This morning, at 1.04am, marked the Autumnal equinox. In the days leading up to this I’ve been considering how fortunate we are to have such rich and varied seasons. Each has its own magic, but I wonder if you have a favourite and, if so, which one?

This is a story inspired by an ‘object spontaneous storytelling game’ I played with a group of Year 5 pupils in a Coventry school many years ago. One of the girls picked up the red nose and told a short story about it being a washing scoop!

Andy Langford & Annie Robinson

Ann Thwaite

Professor Alistair Griffiths

Professor Linda Gask

Heydon Prowse

Gauri Raje

Did you know that fairies, elves, sprites and pixies live in, around, under and between every nook and cranny in the world? You might not know this because mostly they keep themselves hidden, doing their work quietly, silently.

These little folk help to make the world a shinier, more beautiful place. The Meadow Fairies paint the colours into the flowers and polish the ears of corn, the Woodland Elves wax the mushrooms. Earth Pixies shine the gems in the Goblin Mines. The Sprites of the sea make the shells sparkle. Tree Fairies sing to bring out the blossom in the springtime.

Fairies, elves, sprites and pixies sprinkle their magic dust, wherever they go and whatever they’re doing.

When their work’s done at the end of the day they gather together around the fire for their evening feast, to dance and sing until Queen May and Grandfather Sun let them know it’s time for bed.

Many, many moons ago there was a little Woodland Fairy called Tatiana – her friends called her Tatti, – who cleaned and swept the nooks and crannies of their home. She was playful and cheeky, she sang as she worked and worked as she sang.

Tatti loved listening to the birds singing about their adventures. She was so curious about the stories that one day she told her family and friends, whom she loved very much, that she was setting off on her own adventure to see for herself!

She flew up and away from Dingle Dell for the very first time.

Tatti flew with the birds. Blackbird sang about the meadows, Sparrow twittered about the  the fields, robin told her about a secret garden and Woodpecker told her about the forests. Tatti wanted to visit them all, but when Seagull spoke to her of the sea that excited her the most!

Everywhere she went she was welcomed by her fairy cousins.

They gifted her tiny presents, a tiny petal; a gem stone, an ear of corn, a blueberry, a wonders of the world herself that she said goodbye to her of gold. Tatti stayed a while, thanked them all then continued towards the sea.

One particularly chilly day she flew and flew to keep warm, until she too tired to go on. Seagull ket her rest on his back until he brought her down into a large garden. Tatti could taste sea salt on her lips.

In the house a mother was baking cakes in the kitchen, the smell was delicious. Tatti flew in through a crack in the door and sat quietly on the table watching.

She heard a tinkling bell and looking up saw a little girl, in a white and blue dress, covered in flowers… The woman gave the little girl a kiss help her hand as they climbed the stairs

It was Poppy’s bedtime. Tatti followed.

One of Poppy’s baby teeth had fallen out and she’d hidden it under her pillow for safe keeping. Mummy tucked Poppy in bed until Poppy’s eyes closed.

Sleep Babushka Sleep
Drift off into the deep
Your dreams will hold you through the night
And guide you back to the morning light
Sleep Babushka Sleep

Mummy tiptoed out of the room Poppy sat up in bed and reached for her tooth. 

Little Tooth are you going to stay?
Little Tooth are you going away?
Where do you go to? What do you do?
Oh how I wish, how I wish I knew
Poppy put the tooth back under her pillow and fell fast asleep. 

Tatti sprinkled fairy dust all over Poppy, her bed, pillow and on the tooth too. Poppy smiled in her sleep as she saw the fairy in her dreams. 

Very gently Tatti took the tooth and carefully replaced it with a shining circle of silver, given to her by the Fairy Clan of the mines. When Poppy woke in the morning she’d know that her wish had come true.

Tatti flew in the darkness towards the beach and the sea.

‘Grandmother Moon, Grandmother Moon’ called Tatti in a whisper ‘Please take this special tooth and look after it for Poppy’.

Tatti floated the tooth across the sea.

Grandmother Moon had been hiding but when she heard Tatti she scooped up the tiny tooth and placed it in the night sky. It began to twinkle and shine and light the darkness. Grandmother Moon was so delighted she asked Tatiana to find other similar tiny teeth to join this one. 

And that my darling is how Tatiana became the very vey first tooth fairy, all those moon times ago.

And if you happen to look up into the night sky, when you’re cleaning your teeth, maybe you’ll see all those baby teeth safe and shining and twinkling.

‘Try not to become a person of Success. But rather try to become a person of value.’ Albert Einstein

Here’s a simple and joyful game that I’m currently enjoying playing in a variety of ways; on my own; with my mum and with a friend… I’m sharing it with you so that you can play too, if it inspires you.

For 26 days, each morning as you wake, think of a positive adjective to describe YOU, beginning with A on the first day and moving through the alphabet on consecutive days until you reach Z.

It’s also an accumulation game so rather than only saying one adjective for the day try to remember each of the adjectives from the previous days too….

For example on day 5 you might repeat back to yourself:                   

                                    I am an Adventurer

                                    I am Bountiful

                                    I am Creative

                                    I am Daring

before then adding a new word for that day:
                                    And I am Enthusiastic

You could also play this game with others – your siblings, parents, children, friends, colleagues.

This time you offer them an adjective which you think best describes THEM and they do the same in return. You could text it to them, speak it over the phone, share the word immediately before bedtime or when you wake, play as a whole class in school. You could do this in different ways for example one day at a time; 3 words each day; take it in turns if there are lots of you!

Challenge yourself to remember the words that the other person has offered to you, repeating them all to yourself each day (you could write them down until you begin to remember them!)

This is how I’ve been playing the game with my mum.

On the first morning I text 3 adjectives to describe my mum (she does likewise for me). It’s lovely to read the adjectives we’ve been sent. I speak them out loud to myself and again just before bedtime. I’m encouraging my mum to do likewise. The following day we both send the next 3 adjectives. I read the first 3 words followed by the new three…. by the end of 9 days I’m reading out 26 inspiring adjectives that she’s sent to me and vice versa. It’s been a wonderful way to share our love for and appreciation of each other.

This game can offer us many benefits including building a sense of our own value, appreciating and being grateful for others, strengthening our memory, increasing our language capacity and creating a sense of joy.

I wonder if you could think of enough adjectives to play this game for a whole year?

Let me know if you come up with other ways to play and share this game… how much fun can we create?

I can’t begin to tell you how much I miss sharing stories with people in person. Over the many years of taking my stories into schools I’ve often been aware of the children’s (and teachers) hunger for these stories, for the wisdom they offer and connections they create. I’m concerned that during this lockdown year our longing for a rich and bountiful feast of stories has increased and left many feeling famished, hollow and deprived. The question I’m continually asking myself is how do I best provide this nourishment and is it possible to successfully do so ‘online’ and from a distance? How can I share my knowledge with families and teachers so that they can bring more stories directly to their children?

Storytelling is one of the most ancient of art forms and a unique form of human expression. Children and teenagers who grow up with stories develop a wealth of knowledge, skills and resources which are available to them throughout their lives.

In a world of passive media, stories and storytelling activities play an important role in strengthening our imaginations and offering an antidote to the stresses of our world. Stories have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education and cultural preservation, for thousands of years.

What I seek to achieve with storytelling is not a short term quick-fix, but a powerful tool which will encourage the pursuit of lifelong literacy and learning. Storytelling underpins literacy, improving skills in reading and writing, but more than this, stories can motivate children to connect with their learning across the curriculum and be used in all subjects. Stories offer adults an opportunity to look at themselves and world around them in new and challenging ways, perhaps encouraging them to reframe their own story.

At the end of a creative learning project in which I was involved one of the teachers wrote about their experience. ‘I have learned that I can tell a story and engage 120 children; I have learned I can write a story; I have learned to listen more attentively, respond more slowly and thoughtfully. I have learned there is magic in and under everyday objects. I have learned that stories live within me. I have learned that books are only the beginning. It will stay with me and change my teaching forever.’

I’ve witnessed first hand the powerful positive effect of storytelling many times. One experience was when I worked, as a storyteller, in a secondary school in a deprived inner city area with twenty Year 7 & 8 boys. Together with a freelance musician, and in partnership with the English and Music Departments, I created and led four one day sessions using games, music, stories, dance and writing.

The objective of the project, working within the curriculum, was to help draw out the boy’s rich cultural heritage, actively engaging them to improve their attention and listening. The boys, who didn’t know each other at the beginning of the project, spoke 17 languages between them ranging from Yoruba to Cantonese, German to Gujarati. By the end of the project the boys had bonded well, with a strong sense of community.

I saw how much they had changed in a short time, from the first day when they were restless, aggressive and dismissive to being totally engaged and attentive. The most surprising and powerful moment for me was when the boys asked to present their own ‘made-up’ stories. The tales were funny, irreverent and moving. These young men were no longer just a ‘gang of kids’, but individuals with their own rich stories to tell. We journeyed together and changed each other completely. A year later they asked if I would go back and tell them another story!

I have seen these transformations through story many times, including a man who spoke to me after a performance of ‘I Believe in Unicorns’ – a story about the power of imagination, storytelling, books and reading. He said that he hadn’t picked up a book in 25 years since leaving school but that he was inspired to go home and read to his son.

So why storytelling indeed? Nowadays we live our lives at such a fast pace that we need permission to take a break, I believe storytelling gives us that opportunity. Stories give peace to our minds and feed our souls, they can inspire us to achieve more than we thought possible, to meet the world reinvigorated and renewed.

Do you tell stories? If so what’s your reason and motivation? I’d love to hear your story…..

This is a great game to play with two or more players. I used to play a version of this with my daughter as we walked to school, whilst waiting for our meal in a restaurant, walking the dogs in the woods or even when on long car journeys…. Her friends often asked to play when they were with us.

Begin with a game of ‘Eye Spy’.

For example:

1. Player One begins ‘Eye Spy with my little eye something beginning with….’ (let’s say C).
   When one of the players gets the right answer (ie: Clouds) they become the lead player (Player Two).
2. Player Two makes up a story beginning ‘Once upon a time’ and using the word they guessed (Clouds) as part of this story – after two to three sentences they return to ‘Eye Spy with my little eye something beginning with…’ (let’s say W).
3. Whoever guesses the right answer (Wellies) continues the story that Player Two started, including into it the word Wellies.
4. The game continues, passing back and forth between Eye Spy (to give you words) and the story, until the story is complete or you’ve reached your destination – whichever is soonest!!

Alternative: The Player who guesses Eye Spy correctly has a choice of either:

1. Carrying on with the next section of story. 
2. Passing on this task to another Player.
   If they choose (2) they wait for the next section of the story to be spoken before then taking back the lead with ‘Eye Spy with my little eye something beginning with…’

Here is an example of the story 

Player One…

‘Once upon a time, far way in the land of Clouds there lived an old and cheerful clown who had unexpectedly blown away on the North Wind a year or two ago. The Clown liked Cloud-land so had decided to stay.

Player Two…

Erica the Clown had always wanted to drive a bus but as she hadn’t learnt to drive this wasn’t possible before. However here in Cloud-land, instead of driving a bus she could instead drive on the back of a huge and imperious Eagle. The strange thing about Eagle was that she always loved wearing bright red wellies.

Player Three…

TIPS:

1. There is no right and wrong way to tell a story!
2. Don’t worry if the story is silly – I’ve found that the more you play the game the stronger everyone’s imagination becomes and the stories get better and clearer!
3. Often, surprisingly, the more mundane the story the more interesting and satisfying it can be (not like the story above!!!).
4. If you keep in mind what’s gone before you and reference back to characters, places and objects it makes the story more fun and enjoyable.
5. Use of metaphor or simile is always fun… for example if the Eye Spy answer is ‘banana’, instead of being literal you could say ‘the sun was shining so brightly it was as yellow as a banana’.
6. Have fun! 

I love telling and sharing stories so when I was asked to share my story here of course I leapt at the chance!

Actually I believe that we’re all storytellers, it’s a large part of what makes us human, we make sense of the world through story. Whenever we’re interacting with each other, whether it be at work, in the playground, over a pint or a cup of tea, we’re all sharing stories… adverts are stories, our politicians tell tales all the time don’t they?!

Everything is a story, and if we don’t know what the exact story is then we have a tendency to make one up for ourselves, for example, if we’re looking at a piece of abstract art we reach for a meaning, it’s the same for contemporary dance or music, what story does it tell? In science we want to know the story of the universe, the atom, the disease. If we don’t know the facts, we make them up, like ‘Chinese Whispers’… stories can be used for good and bad – lies are often elaborate stories based on some truth, but then so are novels.

Ironically as a child I’d never heard of the word ‘storyteller’ even though I was always telling tales. I was sent out of class at school a lot for talking too much and being the joker.

For as long as I can remember I wanted to be on stage. I loved dancing up and down my grandparent’s sitting room, acting out scenes from various story books. Looking back I realise that I was forever fabricating, making things up. I would often chat to myself, pretending to be interviewed, about my ‘family’, five Sasha dolls that I loved dearly: Heidi, Paul, Lydia, Simon and Sarah.

The book I remember most vividly from my childhood was ‘Fairy Stories from Many Lands’. I still have it. One of my favourites was ‘The Magic Thread’. It made such an impression on me that I adapted it recently for an on-line Storytelling Festival, basing it in Yorkshire where I was born. But the story I asked my dad to read over and over again was also from that book, ‘Princess Reedcap’.

I subsequently discovered, when studying at university, that it was pretty much the same story as King Lear. What a lovely revelation to me, a full circle from child to adulthood understanding!

Click here to keep reading

Profile first published in Cranleigh Magazine, September 2020

I recently wrote a blog about Riddles considering why they’re not only fun but also beneficial to learning. This started me thinking about the benefit of Games, in particular, Party Games.

I know that games are FUN! When we start playing a game, particularly physical or humorous ones, endorphins are produced that act on our brain reducing pain and boosting pleasure, resulting in a feeling of well-being. I love using many different types of games in my storytelling workshops and as warm-ups in rehearsals.

I also know that Games include a great deal of PLAY. Play has been proven to be a hugely important element in children’s growth including healthy brain development. Play is how children explore the world, allowing them to ‘meet and imitate’ the world around them. It is certainly vital in my work in creating imaginative and magical theatre productions.

Play enables us all to explore our creativity, our relationships, stretch our mental and physical dexterity and increase self-esteem.

Party Games can be adapted to suit different age groups, from tiny children to teenagers. These fun and playful games can support our physical, mental and emotional well-being. Through games children learn how to take turns, pay attention, respect and listen to others, communicate, collaborate and play fairly. Games can support our dexterity, improve memory capacity, offer us new skills and knowledge, develop critical thinking and improve problem-solving. Stimulating the brain with strategies in a game can be a great brain workout!

When you’re creating party games for a children’s party, my suggestion, in general terms, is that you choose games that are collaborative, where children work as a whole team, for children under 7 years old. However as children get older introduce more competitive games, games that move quickly, so that each child needs to be alert and attentive.

Obviously you know your child better than anyone so always create party games to suit their needs and their interests. For some children competitive games are too stressful whilst others thrive on them.

There are a huge range of party games on offer, including many games for large groups, however  I’ve chosen to share games that are inexpensive and easy to make and can be played with 2 or more people to take account of ‘lockdown’ birthdays. It is possible to play a number of these games with friends on ‘zoom’ who can’t be with you physically.

 Seven Playful Party Games

1. Pass the Parcel

This is a great traditional party game with a number of people but can be played between 2 or more people and you can add your own twist to it by including dares / clues for treasure hunt / challenges / poems / pressed flower / inspiring quotes between layers. Preparing the parcel with care and attention will give added pleasure to this game. Mix up the wrapping paper to include newspaper, beautiful wrapping paper, put it into a box so it changes shape, draw or write a message on a plain wrapping which is close to the final ‘present’. Make sure that you wrap each ‘mini prize’ with two or three layers of wrapping.

You could put the child’s main present in the middle of the parcel with smaller presents, wrapped individually, contained within the layers of the bigger parcel.

Add music that allows for pauses between wrapping to dance and sing and play with whatever is the surprise within each layer.

2. Pick Up Sticks

The first player begins the game by holding all the sticks in their hand and then dropping them to the ground, scattering them across the floor. The player then proceeds to pick up the sticks, one by one, without moving any sticks other than the stick they are attempting to pick up. We play this with spoons, desert spoons and tea spoons and a few forks.

3. Thing Finder

Make your own thing-finder necklace, pirate hat or wand.

Ask the children to find five objects in the garden or your home, straws, feathers, beads, leaves, button, pipe cleaner so that you can thread or tie them onto a coloured piece of string, wool or ribbon or stick/sew them onto a hat. Whenever you come across something at home or out and about you may like to add it to your Thing-finder necklace – unless its an old Welly boot, then that might be tricky!

Get your thing-finder eyes wandering – Happy thing finding!

4. Assault Course

Decide where your assault course is going to take place, indoors or out – you don’t need a huge amount of room. Create a course with cushions, furniture, string, broom handles, pots and pans, buckets, sheet / blankets, dice, skipping rope. Hang a rug or sheet over two chairs to climb under, put a broom handle for them to limbo. Pile up some pillows for a “mountain climb’. Put a napkin on the floor for your child to pick up in their feet or nose and drop it into a bucket or pan. Create a blindfold taste test, so they have to work out three different foods tastes. Have a section where they have to roll a 6 on the dice before they can move on.

Mark the ‘starting line’ with a piece of wool or cloth.

Choose an age appropriate way for your child to begin at the starting line eg: a bow, turn around three times, sing a song, mime an animal, recite a poem and then choose a challenge for them to move to the first obstacle, for example  balancing a book on their head, hop, skip, juggle. Decide on some playful ways to move from obstacle to obstacle. A few ideas: walk like a crab or rabbit, slither like a snake, walk backwards or sideways, eyes closed etc.

If you keep a note of the time it takes for your children to finish the course you can then ask them if they can beat this next time round!

5. Tray with Objects

I’ve played this game since I was a child and I love it….. Place a number of random objects, from around the garden or your home, onto a tray or table. Ask the children to study the objects for 30 seconds and then place a beautiful cloth or napkin over the top of the objects. Can they remember every single item on the tray? You can amend and change this game in many ways, for example after the children have studied the tray ask them to close their eyes or leave the room, remove only one object from the tray – can they guess what is missing?  

You could move this into a storytelling game where you ask the birthday child to choose one object and between you answer three questions – what is it really? who does it belong to? where did it come from? This can create a wonderful spontaneous story between you.

6. Pin the Tail on the Donkey

Draw or print out an image of a donkey, minus the tail. Then draw or print out a number of donkey tails, cut around them and stick blu tack on the back so they can be fixed onto the donkey. Hang the donkey picture on the wall, at roughly eye-level to the players. Blindfold the first player, hand them a donkey tail and spin them around gently three times. Guide the blindfolded player in the general direction of the donkey, allowing them to make their own way to the wall, to place the tail on the donkey. Mark the spot where the player has placed the tail with their name. When every player has had a turn, the one whose donkey tail is closest to the correct position wins.

You can change this to suit your own theme: Harry Potter’s scar, Football next to the footballer’s foot/ head, fairy’s wand in the fairy’s hand.

7. Musical Statues

Another game that I loved as a child and still love to play now! Invite your child to move joyfully around in our home or garden – dancing, hopping, skipping, running – while the music is playing and to freeze into a statue when the music stop. They need to remain like a statue until the music starts again. Randomly stop and start the music thought out the game.