At Teach Outdoors, as we welcome in a new year, we’ve been thinking about all the exciting events coming up in 2023, and the opportunities that they offer for taking learning outdoors – and also, how we can effectively use outdoor areas to enhance and support learning for these events. National Storytelling Week – running from the 30th January to 5th February – is a great time to celebrate the power of storytelling and to share stories with one another. One of the best ways to do this is by learning outdoors and immersing ourselves in the natural world.
The roots of storytelling lie in visual and oral creation. The first stories were told around 30,000 BC, when hunting rituals and events were recorded in primitive cave paintings. 29,000 years later, the Ancient Greeks began to enhance and refine the art of oral storytelling through their invention of Greek myths.
In fact, the first printed stories didn’t come into circulation until 700BC.
National Storytelling Week, then, provides educators with a real opportunity to get back to the roots of stories, to escape the pen-and-paper set-up of the classroom, and to take storytelling outside, where it first began. The natural world provides endless inspiration for creative expression.
Here are our top 4 activities to help you and your classes get stuck into storytelling outside:
1. Nature Scavenger Hunt: Create a list of objects or items found in your own natural area.
You might ask the children to collect: a leaf, a stone, a mini beast or evidence of an animal (eg. track), identify a tree, a stick and a blade of grass. As they search, encourage them to make up stories about the objects they find – how did it get there? Who does it belong to? Is it special in any way?
Once children have collected all of their objects, ask them to orally tell a story to their partner, incorporating all of their finds. Prompt them to think about how the objects might be related, and encourage them to be as imaginative as possible. This is a chance to escape from the shackles of usual narrative writing lessons, and a real opportunity to explore the creative aspects of storytelling – (almost) nothing is off the cards!
2. Story Walk: Choose a children’s book that incorporates a journey.
Some great examples to explore might be “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”, “Leaf Man” or “Over and Under the Rainforest”. Read the story out loud to your class in your outdoor environment. You might use any woodland area, children’s play equipment such as climbing frames or simply use your school playground. As you are reading the story, ask children to act out the adventure, using their imaginations to really put themselves in the position of the characters in the book.
This is a great activity for drawing upon relationships between verbs and adverbs. How do characters behave/move/act? What specific vocabulary has been used by the author to give that impression? Are there any children who interpret actions differently?
3. Story Circle: Set up a cosy environment for telling stories – have all children sitting in a circle facing each other.
Make sure your outdoor space is quiet and, if you really want to set the right atmosphere, hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows would be a bonus! Introduce the Story Stick – explain that this idea was used in ancient, primitive communities during story telling sessions. Whoever is holding the stick is the storyteller, and when they have finished one section of the story, they can pass it to another member of the circle to continue. Nobody should be talking, unless they have the story stick. It is really important to be effective listeners so that they know what is happening in the story!
Choose one child to begin their story with the story stick in their hand – ask them to begin with the first sentence: “Once upon a time…”. When they have completed their sentence, ask them to pass the story stick to the next person to continue.
It might be useful to discuss story structures and prompts – you might want to have a selection of sentence starters on display, for example, or a story mountain structure to follow.
4. Mythical Creatures: This one is all about character development.
Ask children to collect a variety of objects eg. leaves, stones, grass etc. Have students create a collage of a mythical creature using their objects. Prompt them with questions – will it have wings? Does it breath fire? Horns and claws? Once children have developed their character, as them to team up so that they have two characters to consider. Ask each child to explain their character and its features to the their partner, and then, together, they can generate a story about how the two characters would meet. Would they get on together? Would they live in the same world? How did they ever first come into contact? Will they be friends?
As educators, we all know the benefits of storytelling within the classroom. From developing imagination to enhancing effective communication and listening skills, there is so much to explore. No matter which activity you choose, outdoor storytelling is a great way to engage students and get them excited about learning. So, pick an activity and head outside with your class to celebrate National Storytelling Week!
