The ancient art of storytelling

Telling stories is not just a way of passing time. It is the way the wisdom gets passed along. The stuff that helps us to live a life worth remembering.

— Rachel Naomi

Remen

Since

From the beginning of time, humans have indulged in the art of story telling. As a way of understanding the world around them.Wide eyed and huddled close to the storyteller, generations of children and adults have been mesmerized and touched deeply by the stories they hear.More than mere entertainment ,it is the single most powerful tool used for influencing, and instilling deep-rooted values and ideas into young minds ,not to forget stimulating their imagination and creativity.

Most families have a grandmother or mother who leads little children into the magical world of stories introducing them to ancient legends ,morals and tradition.Some of the first and earliest lessons about life are imparted through stories.I’ve always felt, however different people may look on the outside and whatever country or culture or religion they may belong to,once you peel the layers, humans are all the same on the inside.They are all driven by the same emotions, mainly Fear and Love and stories capture those emotions in the most powerful way.So whichever part of the world you may belong to one thing that binds people together are the stories they share.

Every family has a different story

Personally I have used story telling in every aspect of raising my boys.The first being,capturing their attention !If I need their attention for anything big or small, a sure way to grab it is by starting a story!” Once upon a time,in a small hamlet far away, there lived two brothers who owned a magical casket that gave them ideas on how to cooperate with each other no matter how impossible it may seem to them….” It has also been a vital part of problem solving and understanding.Sometimes its easier for children to relate to a story and use them as reference points to understand their world.So if something is taking us too long to finish, we pretend to be like the tortoise from the ‘Hare and the Tortoise’ and persevere until we accomplish what we started . Stories are also an important part of our daily bedtime routine, in fact, we enjoy a good story anytime of the day! I have realized that the best way to bond and build a relationship with my children is through the stories we share everyday.Sometimes we share the same stories over and over again!

Storytelling games

Some simple ways we turn our joy of story telling into games that spark our creativity and imagination are,

Continue the story : One person starts writing a story and each person continues the story without looking at what the other person has written and in the end the last person to finish the story reads it out and we share a good laugh!

The story box : We write several topics or one liners on strips of paper and put it in a box.Then each of us picks a paper without looking and makes up a story on the topic and shares their story for 2 mins. 

Making books and comics : I fold few leaves of papers into half and staple them to make little booklets which the boys use to draw and write their own stories or comics.

Puppets: We make simple puppets by drawing our favorite characters ,gluing them onto cardboard and cutting them out and gluing a popsicle stick behind!and Lo ! We have endless hours of fun!

But by far our favorite is always the bedtime story we share huddled together in each others warmth!

So what is your story? Do share your memorable stories in the comments below!