Art-Based Digital Storytelling as a Strategy for Developing Imagination and Early Childhood Communication Skills

Abstract

The early childhood education curriculum identifies the ability to compose and tell stories as a key developmental achievement, but in practice, many institutions still position children as viewers of digital shows and as implementers of art patterns created by teachers, narrowing the space for children's imagination and speech. This study aims to describe the implementation of art-based digital storytelling, analyze changes in the quality of children's imagination and accompanying communication skills, and formulate pedagogical conditions that allow the strategy to work. The study used a qualitative approach with a single instrumental case study design in RA Mubarokah, involving 18 Group B children aged 5–6 years, five educators, and 18 parents, with data collected through participatory observation of six learning cycles, semistructured interviews, artwork documentation and digital story files, and supporting questionnaires; The analysis was carried out with a six-phase reflective thematic analysis and its validity was checked through triangulation, member check, and audit trails. The results of the study show that the placement of children's artworks as the only visual source of digital stories shifts the position of children from recipients to authors; The completeness of the narrative structure increased from two to thirteen children, the average duration of speech increased from 24 seconds to 68 seconds, and the richness of unique vocabulary increased from 21 to 47 words per child, while four qualitative themes explained the mechanism of these changes, namely the ownership of visual artifacts, the shift in the role of children to authors, the function of voice recordings as self-mirrors, and the repositioning of teachers as facilitators. The contribution of this research lies in the formulation of a five-stage cycle model that integrates children's art production into the digital storytelling production flow and in the explanation of the the study of digital storytelling at the preschool level.

Keywords: early childhood; digital storytelling; imagination; communication skills; art-based learning.