Tell a Story Day is a day to share our stories. Do you know someone who is a good storyteller? Maybe it was a grandparent, aunt, uncle, a friend or neighbor. The art of telling stories has been passed down through time and we learn how to be a good storyteller by listening to our elders. Storytelling was a big part of my childhood. I loved listening to my grandmother tell stories about my mom and her siblings or my grandfather sharing stories about his bakery and some of the customers he served. My mom and dad were both great storytellers and encouraged us to create stories at bedtime. Either my mom or dad would start a story and I would use my imagination to add to the story. I can’t tell you how much fun I had a child telling silly stories with my parents.
Benefits of Storytelling
Storytelling helps us to:
- Beliefs – share our beliefs
- Culture – learn about our culture
- Humor – to find humor in situations and share a good laugh
- Language – improve our listening skills and practice our expressive language skills
- Values – share our values
- Emotions – express our emotions
- Empathy – understand and share feelings
- History – learn about our family history
- Traditions – share family tradition
- Entertaining – enjoy the stories being shared
- Educational – learn from the past
How to celebrate Tell a Story Day
How to celebrate Tell a Story Day is easy. All you need to do is to tell a story. It can be from a book or from your imagination. It can be a long story or a short story, but the best stories are those that are true. I loved hearing stories about my childhood and some of the silly things I did when I was growing up. Here are a few things that will help make your storytelling stronger.
- Invite your audience to participate.
- Use different voices for your characters.
- Add some movement to your stories. If the character is fishing, pretend you are casting your fishing pole into the lake.
- Surprise your audience with sound effects or use props to help tell the story.
- Facial expressions will really help you deliver your story with impact.
- Pace your story. When there is action, speed up the story, or if the character is sleepy slow it down.
- Have fun. That is what this day is all about. Enjoy!
*Full disclosure, my name growing up was Storyteller. Every time I was in trouble, I would tell my parents an elaborate story to get myself out of being punishment. Did it work? Rarely, they were on to me!
With gratitude …
I am so glad you’re here and I thank you for taking the time to read this post. I am grateful that I can share my writing journey with you.
I’m looking forward to helping you as a children’s book writer in any way that I can. Speaking of helping — please leave a comment below and let me know what questions you have about picture book writing.
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A request …
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