Storytelling with a twist

Special locations
You noticed I said, "Admit them to story land" -- why not have special places for story land? Drape a blanket or sheet over a card table, take a lantern and crawl into a special cosy place. Or pull the couch away from the wall and now you have a tunnel in which to crawl for your time together. One friend suggested using the wading pool indoors. No, not water. She fills it with cushions and she and her three youngsters sail off on a magic ocean for story time.

I have used a blanket in the middle of a room as an island and then whispered in a dramatic voice,"If you can just walk on this tightrope with me you can make it over to my island for story time."

Of course the tightrope is merely a piece of orange twine laid across the floor, but I am setting the stage for the leaps of imagination to follow.

I have also had the children pay to enter the story session. For instance, "Susan, to enter story time today you will need a smile. It should be your most special smile."

Selecting the story
Now you are at story time. So have you selected a wonderful book from the public library? Are you going to use your imagination to write your own or decided to let your youngster help you write the story?

For this latter choice, I put together pictures cut and pasted from various books and Internet sites. I print off what I need, take about eight to 10 pages and place them in a duo-tang. For instance, I had a dog on page one, then the same dog with another dog on page two. The children might say, "This is the story of Chaser, the dog." When they see the next page they might say Chaser meets his pal Blackie and they want to play. If I add a picture of the two dogs chasing huge bubbles the children will easily be able to identify and talk about the fun the two dogs are having. As I turn each page I ask the children what they think is happening. In this way, the story is theirs. The children have become the story tellers.

There is nothing that matches time spent with your children, not Walt Disney videos or Big Bird or Saturday morning cartoons. When you invest time with your child the rewards are immeasurable.

Often we set out to make a difference in the lives of others only to discover we have made a difference in our own... (Ellie Braun-Haley)