Stories at Play

11/06/2026

FAMILY STORYTELLING!!
SAT. JUNE 13, 2pm Bemis Halll, Lincoln, MA -- Celebrate folktales in Lincoln, Mass.! I am thrilled to be part of a line-up of storytellers telling to families thanks to a slew of orgs and people:
South Asians Poets of New England & India Discovery Center
Massachusetts Mass Cultural Council
Bijoy Misra who thought up this great event
Storyteller Andrea Kamens who quickly came to his assistance and rounded up talent
Bruce Marcus extraordinary storyteller, acting as fab emcee
AND all the other tellers

27/03/2026

02/02/2026

Passing this post on. It has good suggestions for how talk with your child in the moment of heightened emotional response.

But, even better is to play these emotional scenes out through storytelling. Take a story you know, let's say "The Little Red Hen". Have the hen get more and more frustrated when no one wants to help her ... . Add a character, or have one of her friends, cat, dog or duck, have a change of heart and say one of these responses to her, for example, "I see this is really hard for you." "Maybe I can help you work it out."

Storytelling was designed for communities to work out problems, to realize that bad things happen to good people, but, in the end. to know that life goes on and so, in many cases, the stories led to discussions on how to handle life events.

27/01/2026

This is literacy: introducing books at a young age. They may explore by touching, throwing or biting; it's all part of the process!

23/10/2025

I am happily taking care of my 3 grands (7mos, 9 mos, 2 1/4 yrs) on Wednesdays and have created a safe play area for all 3 in my rec/family room. The oldest is definitely ready for preschool and I am grateful to all the preschool rooms I have visited in the past 20 yrs as Story at Play storyteller who made easy literacy access (esp books) part of all play. (Yes, I'm talking about you, Kim Copeland Gardner Pilot Academy). And thank you Arts for Learning Massachusetts for placing me every year in that school's Friday arts programming.

26/09/2025

Looking forward to telling fun, funny and family-friendly spooky tales once again to Ghosts on the Banke Strawbery Banke Museum. Tickets sell fast - bring your little goblins, mermaids and wizards!

"Ghosts on the Banke is a wonderful way for families to experience the excitement of Halloween while exploring the historic Puddle Dock neighborhood," said Linnea Grim, president and CEO, Thomas W. Haas Endowed Chair at Strawbery Banke Museum

"The Museum is excited to offer two weekends of family-friendly fun where families can trick-or-treat safely along candlelit lanes, discover centuries of local history, and enjoy a magical fall evening together."

MORE: https://portsmouthchamber.org/news/details/strawbery-banke-museum-s-ghosts-on-the-banke-returns-for-two-weekends-of-safe-family-friendly-halloween-fun-09-18-2025

10/07/2025

I am in the midst of summer school for elementary students. My groups spend 3 morning hrs on academics, then lunch and recess, then 3 hours of rotating enrichment. My groups do Drumming, Movement/Yoga and Storytelling. I try to integrate as many art forms as possible and stress the word PLAY even though the enrichment artists have been tasked to incorporate a STEM theme. So I am back to my Forest and Woodland animals program. I begin with the Bantu tale, The Name of the Tree. (I like that it stresses the importance of your name.) The children then use tissue collage to create their own magical tree. We then do a small art/museum walk (going from desk to desk) and ask each student to say what their tree's magical trait is. These are two of my favorite:
1- This tree has ALL the knowledge about dinosaurs. If you need to know something, just ask it a question.
2 - This tree is found next to a playground and gives out apples and water to kids, only need to say please.