Helen Evans Storyteller

www.helenevans-storyteller.com

Ideas

Ideas for stories are all around us.

Use your imagination and you will have no trouble thinking of subjects. Here are some ideas to start you thinking.

Make up a story about

• searching for a lost toy

• shopping

• a birthday

• a visit to a farm or the zoo

• a storm

• learning to swim

• the three bears go camping  

• animals

• children like the listener   

• toys    

• familiar places

You don’t have to wait until your child is talking before you start telling stories. Some people even tell stories to the unborn baby and it seems that children who have heard stories from birth or before, learn to communicate early.  These children often become keen readers too.

A baby will listen intently to a mother or carer.  Baby is soothed by a known voice. If you have played bouncing games with a baby, acted out nursery rhymes with a toddler, or recalled the events of the day with a pre-school child, you are a storyteller.

Stories can be long or short.  They can be ones you have heard or read.  They can be traditional tales or personal experiences. Put a surprise into a story about daily life, and some humour, and you will have a winner. For example, in a story about your child’s birthday, let Cookie Monster knock at the door.

What makes a story successful?  It may be

• your expressive face and voice  

• the plot of your story

• how you involve the child

• pictures or things you use in the story

To learn more about storytelling, click on the storytelling method button at the side

Helen's book, Simply Storytelling, published by Tertiary Press, 2007, is now available.

The ISBN is 086458 810 0 (978-0-86458-810-4)

Helen has a new book called Everyday learning about storytelling. It is available from Early childhood Australia at www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/lah0902  Price is only $14.95