Princesses, Dragons and Helicopter Stories: Storytelling and story acting in the early years

Product Information

Recently, in a school labelled ‘requires improvement,’ I was told that the teacher had been monitoring her children’s progress towards the Early Learning Goals for six weeks prior to incorporating Helicopter Stories. Their progress was good. She carried on monitoring the children for the following six weeks as she introduced the approach, during which time the children continued to make progress at an accelerated pace. All that’s needed is a roll of masking tape, sheets of A5 paper and a curious and enthusiastic practitioner. The pupil tells a story which is scribed word-for-word by their teacher on one sheet of A5. The storyteller decides which part they would like to play and the class gathers together around the marked out stage. Other pupils are brought in to fulfil parts as story actors and the rest of the group sit and observe as story listeners.

Trisha Lee’s storytelling creates imaginary worlds where your children will lose themselves. Music and sound from David Baird brings these tales to life as we take you on a journey of lost mittens, tiny elves and singing donkeys. The Story Basket gives you: As they are walking, waiting, playing, sitting, eating and in many other situations, the words just keep coming. The language seems to flow, bringing them together. And they love the sound of their voices. Let me share a book with you….Again, we learned so much about the child, his passions, what interested him and his own type of expertise. This child might not have been able to communicate the depth of his knowledge through language, but one look at the detail contained in his acting out, and I could see the intricate knowledge he had about his specialist subject. But if we look at the story acting and performing side of Helicopter Stories, it takes that learning two steps further. I think a good dose of play is something all of us could do with at the moment. Helicopter Stories at Home The children become storytellers, actors, and an audience, and their teachers emerge as scribes, narrators and stage managers: the classroom is transformed into the make-believe worlds that children love best.”

Helicopter Stories are actually really simple - the core idea is to let children dictate their own story, see it written down on paper, and perform it alongside their peers. They use their hands, their whole body and their voices to perform. This programme is ONLY suitable for people who are already using Helicopter Stories in their setting. It does not offer training in the Helicopter Stories approach. To find out more about Helicopter Stories, read Trisha Lee’s book, Princesses, Dragons and Helicopter Stories. Read the story out loud, one line and a time, and let the children act out the story. Ask for actions as you go along i.e. ‘Can I see you being a tree? What does a cat sound like?’ Helicopter Stories are a fantastic way of seeing how much a child has developed over time. “You can see their stories develop from simple characters to full narratives over time,” says Trisha.We get worried because we ourselves don’t know how to talk about it, and we might be afraid that children will trivialise it,”says Trish. “I kept saying ‘Trust the child, trust the child,’ and I am always amazed at the results.”