Princesses, Dragons and Helicopter Stories: Storytelling and story acting in the early years

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The Curiosity Conference is our annual Key Stage 2 primary school event where pupils from schools across the country gather to share their creative ideas and curious questions – it’s a conference by children, for children. During the presentations by the pupils themselves, the children’s stories are illustrated in real time by a professional artist, and each year they are joined by a well-known face, such as Sally Gardner in 2017. I once had a child create a story about the tragedy of 9/11, and I was a little worried,” admits Trish. “It was a powerful story, and the child who told it wanted to be the plane [...] It turned out to be one of the most powerful stories I have ever seen.” Trisha named the approach after one of Vivian’s books - The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter. Think of it like a child stretching their arms far and wide to embody a helicopter!

I introduced the first poem, Chop Chop, to a group of children. They were instantly engaged. The actions and the simplicity of the poems makes them so accessible. Our setting has a high level of children with speech and language issues, and they love The Poetry Basket. They confidently recite the poems, and beam with pride that they can remember and articulate them so well. A child with very few words was able to ask for the poem he wanted by using the actions. As we use a Total Communication approach in our setting, the actions that go alongside the poems makes this resource highly inclusive. From that first introduction I knew The Poetry Basket was going to be a positive change for our children and their language development. The approach has been evaluated by the Open University, who found it to have a significant impact on communication, literacy, speaking and listening. Teachers have remarked how “children’s stories have got longer and more descriptive. They are adapting ideas from their peers. The work makes the children feel like part of a group. They learn how to take turns… everyone is accepted and no one is judged.” This programme is ONLY suitable for people who are already using Helicopter Stories in their setting. It does not offer training in the Helicopter Stories approach.

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Throughout this online course MakeBelieve Arts reflects on the power of Helicopter Stories and the impact it has on children aged 2 – 7. Incorporating video footage of children engaged in Helicopter Stories we share our experiences and anecdotes on this incredible approach. I think a good dose of play is something all of us could do with at the moment. Helicopter Stories at Home Before we launch into some basics, the most important thing is – have fun, and let the children lead. This is their story, and their way of telling it.Joy of joys, there can be no right or wrong.

The approach shows practitioners what really matters to the children in their setting and can also help pupils to deal with negative issues in their everyday lives. MakeBelieve Arts offers: INSETS, Keynotes, in-class sessions and workshops with Parents. We work with Local Authorities, Early Years Settings, Nurseries and Primary Schools They encourage social development. Children work together and communicate to solve problems. “If I ask them to be a castle,”says Trisha “they work together to create a structure.” This boosts problem solving skills, and lets children work as a team. We have a small area in the Nursery where children can sit together and sing songs. We have deliberately placed pictures of familiar songs on the wall alongside a mirror. As the children became familiar with the poems we also added the images from The Poetry Basket so they could choose those too. How they love reciting and watching themselves in the mirror. Over the weekend our online Learning journal had pictures posted of the children sharing their books with their parents. Such a simple way to boost parental engagement in reading and sharing books with their children You cannot thwart the determination and confidence of three and four year olds. Exciting, Engaging and Enabling…

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Soon after, I discovered The Poetry Basket. The fact it was organised seasonally meant it worked well with my Super Six approach, so I got to work on plotting my Reception class grid for the next year. Believe it or not, the benefits of story acting don’t stop there. Encouraging children with their oral language development has a wonderful effect on their writing skills later on. Based on the work of Vivian Gussin Paley in Storytelling and Story Acting, Helicopter Stories is a highly reflective approach that engages children in one of the things they know best: making up stories. Speaking to a teacher who has been using it on a weekly basis for over a year, I was told that the one things she likes best about the work, is the opportunity it gives her to find out what really matters to her children. Now she gets to see a side of each child that she normally never witnesses: the part where they are confident, where they have a safe space to take risks and where they demonstrate their learning at their own pace, around their own agenda. In Helicopter Stories, children’s words are respected. Once they have been collected, the class sits around a taped-out stage and the stories are brought to life. Children have the opportunity to take turns in acting them out, to play cooperatively with each other. Throughout the process they are able to demonstrate how they take account of one another’s ideas, allowing each other to interpret the stories of the class and work together to breathe new life into them. They comfortably adapt their responses, taking on the roles of listeners, storytellers and actors, and shifting seamlessly between these, as each new story emerges. Perfect introductions Trisha Lee has written a practical guide to this innovative method of storytelling called Princesses, Dragons and Helicopter Stories.