Tell Me a Story: Using Touch

There are many different ways to incorporate the sense of touch into storytelling and story-acting.

I focused on touch as a starting point when I was working with seniors with dementia. I always had a bag of scarves to serve as props and often brought in other objects (often natural objects that were out of reach for folks living in a facility like seashells or pine cones). Of course all of these objects activate other senses too, but it was important to me to have things they could touch as well as see.

One moment will always stand out to me. A woman that enjoyed our talk sessions but really was not into our acting sessions got swept up into a group-created story about three sisters getting ready to go to a dance. When she agreed to be one of the sisters, I asked her "what color dress will you wear?" She replied, "Blue" and her eyes lit up with delight when I pulled a light blue scarf from my bag . "Yes, that's the color!" she said. She and I draped it over her and throughout the rest of the session, I saw her stroke the scarf while she participated with gusto. I believe it was that moment where her senses got united with her imagination that freed her to enjoy stepping into the group's story.

So here are a few ideas to get started:

1) Choose an object (or objects) to bring into playing with your little person and see how it evolves into a story. With a seashell, you can talk about its colors and textures, listen for the ocean and tell/act a story of the shell' s journey in the ocean. Or imagine what it is like to live inside a shell and act that out.

2) Choose a tactile way to expand a written story that your little person enjoys. An example is having a set of keys to use while reading "Goodnight Gorilla." Scarves or playsilks are always wonderful to become the sea or the sky or other elements of a story.

3) Start with the tactile experience of the here and now. If you and your little person are barefoot in the grass, explore that feeling and let it grow into whatever comes next...maybe being a piece of grass growing. Or telling a story about the toes in the grass that met an ant. Or the toes in the grass that met other toes and took them to meet the brick path by the grass.

That's just the beginning....what ideas do you use with your little ones?

Tell Me a Story: DIY Myth

And so our sleep-deprived story continues....

As LP (and we) serve out our transition time (that uncomfortable time when the old way of doing things no longer works and the new way of doing things isn't yet defined), there are many awake hours in wee hours of the morning.

Not my best time.

I'm trying many new things to shift our nights into a better and more sleep-filled experience. Along with some straight talk about nighttime (which is for sleeping) I'm also developing the story of the Sleepy Bird. I have a (hopeful) feeling that Sleepy Bird will become part of our bedtime and re-falling asleep routines. She has great potential to serve a mythic function.

A few nights ago, LP really settled down as I started to tell her about the Sleepy Bird getting up out of her nest and flying through the night sky, over houses and apartments and all kinds of places that people are sleeping. I was able to spin a long, long story about trees dreaming about tree things and so on. When the Sleepy Bird sees someone not sleeping, she comes and sings a soft, sleepy song to help them go back to sleep.

Last night when I said goodnight, I reminder her about Sleepy Bird, she smiled and softly said "tweet, tweet".

Fingers crossed that "tweet tweet" and lead to sleep, sleep.

This post is part of the Moms' 30 minute blog challenge over at SteadyMom.

Act It Out: Getting Started

Looking over my blog, I realize how heavily I rely on improvised verbal storytelling and have neglected getting into action. The reason is because verbal stories have been what seem to delight and inspire LP's imagination but as I'm working to challenge her to expand her play, it is good to challenge us both into more active storytelling.

Getting started can be easy...while sharing a story (either made up or already known like a fairy tale), find a place to do a little action together. You can flutter like butterflies or wiggle like worms. You can feed each other pretend spoonfuls of the Three Bears' porridge or clip-clop clip-clop around like the Billy Goats Gruff.

You don't have to commit to acting out the whole story to introduce action into storytelling... although acting out whole stories is something I look forward to with great anticipation!


This post is a part of the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge over at SteadyMom.

Jenny on Improv, Kids & Storytelling

My friend Jenny (improvisor and mom of 2) wrote about telling improv stories with kids over at Improv Notebook. Go check it out!

Tell Me a Story: Meandering Along

One of the traps that I fall into in my storytelling is trying to make it all a neat package with a cohesive beginning, middle and end. Yet if I pay attention to LP during storytelling I find she is much more open-minded about where a story goes. It can be a reflection of (or my best guess) of some of her experience in the world. (Sometimes I think my storytelling job is to help build cohesiveness and other times I think it is simply to reflect.)

So today's storytelling challenge is to let yourself meander like your kiddo.

See something shiny in your story...go over there and describe it, explore it, find out what it likes to eat for dinner and oh, wait...look over there! It's a worm in a puddle swimming home. Follow the worm as she wiggle-swims along and then....Hey! Look over there! The worm found an apple to eat and there's an apple tree with a bird's nest in it and the nest has three eggs, one blue, one green and one red. The eggs are starting to hatch and out comes a dinosaur, a turtle and a bird. A little girl named LP climbs the tree and look sin the nest and then.....

well and then, see what happens next and next and next.

Tell Me A Story: Poetry

My fallback storytelling is to start with what is in front of me. I use details from what I'm looking at or something we did that morning or some concrete event and tell stories from there.

And I've realized that is quite useful, it also can be limiting when I only rely on those techniques.

And I've also realized that LP has NO PRECONCEPTIONS about poetry and all the delightful things that make something poetic (simile, metaphor, imagery and so on). So all the fear voices in my head that criticize my poetic efforts are now dismissed.

So recently I'm reminding myself to play with those things and tell a story about the trees talking with the stars in the sky and a cloud's adventure floating overhead and to imagine eating ice cream is like eating a snowdrift.

This also evolved into a game yesterday when LP was cuddled up in my lap after we spent a good bit of time attempting to plant potatoes (various mishaps occurred, it is quite possible they won't come up). I blew on her and said "Mama is the wind and LP is the tree with lots of leaves" and she giggled. After a few times she started to rock against me and I said "LP is the ocean crashing into Mama as the beach." And she said "crash, crash" getting more intentional in her movements. After a minute or so, she cuddled in again and said "I'm a bird" and when I said "and I am a nest" she said, "Where's mama bird?" So I became that instead.

It was sweet and playful and seemed to fill her up more than a cuddle on its own. (This is pretty crucial these days when I am so hungry for her to play more independently).

"You guys sing..."

I've been noticing and delighting in LP's evolving storytelling. She's moved from responding to more and more initiating.

Now instead of "Tell me a story." she will say "Tell me a story about a space heater who had a cold and needed a cup of tea."

The same is true for songs...she's been saying "Sing a song about a Wild Thing named Violin Case who wants her Mommy."

These requests are so alive and energetic as she moves toward taking on more and more creative control of the stories. I'm reminded how like so many developmental leaps, it is building on the many, many stories I've told, ImprovDad has told, books we've read, stories we've created together ~ some fun, some boring, some logical, some nonsense ~all of these contribute to the magic of now.

Today in the car on the way back from a hike in the Oakland hills, she was calling out to us "You guys sing a song about Sarabbi walking Lulu the dog wearing poodle shoes." (Sarabbi is her new name for herself)

And so we did. And then another and another. All different, all directed by LP. My favorite car ride as a family to date.

Happy New Year, LP ~ I'm looking forward to all the stories we have ahead of us in 2010.

Tell Me a Story: Perspective

LP is in love with a Wild Thing.

We went to the Sendak exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco and interacting with the two "live" Wild Things was the highlight. Actually the only light because once LP met them the rest of our time in the museum was spent "Wild Thing hunting" so we could find them again. (The actors in those costumes were really great especially since they couldn't really see and had to have a museum staff member directing them where to aim their lovely masked faces and furry waves and high fives.)

So LP got to choose a stuffed Wild Thing at the gift shop; it was truly difficult choice as she told me "I love them all." And so Violin Case (yes, that's the Wild Thing's name and no, I have no idea why but it kinda works) has become a part of the family.

I love the name Violin Case because it so exemplifies the freedom of LP's stage of life. She likes the sound of those words so why not a name? I enjoy so much of that part of LP's play these days...one of Violin Case's buddies at our house is the space heater (named Feather). And really, why not a space heater (as long as certain safety rules are followed). Big huzzah for the imaginative freedom to be friends with people and live animals and plants and stuffed animals and all kinds of inanimate objects.

And now for the storytelling connection....the night after Violin Case joined our family was truly epic in the lack of sleep. Epic. Even for us, the house of insomnia and bad sleep. And it was just LP and me because ImprovDad was out of town. There was singing, there was cuddling, there was rocking, there was soft music and back rubs....and a story.

I told LP the story of Violin Case's day from Violin Case's perspective (rather a la Coduroy). Even despite the miserable early morning hour it was a fun way to tell a story. It was especially fun to explore what Violin Case's thought about LP and our home and the new friends she met like Feather.

So that's my new storytelling start...taking the freedom to choose a different perspective.

This post is part of SteadyMom's 30 Minute Blog Challenge.

Stories that Travel

LP and I are newly back from a trip to the East Coast to visit a bevy of family. A really good time AND disorienting for LP in all the ways that you'd expect for a 2.5 year old away from Improvdad and home and routine.

Now I thought that making up stories together would fill hours of plane time but she was having none of it. She has figured out that plane trips are about all the mysterious snacks & toys in the huge backpack...an improv story is a good time but alas, cannot be wrapped up in tissue paper like a present. (Although one can give each other pretend presents but that's a game for slightly older kids...and a different post).

The time & place for improv stories was when LP needed comfort, when she was feeling overwhelmed and tired and missing home. AND the stories she desired were about familiar characters in familiar places doing ordinary things.

LP has a group of characters she likes to hear stories about. We often also sing songs about them too. I cannot remember the evolution of them but they are here to stay. So I introduce you to....the Guy and the Fly and the Noisy Cow. Since they are old favorites, I started to tell her a story about the three of them going to the backyard to play.

At the end of the story, she asked for another. I followed an impulse and asked her "same story or different story?" LP replied "same story!" and I told her the same little tale about the Guy and the Fly and the Noisy Cow playing in the backyard at least 4 times. Then the same repetition of story about the Guy and the Fly trying to wake up the Noisy Cow from a nap.

I love it when I am surprised by what stories can give us...in this case, the stories were a security blanket, a reminder of home and a way to connect and get grounded again.

Tell Me a Story: Getting Started

Some folks are more comfortable than others spinning stories. It seems like I often hear or read about parents/aunts/uncles/grandparents/nannies/etc who tell fantastic, episodic stories.

Kind of intimidating for the rest of us.

So start simple. There's no pressure for a made-up story to be a certain way or even "good." What is "good" in relation to stories anyway? If you and your little person enjoy the experience, then it is good.

Start with something small that really happened.

"Once upon a time, LP was waiting for the bus with her mama. It was a hot day and they waited and waited and waited."

Then make an offer that can trigger your (and their) imagination. Words like "suddenly" and phrases like "all of a sudden" can be magic in inspiring what comes next.

"Suddenly a giant bumblebee flew over to them and offered them a ride."

If you get stuck for plot, move to description and color the story.

"The giant bumblebee has 3 black stripes and 3 yellow stripes. It was very fuzzy and was wearing a bright, pink scarf. "

You can alternate between "suddenly" moments to move the action of the story forward and descriptive moments until you're ready to wrap the story up.

LP & her mama climbed on the giant bumblebee's back and flew home. They invited the bumblebee in for a snack. They all had tea and and graham crackers with honey.

Some stories will be of the moment and then are gone. Others will capture your little person's imagination and then you have the foundation for episodic stories. (A post on that topic coming soon!)

Warm Up to Play, Part I

Yesterday at the playground, LP was a bit out of sorts. Not a tantrum out of sorts (lucky for me) but a kind of wandering around in a bit of a listless way, not finding anything engaging out of sorts. Even the swing, which she'll usually enjoy for as long as possible, was of limited interest.

Turns out she was warming up for round 3 (or maybe 4) with the cold we've been sharing back and forth for the past few weeks. But in the moment....frustrating because I was hoping finally getting out after many days of being cooped up at home would be liberating for both of us. (Usually I'm the one with the higher needs at the playground because I find playground socializing challenging...I'm working on it but it brings out all of my shy awkward self. Today the need was all LP. And she is at the blissful part of life where you just don't have to put a good face on things.)

After almost an hour, we ended up sitting in a patch of sand and LP was half-heartedly pushing some sand around. I started to dig and made up a little story with actions something like this:

Once upon a time, there was a dog who liked to dig, dig, dig. And she went dig, dig, dig and put her bone in the hole. Then she went cover, cover, cover and pat, pat, pat to hide the bone.

"Do it again," says LP.

Ah, a spark of interest. So rinse and repeat...I think we did that simple story with all the digging and covering action (a small piece of wood in the sand was the bone) at least 6 times.

And then something caught her eye and she was off to explore.

She was still not her usual self but somehow that activity together warmed her up to play.

Which got me to thinking about warm ups. When I teach, facilitate or lead a session be it improv, teamwork, communications or drama therapy, I always use warm ups. And I spend time in the planning making sure the warm up leads into the main activity.

With LP, she's so often just ready to go, to play, to explore, to imagine...I really hadn't been thinking about warm ups. And now that I'm thinking about it, I'm seeing that coming up with some warm ups for me would be helpful for all the times that I'm distracted or tired or not in the mood when it really is time to play....that'll be part II - warm ups for us big people.