A Guide for Adults

Using 'Stories from the Web' with a young child will require some guidance and help from an adult. You may need to help your child use the mouse and keyboard, explain what is happening on each of the pages, or help them with reading and writing. Your child will develop their confidence and skills as they go along so don’t worry if they don’t pick things up right away.

In each area of the website you will see these buttons:

	This is where you will find help and instructions for each of the activities. You will also see a list of the skills your child will develop.
	This is where you will find more activities and ideas of other things you and your child can do together.

The Homepage

On the first page of the Early Years area you will see the characters Jif and Jape in the playroom. These two characters will appear throughout the Early Years area of 'Stories from the Web'.

To help you find your way around the site, there is a menu bar at the bottom of each page which will take you into the different areas. The five areas are Stories, Writing, Games, Drawing and the Gallery and you will see a picture next to these words which represent each area. Explain to your child what the different pictures mean as this will help them become familiar with the website. A description of the areas can be found below:

Stories

Here you can find out about picture books your child might like to share with you. You can search for books alphabetically or by theme, tell us your views on them, and see what other children thought. You and your child can also read and listen to some stories online. There are activities at the end of each one which will help your child to think about what happened in the story.

Writing

In this area your child can send in any writing to be displayed in the Gallery. They may want to say something about themselves or write a short story or poem. Your child can also tell us what they think of 'Stories from the Web'. You can help them to think of what they would like to say and type their ideas for them if they are not able to write themselves. This will encourage them to use their imagination and develop literacy skills.

Games

In this area there are some games that will help your child learn but most of all have fun! For each game you can use the Adult Info button to find out how to play the game and what skills your child will use. All of the games will develop your child’s hand/eye coordination skills as they become more familiar with using the mouse.

Drawing

Your child can draw their own picture or colour one in online. If you live in an area where your Library is Involved in Stories from the Web, ask them for a username and password. This will mean the online drawings can be sent in to be displayed in the Gallery on the website. Otherwise, you can print the pictures. There are also a number of activities to print out including pictures to colour in, dot to dots and puppets.

Gallery

This is where you can see all the writing and pictures that have been sent in to Stories from the Web. Your child will enjoy seeing their work with their name next to it. If they have sent in a piece of writing, make sure you read it out for them and praise them for their work. You can tell them that children all over the world will be able to see what they have sent in. If you have a username and password, remember to Log In to see all the work sent in from your area.