Bags of stories

Imagine giving children the opportunity to explore and invent new places, times, characters, questions and ideas in a story, and then using that story as inspiration to access all Areas of Learning, as set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS). This is storyshaping – a gentle, interactive way to make and share stories together. Storyshaping places children at the centre of the storytelling process, where they are not just being creative, but they are the creators of a new story.

Storyshaping uses five Storyshapes that represent the building blocks for a story – place, time, character, question and idea. The tactile shapes are passed around a small group of children and used as prompts to build a story through talk. If you do not have a set of Storyshapes, you can still use these five concepts as prompts for creating a story with a group of children.

Storyshaping can be inspired by anything, anyone or anywhere. Enjoy exploring a variety of books, stories, rhymes and imaginative play opportunities to find inspiration. Parents using English as an additional language (EAL) and who come in to share stories from their culture, plus grandparents’ memories of childhood, would also make wonderful starting-points.

Speaking and listening

In the days following a storyshaping session, consider how themes from your story can be translated into play and learning to develop the children’s speaking and listening skills. For example: