How to start a storytelling community

I've started several storytelling communities in the last couple of years. Since storytelling is so innate to us humans, and kids especially are so eager to get together to share good stories, starting the community was actually the easiest part (maintaining it was a different story, and will get another post). Here's some lessons I've learned along the way:

- Find a common ground. Storytelling is very wide and all inclusive field. Find something you'd like to focus on, and stick to it with your audience. In my case, once it was a storytelling club for bilingual kids with focus on the minority language. Another time it was an online club for kids in isolation who can't attend school in person. Just find a good cause that you believe in and invite the people to join!

- Define the age range of the participants. I'm a firm believer in working together with kids of different ages, but they shouldn't be *too* different. Usually 2-3 years is a good range, for example, 2-3, 3-5, 1st grade - 3 grade, etc. Kids of different ages demonstrate different abilities, and it's wonderful.

- Once you've got your common ground and the age range, plan the first couple of meetings and gather your material. For example, do you want to start with fantasy stories? Stories about boys and girls just like your club participants? Art? Nature? Sports? For example, for the club that ran during the Olympics, we've started with sports and geography, to embrace the event and learn along with it.

- Find the time and the place. In person or online? In school, community center, in a park, in the living rooms of the participants? I've done all of the above, and every setup has it's advantages and disadvantages, but everything goes. Weekly or fortnightly meetups work great.

- You're all set! Invite your participants to the first meeting.

- For the first meeting, invite the kids to share their favorite books and stories. It's a great way to get to know everyone. Don't forget to share yours!

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Storytelling with Kids

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