In addition to telling stories, I love to clog dance. So, of course, I thought why couldn’t I put the two together to tell a fun story to kids? But I just couldn’t come up with a good idea.
Then one day, luck came my way. I was fortunate enough to meet a craftsman who designs and makes his own limber jacks. A limberjack, also know as a jig doll, is a wooden doll with flexible arms and legs that dance and move when bounced on a wooden board. I ordered a couple, a limberjack and a limberjill, and couldn’t wait till I received them.
I named my jig dolls Granny and Pappy (very fitting names as you will see) and set off to learn how to make them dance and write a story about them.
I wrote a story about Granny and Pappy and have told it several times to young children. The story has a lesson to it. Can you guess what it is? Yep, Granny and Pappy learn to do something new…clog! The children are mesmerized by this story, help participate during the telling by clapping to the music and offering new ideas of what the characters can do, and, of course, some have the opportunity to actually use the jig dolls to get Granny and Pappy to dance at the end of the telling. By the way, kids are naturals at getting the limberjacks to dance.
And the lesson to this blog? If you have never written your own story to tell, you can do it. The trick? Use what you are passionate about to write your story. Then, have fun telling it. And if you have a prop that will work, go for it!
http://www.ednawaidellcravitz.com/clogging-and-storytelling-yep/