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Education

Storytelling for creative teaching and learning

Storytelling is a multi-purpose tool which can be used with children and young people at all levels, from nursery to S6. Active learning and creativity are at the core of storytelling. It is about enabling children and young people to become good listeners, storytellers and storymakers.

From the youngest age, babies and toddlers enjoy listening to voices, exploring the sounds and patterns of language and communicating through eye-to-eye contact with parents and carers.

At Early level, listening to traditional rhymes and stories offers children the opportunity to enjoy the collaborative fun of group storytelling. They can join in with phrases, refrains, songs and actions, and this can help them to begin developing a love of language and vocabulary. Storytelling for young children involves lots of participation and, where appropriate, props may be used.

Through all the levels, sharing stories as a small group or whole class encourages children to learn how and when to listen and talk. They develop an awareness of how to contribute appropriately and value one another’s contributions.

Storytelling is fun and stimulates the imagination. Older children and young people enjoy exploring different story genres and repertoires including Scottish and international myths, legends, folktales, fables and Pour quoi stories. The different motifs and themes of stories can be discussed and may feed into their own story creations. The content of the stories may lead to class discussions, for example, about characters’ actions and their consequences. Sharing stories helps to develop children and young people’s skills of critical literacy.

Listening to and telling stories act as springboards for active play and creativity – providing the stimulus and ideas for exploring and inventing characters and events. Once the skills and techniques of storytelling have been absorbed, this leads to creative storymaking. Children can ‘play’ with stories through different media including creative writing, role play and drama, music, movement and dance, visual art and craft activities, storyboarding, animation, ICT activities and email projects.

Storytelling and storymaking help teachers to meet the Listening and talking experiences and outcomes of Literacy across learning, Literacy and English and Health and Wellbeing across learning. They can also be used as tools for supporting learning in numeracy, science and other areas, and can lead to cross-curricular and inter-departmental collaborations.

Scotland has a rich storytelling tradition. Stories, riddles, rhymes and songs celebrating Scotland’s languages are plentiful.

Storytelling is engaging and motivates children to learn, as well as stimulating an interest and skills in writing and reading. Using stories of increasing complexity and length from a range of story genres encourages progressive learning through and between levels.

Regularly engaging in storytelling and storymaking activities in the classroom creates a culture of communication, confidence, collaboration, understanding and respect. Storytelling is particularly helpful in supporting children during times of transition, and can be used to explore sensitive topics, such as bullying.

Our network of professional storytellers is available throughout the year to visit nursery, primary, secondary and SEN schools. Browse our Directory to find out more about professional storytellers in your area.

Download useful Tips and advice on planning a storytelling visit for your school.