"Too Much Noise" and other dramatic participation stories

"The bed creaked. 

The floor squeaked."

And that is just the beginning of Peter's troubles.
I quickly go over the sounds to make: creak, squeak, swish, & hiss before launching into the story. (Hand motions are fun too)

The children won't have any trouble helping you with the animal sounds (encourage this).

And there is a lovely, quiet resolution.

"Ah. Oh,"..."How quiet my house is."

Caps For Sale


"Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!"

This classic story begs to be interpreted dramatically.

The children can call out the peddler's market banter.

Then when the peddler interacts with the monkeys, you can be the peddler, and the class can be the monkeys. This is so much fun.

BOTH of these stories feature an individual with a problem. As soon as it is obvious what the problem is, you can ask the kids how they would solve it.


More dramatic participation stories

I tell three from this one nearly every year.

To tell these stories, you'll want to memorize the basic idea, and then ad lib the actual telling.

Make it fun! When the prince goes riding to fight the wizard, make everyone bounce up & down as you call out silly obstacles  "He rode through the pizza forest!"

Over the years, my artsy daughters have created puppets to aid my storytelling, and the children love them, especially the beautiful Snow Queen.

I give the children a chance to pet my dragon puppet before I tell the story about the lazy dragon. See, not so scary.

The story about the Emperor invites exploration into all kinds of sounds: chimes, gongs, clocks, and all manner of bird songs. You could spend a whole class on this story.

And don't forget your favorite from summer camp: "Goin' on a Lion Hunt". Always works.

Connie Kaldor's Honey, Honey, Honey! A Song about a Bear and a Bee

This song NEVER fails to bring BIG smiles.

Honey, Honey, Honey by Connie Kaldor

Honey, Honey, Honey

A bear climbs a tree and makes a piece of toast.

He then demands ALL of the honey from a hard working bee.

What happens next?

The reason this song works so well is the simple chorus:

"HONEEEEEY! honey honey honey honey honey"

When I teach it to the kids, we learn this part first, throwing our hands wildly in the air with the first loud "HONEY!", and shaking them down with the five repeated honeys. They love it. We change the emotion of the chorus as the story progresses, and always over the top.

I also made magnets to tell the story: a bear, a piece of toast, a bee, and a jar of jam.

For copyright reasons, here is a link to the lyrics

AND, here is Connie's performance on Youtube!

Lyrics and Music by Connie Kaldor, available as a download through Amazon or other sources, but check out the whole album for other winning tunes.