Forest School Story Telling
Tell a Story
Children love stories and learn lots from good ones. At the end of a session when everybody has been busy and the clearing up is done a shared story helps give a session a reflective conclusion.
Many many of our native plants, animals and insects have ‘folk lore’ stories that can be used to help children understand much about the natural world in which they are playing and vicariously learning.
In the age of the internet searching for stories to tell is made easy. There are numerous old stories about our native animals and plants – although many need a little adaption to make them suitable for modern ears and ideas. The internet also throws up stories from other cultures across the world that can be adapted to our English woodland. Particularly rich sources are Native American and Moroccan stories. More contemporary authors whose work is great for retelling and adapting include Margaret Mahy, John Aiken and Ted Hughes.
Stories simply told rather than read allows the teller to engage with children most easily, it really doesn’t matter if the story never comes out the same twice – the children will enjoy telling you it’s different or even that it is wrong this time. Props gleaned from the wood can be useful and often help explain seasonal change. Also a bag of soft toys which are good copies of our native creatures can help stories along visually.
