Storytelling Starters ~ More Games
Saturday, May 5th, 2012
Got any storytelling games of your own to share? Please write in with your favourite. It would be great to hear about it. To me, storytelling games are invaluable – a vital part of the whole activity of storytelling and a fabulous way to get everyone relaxed. In my thirty years of storytelling, such examples as last week’s Desert Island became one of the strongest building blocks of my Storyworks approach. Here’s some reasons why:
- Storytelling games can be just the thing in a very wide variety of circumstances – with children in schools or community groups (parents learning about storytelling, adult with learning disabilities, elderly people in day centres, people getting together for a good time).
- They can be created (or recreated) to suit the themes of the stories to follow.
- They can allow everyone to participate at their own level.
- They give opportunity for individuals to express their own personalities, sharing their wit, humour and creativity in a totally unthreatening way.
In my Storyworks approach, (and I’m not talking here about the occasions when, as the storyteller, you’re being a performer in front of a sizeable audience), the storyteller is definitely NOT the be-all and the end-all and in NO WAY to be regarded as the only and most creative person in the room. The storyteller is the FACILITATOR, enabling the story or stories to become the centrepiece of the occasion and everyone present to share in the experience to the extent that they can and wish to do so.
Last week when I wrote about Desert Island, I said I’d talk this week about some of the variants it has spawned. (more…)