require them to provide more information and detail, and to actively process how to structure their thoughts in order to deliver a coherent answer and provide sufficient details.

Position yourself as curious - about the world, but also the child’s thoughts. Ask genuine questions (those that you don’t know the answer too), and work to invite a genuine response, rather than expecting a specific answer.

Try to avoid judging answers as right or wrong (posing questions such as “I wonder…” questions helps to take the wrong and right out of the answer, and allow children to explore and test their own ideas without fear of being wrong).

Continue questioning after the child has answered, asking, “Why do you say that?” This further reveals a child’s thinking.

For more evidence-based advice on developing oral language in children click here.

Step 3. Read through the story together. The text contains question prompts that tell you where to stop and have a chat about the story. Or, you're welcome to create your own questions and have your own discussions.

The power of pauses
Pauses have been shown to be an effective tool for encouraging children to participate in conversations because they slow down the interaction and allow everyone (but especially children) the time to think, process, and construct a response

Try counting to five before you prompt your child for a response. If there's still no response, consider asking the question again in a different way.

For more evidence-based advice on developing oral language in children, click here.

Step 4. After you've read the story and worked through the reflection, you could conduct a recount. Children should be able to give one sentence answers to the following:

What happened in Part 1?
Usually, Dani will set out to do something and then encounter a problem. Dani might also have an emotional response.
What happened in Part 2?
Usually, Dani will receive some good advice from Dad the Dingo.
What happened in Part 3?
Usually, Dani will fix the problem.

Step 5. You could also discuss the themes that were present in this story.

Discuss:

I wonder if there was a point in the story where Dani was kind / helpful / listened?
I wonder if there was a point in the story where Dani felt like she had achieved something?
Can you think about a time in your life where something similar happened?

Don't lead. Listen.
It is important for children to discover themes and lessons from the story for themselves. It is open to their interpretation, and they cannot be wrong in terms of what they felt or gathered from the episode.

As adults, we can easily see some themes (plus, we have the title of this lesson!) However, children might see, think, or feel something that we haven't even thought of.

What's next?

Children might like to think of ways they can be helpful around the house, for example:

Do they pick up all their toys?
Do they walk the dog?
Do they pull out weeds in the garden?

Children can use the form in the Student Worksheet to create a voucher for their parents or caregivers about where they can help around the house. Children can also draw a picture of themselves being helpful.

Want more Dani?

Try another Dani story. Check out all the Dani the Dingo Social and Emotional Learning lessons here.

Dani the Builder - Helpfulness

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