The Little Red Hen & The Ear of Wheat

Today, at my weekly session of The Barefoot StoryClub, one of the regular members made my day! O is a two-year old boy who has really responded to the club's format. Each week his confidence has grown and he has got more and more involved. This morning, he volunteered to play the little red hen in our second telling of our story for the day. Often, I find that pre-school children volunteer to take a part and then get all shy and change their minds after a short while. Not so for O today! He donned the red apron to represent being the little red hen (this apron has been many things in many stories!) and scritched and scratched in the earth to find the ear of wheat. He was, quite simply, an absolute star and it is a joy to see how he is developing over the weeks.

That's why I love running The Barefoot StoryClub. It's just so rewarding. The Club is for pre-schoolers and their parents/carers and I have been running it for about 3 months now. I've gone about it in a low-key sort of way - in other words no advertising - just while I'm developing the format and the stories. Each week I tell a story orally, making it as interactive as possible for the children (and grown-ups!). Then we make a craft item related to the story. So, today we made hen puppets out of paper bags, tissue paper and lolly sticks. I really believe that in making and doing it's all about the process NOT the end result and I do try and encourage that with the adults! My daughter's hen was not so much red as green, the beak was on the back and it had one lollipop stick leg - but she made it with no intervention from me and she's very proud of it. She knows it's her hen and that's what matters. After the craft the children gather in again and we re-tell the story but this time we use various simple props (such as the red apron!) and it turns into improvised drama!

Quote of the day: "Just bring your imagination..." The Barefoot Storyteller!