Three Little Pigs and Storytelling
Source/Author: Adriana Hollenbeck, Head of The Experiential School of Tampa Bay
May 05, 2022
I have been enjoying seeing Ms. Markunas’ class develop their performing skills while exploring a multitude of versions of the story “The Three Little Pigs.”
As they make choices as performers, children connect their characters’ traits to emotions they know, and identify how their bodies can bring these feelings to life.
They are digging through an inventory of experiences they have lived, memories of observations of the feelings of others, schema built through watching movies and listening to stories told by the adults in their lives.
Telling stories is second nature to humans. Rives Collins, one of my son’s professors at Northwestern University, deeply believes that stories are indeed the part of us that makes us human.
When the kids perform “The Three Little Pigs,” they are magically linked with everyone who has told this tale before them. William Brooke believes, “there are no new tales, only new tellers in their own way. If you listen closely you can hear the voice of everyone who ever told that tale.”
When children tell you about their day or when you tell them about your childhood, you experience the magic of storytelling as a vehicle for discovering who you are and for making sense of the world.
Stories are universal mirrors that show the truth about ourselves. What’s mundane and ordinary becomes something much more profound. Chapter by chapter, you will be amazed as your child's story unfolds before your eyes!