Telling to 3 to 5 year olds compilation

The following compilation of ideas, stories and resources came from my years as the storyteller at the Edwardsville Public Library, my cyber-friends on Storytell and other storytelling friends. As the storyteller I developed many Pre-School/Parent Storytimes. As with any compilation according to age, there are certain gray areas – stories that can be told to younger or older age groups by adjusting the vocabulary and the style in which the story is presented. Some stories make great reading for children but not for telling. There are others that can be adapted to telling. The stories below are "tried and true." They are meant for telling without using a book. Although some of the stories listed can be told with props, they can (for the most part) also be told without. This compilation is divided into five parts. The sections include:

1. Earmarks of good stories for young listeners
2. Stories to tell
3. Story Stretchers, Songs, and Fillers
4. Tips for Telling
5. Bibliography and Websites

• Stories are short - usually around 5-8 minutes
• Action in the story is more desirable than lots of descriptive passages
• Participation is vital
• Simple vocabulary
• Simple linear plot with repetition
• Events that children can relate to.
• Stories with talking animals and inanimate objects and stories in rhyme
• Prop stories - lap puppets, acetate boards, flannel boards, pocket and swallowing stories, 3 dimensional objects from the story, flip stories, glove mitt stories and fingerplays, apron stories, draw-and-tell tales and storytelling dolls
• Avoid fractured fairy tales, stories with trick endings, riddles, or stories that use too many unusual or foreign words.

• Any of the standard nursery tales including - Little Red Riding
• Hood, Goldilocks, The Gingerbread Man, Chicken Little, The Little Red Hen, The Three Billy Goats Gruff…
• Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock (African) - one version by Eric Kimmel
• Anansi The Spider (African, Ashanti) by Gerald Mc Dermott
• Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak)
• The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything (Linda Williams)
• The Humpback Gorrible with the Hole in it's Head (Cricket Magazine, Oct., 1986)
• The Wishing Star and Looking for Spring by Bethany Roberts in Waiting For Spring Stories
• Nursery Rhymes. Recite and then have the class do it with you.
• I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson. Great for Thanksgiving and Christmas
• Brown, Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle - great with props or pictures
• The Big-Mouth Frog - version in Margaret Read MacDonald's book, The Parent's Guide to Storytelling.
• The Lion and the Mouse by Aesop. 
• Who's in Rabbit's House by Aardema
• The Belly Button Monster - More Ready to Tell Tales by Holt and Mooney
• The Barking Mouse - More Ready to Tell Tales by Holt and Mooney
• The Enormous Turnip – (Russian) retold by Kathy Parkinson
• The Snow Queen With the Cold Cold Heart - Very interactive. Crazy Gibberish by Naomi Baltuck
• Mabela the Clever - Limba folktale adapted by Margaret Read MacDonald
• Darby, the Tailor – adaptation by Marilyn Kinsella of "The Tailor" story, a Jewish version retold by Steve Sanfield in Bit by Bit.
• Why the Bear Has A Stumpy Tale a version in "Why" Stories with Basic Vocabulary by Edward and Margurite Dolce
• Tiddalick the Frog - Australian folktale by Susan Nunes
• Jump Frog Jump by Robert Kalan
• Ten Little Rabbits by Virginia Grossman
• Hermie: a Common Caterpillar by Max Lucado
• The Mitten (Ukrainian folktale) retold by Jan Brett
• Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag
• Harry and the Terrible Whatzit and A Bagful of Pups by Dick Gackenbach
• Dark, Dark Night a version in A Dark, Dark Tale by Ruth Brown
• The Little Red House with No Window or Doors
• Cheese, Peas, and Chocolate Pudding in It’s Time For Storyhour by Sechrist and Woolsey
• Caps for Sale by Slobokin
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
• Stone Soup a version by Marcia Brown
• Monkey Face by Frank Asch. Makes a good draw-and-tell story
• The Carrot Seed by Ruth Kraus
• Jennie's Hat by Ezra Jack Keats
• Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
• Mother, Mother, I want Another by Maria Polushkin
• The Tail Who Wagged the Dog by Robert Kraus
• Crictor the Boa Constrictor by Tom Ungerer
• Mortimer by Robert Munsch
• Frog and Toad (and any of the sequels) by Arnold Lobel
• The Toothwitch by Nurit Karlin
• Too Much Noise
• Bremen Town Musicians
• Feegbah the enormous pumpkin (Fran Stallings in The Ghost and I)
• Grandfather bear is hungry (found in 1 of Margaret Read MadDonald's books)

The following can also be used as a swallowing prop story:

• Sody Sallyratus (American southern folktale)

• The Old Woman who Swallowed a Fly....
• The Clay Pot Boy  by Cynthia Jameson
• The Fat Cat (Danish folktale) by Jack Kent
• The Singing Snake (Australian folktale) by Stefan Czernecki and Timothy Rhodes
• The Eye of the Needle (Alaskan story) by Teri Sloat

• Mr. Wiggle and Mr. Waggle
• If you're ready for a story find your seat,
  If you're ready for a story find your seat,
  If you're ready for a story
  Check your hands and then your feet,
  If you're ready for a story find your seat.
  (You can also use this as a story stretch and add all kinds of other movement as well and let the above be the last stanza. Example: clap your hands, stomp your feet, take a bow, turn around, etc.)
• "Hi, My Name is Joe" a version on "WOOF hits home" by Bill Wellington (audio-cassette)
• "My Aunt Came Back" found in Crazy Gibberish by Naomi Baltuck.
• "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" found in Crazy Gibberish by Naomi Baltuck works great. It is gentle and quiet, offering movement but the ending line "teddy bear teddy bear sit back down" and gets them ready for stories.
• Five Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow
• Bought me a Cat - traditional Ozark nonsense story or song found in Wee Sing Fun ‘n Folk
• Going On a Lion Hunt a version by David Axtel in We’re Going on a Lion Hunt
• Boa Constrictor in Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends
• The Slithery-Dee lives under the sea. He might eat you but he won’t eat me. The Slithery-Dee lives under the sea. He might eat you but he won’t (Slurp!)

• Be animated, use gestures, funny voices
• Avoid scary voices and being too loud
• Tell to small groups (about 25 max) - no need for microphone
• Teller should sit in a chair with students on the floor. Try to keep them fairly close. The further back they are from you, the less attentive they are to the stories.
• If a word is used in the story that is unfamiliar to the class talk about it ahead of time or incorporate its definition into the story.

• Do not ask questions of the group during the story unless you are prepared to answer all the questions and be ready for inappropriate and long responses. Some children will raise their hands and have to tell you about what their brother or sister did that morning, and you are stuck listening – that’s not a bad thing – except you are being paid to tell stories not to listen to them.
• Don’t ask this age group, if they have any questions. They (for the most part) don’t understand the concept of what a question is. If they raise their hands, it’s probably to relate something that is not even remotely related to what you are talking about.
• What do you say when the child can't remember what he/she was about to say? The little ones get their feeling hurt rather easily.
• Participation is key to telling to this age. Keep the participation the same. Once you've set it up - don't change the words or rhythm. Recognize that the participation has to be short and simple enough so they can follow along yet snappy and "ear" catching so they "want" to follow along.
• Participation can include making nature sounds, onomatopoeia, simple rhymes and songs, musical sounds, physical gestures and noises (hand clapping, snapping, etc), machine sounds, animal noises, a repeated word or phrase
• Have a familiar gesture that allows the students to join in on the participation and, if it is a repeated sound, tell them how many times to do it. Ex. " For thunder let’s clap 3 times (and as you clap say) one, two, three." Have a signal that lets them know the participation is over.
• You will notice that with very young children that once you set up that they are allowed to participate, they will want to join in on many more things in the story than you are prepared for. So, just go with the flow. Let them finish your sentences or a word that has become familiar in the story.
• Keep the participation simple - make sure they can do it. Some of the little ones can’t snap their fingers or remember over two lines.
• Parents or teachers should be present and aware that you appreciate their presence in keeping the young children focused on the storytelling by joining in on participation and correcting any inappropriate behavior
• Use a rhythm clap or "Open Them, Shut Them" rhyme to get their attention and settle them down.
• End the story with something that lets them know the story is over "And that’s the end of the that story" of "And they all lived…(let them join in with) happily, ever after."
• Probably the most important thing for telling to really young children is to be playful and to present the stories with a positive, energetic attitude. Smile when the children arrive. If time, ask them to do a fingerplay or song that they are working on.

1.Storytelling with Puppets, second edition, Connie Champlin

2. Teeny Tiny Folktales, compiled by Jean Warren (simple folktales for young

children plus flannelboard patterns), Warren Publishing House

3. Paper Stories by Jean Stangl (these are cut and tell stories, great fun)

4.Short Short Stories compiled by Jean Warren (simple stories for young

children plus seasonal activities), Warren Publishing House

5. Easy to Tell Stories for Young Children by Annette Harrison

6. Wee Sing over 35 different tapes and sing-a-long books on simple songs to sing. Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Price/Stern/Sloan

7. Storytelling with Puppets, Props, & Playful Tales by Mary Jo Huff

8. Stories to Tell to Children by Laura Cathon

9. Juba This and Juba That by V A Tashjian

10. Books by Anne Pellowski

11. Shake-it-up tales! : stories to sing, dance, drum, and act out and Tuck-me-in tales by Margaret Read MacDonald

Tell a Story, Make a Friend with Jim May [videorecording]: Stories for young children and storytellers of all ages / produced by Afterglow Creative Services.