Storytelling with Kids

Summer is in full swing in our part of the world, and it's a great opportunity to tell stories about the seasons, the changing weather and summer activities. "Summer" is a picture book by German artist and illustrator  Rotraut Susanne Berner . It's a part of the series called "All Around Bustletown" - or simply "Wimmelbuch" in Berner's native German . Wimmelbuch , or  Wimmelbilderbuch literally translates from German as a "book abound with pictures". German philologist Cornelia Rémi describes Wimmelbooks as "a type of wordless picture books which display a series of panoramas teeming with an immense amount of characters and details". According to Rémi, Wimmelbooks have "the potential to accompany children ... along their path to literacy and introduce them to different strategies of coping with the world and of telling stories". Indeed, in our story circle focused on  Berner's  Summer,...

I love love love having story circle outside. True, there might be more distractions. But there's much more freedom. And freedom is great for any creative activity, including storytelling. Pippi Longstocking, arguably one of the freest and open-minded characters in children literature, is often portrayed upside down. “[Pippi] always slept with her feet on the pillow and her head far down under the covers. ‘That’s the way they sleep in Guatemala,’ she explained. ‘And it’s the only right way to do it. This way, I can wiggle my toes while I’m sleeping, too.‘” Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking (translated by Florence Lamborn).