Peep into the engaging stories created during the Annual Storytelling Workshop

Eight teams of participants collaborated to create narrative stories using role-playing, song and movement during the annual Storytelling Workshop. This was a cornerstone event organized by the Community Outreach and Focus Group within the Department of Library Services.

The initiative was carried out in close partnership with Dr Martina Jordaan, Head of Community Engagement Research, and Righardt le Roux, Nal'ibali School and Public Library Coordinator. It sought to enhance early childhood development through creative narratives.

Guided by foundational storytelling principles suitable for young audiences, participants aimed to:

• tailor narratives according to the developmental stage of early childhood learners;
• select themes or messages conducive to early childhood learning and understanding;
• develop endearing characters with relatable qualities to captivate the attention of young children, that would live in the sensory garden at the Mamelodi campus;
• construct simple yet engaging plots tailored to early childhood cognitive capacities;
• utilise freehand drawings to reinforce the narrative, catering to the visual learning preferences of young children;
• conclude stories with resolutions emphasising positive problem-solving; and
• infuse lively and interactive dialogue to breathe life into the tales, fostering language development.

Throughout the workshop, each group embarked on a creative journey - for instance, one team member drew inspiration from a clown hat, sparking the creation of a unique narrative. The resulting humorous and engaging stories, set against the backdrop of a sensory garden, align with early childhood development principles.

Explore these delightful narratives and peep into these humorous and creative stories with the sensory garden as the environment for all the following insects:

• Thulani the Friendly Spider A story about making friends. A lonely spider could not make friends, because everyone was afraid of him. He started singing a song that made others aware that he was not dangerous and that enabled him to make friends.
• Buzzy Busy Bees This story is about bees living in a flower garden and being chased away by smoke. They ultimately found themselves a new home in another beautiful flower garden. The moral of the story: Do not destroy other people’s properties.
• Mopani the Heritage Worm is a story about the Mopani worm who hid away when people were looking for him.
• Cleo the Snail is about a snail who lives alone in the garden.
• Two Little Bees The story is about bees living in a flower garden. Strong winds blow away their home, but they find a new home in another beautiful and colourful flower garden.
• Friendship in the Garden This story is about two insects living in the garden who became best friends.
• Grasshopper who can’t fly is about a grasshopper who could not fly, but when he was in danger, he got the courage to fly and was able to teach all the other grasshoppers to fly.
• Big green fly is a story about the fly that came to rescue all the flowers in the garden.