Storytelling with Children

by Nancy Mellon

Telling stories awakens wonder and creates special occasions with children, whether it is bedtime, around the fire or on rainy days. Encouraging you to spin golden tales, Nancy Mellon shows how you can become a confident storyteller and enrich your family with the power of story.

Children love family storytelling and parents can learn this practical, magical art. Here are methods, tips and resources to enable you to:

Create a listening...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1907359265
• ISBN13: 9781907359262
• Release Date: August 2013
• Publisher: Hawthorn Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Set Your Storytelling Free!

Perhaps you feel a bit...inhibited when it comes to telling stories to your children. Reading out loud, okay, that's doable. But actually making up a story? From scratch? Or putting into words family memories and memorable events on the spot? And saying them out loud? Perhaps this sounds a bit scary! I know that for myself, the written word seemed much less intimidating than the spoken word, and for some reason my wee daughters seemed like harsh critics. This book will set your storytelling spirit free - even if you don't know you have one! My confidence was lifted by the encouraging tone of the author and the helpful strategies, techniques and tools that she presents. And once the stories start coming, they won't stop, they will flood out of you once you open the gates. Your children will thank you for the gift of stories in your own words, and will ask for them, again and again. There is nothing to fear, storytelling with children is a delight! A Must for any parent who seeks to enrich and deepen communications with the wee ones in their life.

Storytelling with Children

This is an excellent introduction to the subject. It is simple and accessible and I would go so far as to say that it is inspired! It is a pleasure to read and will be a tremendous support to parents wanting to enrich their children's lives through story-telling. I was enriched by reading this book, and received many new and helpful ideas. Although not a "how-to" book, it is full of useful ideas that will get a novice started and sustain them in their efforts. Highly recommended!

Invitation to Inspiration

Storytelling with Children is an inspiration - with a very practical outlook. As a teacher, therapist and workshop leader, Nancy Mellon shows you how to pull stories from your own experience or a child's, using small anecdotes, memories or observations. She helps you overcome fear and doubt, and discover the wellsprings of your creativity. With a lighthearted touch yet a deep respect for children and the adults who love them, she acts as a guide to one of the oldest and greatest acts of communication and sharing - that of spinning a tale out of shared experience or sometimes (it can seem) out of nowhere. Parents, grandparents, teachers and anyone with a child in his/her life will discover how to make up stories for birthdays, and for important events such as birth, death, or moving house. They'll learn how to incorporate a child's fears and difficulties - or simply the ups and downs of everyday life - into a story that will help to resolve them. For those who worry that their kids are spending too much time with the TV and computer, this is the perfect antidote. For those who love reading aloud to children, the magic of creative storytelling offers something even more nourishing. Adults who start off feeling tired or uncertain find themselves "enlivened and cared for" as much as the children do. They feel closer to their child and more in touch with themselves. For children, the gift of a story made especially for them, is priceless. Diana Reynolds Roome...

Can bring parents and children closer together!

Storytelling with Children is a "how to go about storytelling with your children" book. It does NOT provide instruction on how to create a story. It does offer much information about why adults should be telling stories to their children. It also offers much about when we could tell stories. Included is a lot of anecdotal information about how people are actually going about storytelling with their children.In reading, I found this book to be gentle and encouraging, with a spiritual (not necessarily religious) touch that seems badly needed these days. Children suffer from a real lack of connection with their parents. Parents suffer from a real lack of connection with their children. Although this book won't cure it ALL, it certainly discusses a large piece of the puzzle.In closing her book, Nancy Mellon comments, "I like to imagine a world in the new millennium in which wise and playful storytelling surrounds all little children..." She goes on to describe this vision as a regular time for the gathering of family and special friends for an evening of storytelling and music. This would be time WELL SPENT!