Interactive Storytelling Residencies

Speaking Out Teaching Artist visits your classroom for 30-minute sessions of interactive storytelling that include puppets, music, theatre activities and/or puppet making.

Supporting Students’ Development

By bringing developmentally appropriate and cognitively engaging storytelling directly to the classroom, their curriculum comes to life through creative play. Benefits include:

  • Developing expressive language

  • Practicing story sequencing

  • Exposure to new vocabulary

  • Practicing pro-social skills of listening and turn-taking

  • Practicing motor skills by making and animating simple puppets

  • Reinforcement of their learning in units like plants, weather, numbers, etc.

Flexible Scheduling

The number of sessions and the frequency of visits is tailored to fit the classroom’s budget and needs. Common formats are:

  • Visits on a weekly basis

  • A week-long residency

  • Once a month

  • A single visit

Available Story Options

The teaching artists at Speaking Out Collective have been creating playful early childhood adaptations of traditional stories since 2009. We work in consultation with early childhood and mental health professionals as well as community elders.

Residencies can focus on a single theme or story genre or can be a sampling.

  • Grandpa Gerald tells stories inspired by familiar tales to teach Thelma about gardening, plants, and sunlight.  Connects with Kindergarten standards about plants and sunlight.

    • Thelma and the Lettuce Thief

    • Thelma and the Beanstalk

    • Thelma and the Three Bears

    • Thelma, the Sun, and the Wind

    • Thelma and the Gingerbread House

  • Stories created to increase representation of loving, caring fathers. Developed at the request of PICA Head Start in Minneapolis. 

    • Little Rocket goes to the Stars (based on the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

    • The Three Dancing Princes

  • Sharing mental wellness strategies and celebrating the different ways brains work. Created in consultation with children’s mental health professionals. 

    • Old MacDonald’s Farm: Fluff, the Duckling Who Wouldn’t Swim (Anxiety)

    • Old MacDonald’s Farm: Curly, the Autistic Sheep (Autism)

    • Old MacDonald’s Farm: Sparky, the Dog Who Loved to MOVE! (ADHD)

    • The Itsy Bitsy Spider (Trauma)

  • A little bird does its part to protect the forest. Pairs well with the book “We are Water Protectors” by Carole Lindstrom. Best told over the course of five classroom visits.

    • Flicker and the Pipe

  • Stories from this Land

    Based on traditional stories that originated on the land where we live. Note: May only be told when snow is on the ground.

    • The Legend of the Ladyslipper

    • How Turtle Flew South

    • Unktomi and the Ducks

  • Stories adapted from tales from the Brothers’ Grimm, Aesop’s Fables and more.

    • The Bremen Town Musicians

    • How Six Made Their Way in the World 

    • The Man, the Serpent, and the Fox

    • The Wolf and the Seven Kids

    • The Lion and the Mouse

    • The Boy Who Cried Wolf

  • Playful adaptations of trickster tales originating in West Africa.

    • Anansi and the Sweet Potatoes

    • Anansi and the Drum

    • Anansi and the Mac and Cheesetem description

  • Pourquoi tales are humorous stories about why animals are they way they are. These stories are especially great for first grade as they naturally lead to students creating their own animal tales.

    • Why Skunks are Stinky

    • Why Tortoises have Shells

    • Why Snakes don’t have Legs

    • Why Buzzards don’t have Feathers on their Head

    • Why Dogs Sniff One Another

    • Why Spiders Hide in Corners

    • Why Lizards Stretch their Necks

    • Why Leopards have Spots

Let’s Talk!

Interested in finding out more about scheduling an Interactive Storytelling Residency at your school or organization? Please fill out our Contact Form, and we’ll be in touch shortly.

Contact Us

“The class loved the storytelling. They looked forward to hearing more of the story every week. The puppets they made each week was a highlight. They enjoyed making them and then acting out the story. Love this program!” 

Davida Brodsho,
Pre-K Teacher at Anishinabe School