Storytelling for Children: Be Prepared For Changes

Of all the storytelling techniques for children you might have practiced, the most important technique is “be ready for anything.” You have to be prepared with an assortment of stories when storytelling for children.

Years ago, I had been hired to tell stories to a group of children at a local library. I was told to expect kids of roughly ages 6-8. For me, that age is about the youngest that I feel I can be effective with as a storyteller for children that are not family.

When the audience started to arrive at the library, they were not the older children I was expecting but rather just-barely-beyond-toilet-trained toddlers, who had much of their focus spent on their “big boy pants” (the pull-up pants that are a version of very absorbent underpants) and the exciting-to-a-child Velcro(tm) strips on their shoes.

All of my prepared stories were geared for the listening and participative skills of children older than the little ones before me. I had to dig deep into my mental repertoire of stories and games to entertain this very young crowd. The kids, parents, librarians and I had a good time but it was the longest 25 minutes of my life!

Events with children are always in flux. Noise levels change, children wiggle and stand, cry and shout, listen or wander. I have learned that the posted age-range for public events is usually ignored by parents and caregivers. Even in schools, the schedule can change in a moment and you might find yourself with a different age group than expected.

Be flexible and have a wide variety of stories to tell when storytelling for children.

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Sean Buvala is the author of the parenting and storytelling book, “DaddyTeller,” available at Amazon in Kindle and print form.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 27th, 2011 at 1:33 pm and is filed under StoryTelling Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  1. Mary Jo Huff says:
    October 28, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    Loved the article. I have written a few for Early Childhood magazines and this one was fun. I hope my life slows down some so I can tune into your site more often. Mary JO

    Reply
    • Storyteller says:
      October 28, 2011 at 4:00 pm

      Thank you very much. We just have a little bit of fun with this site as an extension of Storyteller.net. Thank you, Mary Jo, for stopping on in!

      Reply
  1. BizSugar.com says:
    October 27, 2011 at 2:07 pm

    Storytelling for children: Be Ready For Shifts…

    Of all the storytelling tactics for kids it’s likely you have studied, the key method is “always be prepared for anything.” You must be equipped using an different tales whenever working with little children….

    Reply
  2. pligg.com says:
    October 27, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    You have to be prepared with an variety of stories when working with children….

    Reply
  3. pligg.com says:
    October 27, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    With all the different storytelling ways of little children you could already have attempted, a very important method is “always be ready for everything.” You actually must be equipped using an variety of tales when working together with youngsters….

    Reply

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