Storytelling tips for program facilitators

Follow a few simple principles to engage your group with storytelling

Each Parent-Child Mother Goose session involves the use of songs and rhymes, but there is a special place for story telling.

In the past, people from many cultures have told stories to entertain, to instruct, to heal and to explain. Usually these stories were told face-to-face, person to person. Today, this tradition has dropped away, which may be why facilitators of Parent-Child Mother Goose programs sometimes sometimes tell us they feel less confident about leading the storytelling part of the program.

Facilitators sometimes report feeling less confident about
leading the storytelling part of the program.

Depending on the type of program you're running, you'll use stories in different ways.

In a parent and baby group, you'll tell stories to the adults simply for the pleasure they bring.
In a parent and toddler group, you'll tell stories to the parents while your co-facilitator plays with the children in another corner of the room. Over two or three weeks, the parents will learn the story and practise retelling it in your group, each one telling a part of the story before passing it to the next person. At the same time, they'll start telling the story to their child at home, becoming storytellers in their own right.

How to succeed at storytelling

Below, you'll find some tips for successful storytelling, and links to some lovely examples of storytelling you might like to adapt for use in your own program.

Here are a few tips we have found helpful:

When starting a new group, choose short stories. Group members may not be used to listening to stories and may feel uncomfortable at first. Say you hope they will come to enjoy story time, and demonstrate enjoyment immediately by telling a story that is emotionally satisfying or funny.
When working with culturally or linguistically diverse families, keep your stories very short and use lots of actions and gestures to get your message across. Repeat the same story for a number of weeks to support the development of English language.
Keep your introduction short. Say ‘I found this story in a book of old English fairy tales’, or ‘This story comes from a beautiful storybook many of you will know'.
Tell a story at the same time each session. Creating a routine helps new families get used to what you are doing.
Always precede story time with a lullaby or two. This settles the room and cues participants that a story is about to begin. For parents with babies, this will be a cue to offer a snack or drink. You may like to say a simple snack rhyme as well.
You can always treat longish rhymes as stories. Key to the Kingdom is a wonderful rhyme to introduce to a new group as a story. Tell the story twice, inviting participation the second time through. Other long rhymes suitable for this treatment are This is the house that Jack built and There was an old woman that swallowed a fly.
Choose stories that you like yourself.
Practise your story in front of a mirror. Watch yourself. Think about the value of pausing, of using actions and gestures, and of inviting audience participation. Consider telling a new story to a partner or child before telling it in a group.
As you become more comfortable in telling stories and your group members become used to listening to them, expand your repertoire to include folktales from different cultures, stories that ask for audience participation, serious stories and longer stories.

Some examples

Here are some great examples of stories and longer rhymes suitable for use in a Parent-Child Mother Goose group:

The Mouse Family takes a Walk (in this telling, the narrator supplements the aural narration with some American Sign Language, which differs from Auslan, as used in Australia)
Key to the Kingdom
Little Clapping Mouse
Grandfather Bear is Hungry
The Three Bears’ Rap
Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle
The Three Little Pigs
Two Little Butterflies
Tipingee
Baa Baa Smart Sheep, by Mark and Rowan Sommerset
The sequel to Baa Baa Smart Sheep, by Mark and Rowan Somerset
The little old lady who wasn’t afraid of anything (as a sung story)
The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything (as a told story from the children’s story book written by Linda Williams and illustrated by Megan Lloyd)
The Rainbow Fish
How Rabbit Got His Long Ears

You can find a collection of short and long stories read by well-known actors at StorylineOnline.

Australian author, storyteller and parent educator Susan Perrow has made some of her own excellent stories for children and adults available free of charge at http://susanperrow.com/stories.

And even if you're not a librarian, do check out the very funny Chicken in the library.

Know of some other good tips or examples?

We'll be hoping to add to this page from time to time. If you've got any great storytelling tips you'd like to share, or you'd like to recommend some other good stories told online, please do get in touch.