Third Group - First Session

Third Group - First Session

Oh... the best laid plans... etc...

This group was supposed to be smaller... and with different children... so my basket was full of the most successful stories from the previous sessions.

But it proved to be a large group again, with lots of familiar faces. Some of them had changed their day so that they could come and hear stories. Very flattering, but they wanted NEW stories! And, it being a lovely sunny day for a change, they were all full of energy and very vocal.

I started with Turtle of Koka, which they enjoyed despite complaining that they had heard it before.

Then I moved on to Chanticleer and Pertelot which worked because I had found some new dolls to add to the props.

Now there were loud demands for Mighty Mouse again - and then complaints that the mouse I had with me was not the mouse they wanted. The original mouse is really tiny - no more than two inches from nose to tail tip and I had swapped it for a larger, more expressive version. But it wouldn't do. I had to promise to bring the proper mouse next time.

Next was supposed to be The Five Threads, but again came the protests at yet another story they already knew - so I offered to tell them a new story I had never told before, explaining that I had no props for this one as I had only read it for the first time that morning - as, indeed I had. It was on the Storytell List. Papa Joe had given us his version of Aesop's The Ants and the Grasshopper.

It was very much an improvisation. I had only read it once and had not planned to tell it. But it is a simple little tale - and a much friendlier version than the original Aesop. The children enjoyed it and then told me what props I must find before telling it again... not sure where I can find an expressive ant or a grasshopper!

So, a bit despondent, I came home to start researching more stories for this group. The current discussion on Storytell was was very appropriate and led me to various sources so that by the next morning I had found (and almost learnt) 6 new tales to tell!

Perhaps the next session will be happier.