Showing posts with label Inverness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inverness. Show all posts

Tuesday, 2 February 2016

Summer stories: workshops for schools and public events 2016


Summer stories
Stories in school
and other excitements
with Creeping Toad,
Summer 2016
celebrating the richness of the season, here are stories, 
sculptures, flags, books and  boggarts

With stories spinning from the first signs of spring right through to earth giants, summer flowers and thunder-tigers, here are stories and activities to enchant and inspire.


a small story-house
Drawing on 30 years of professional experience, my work blends environmental experience with creativity. “Much of my work uses storytelling and story making but I also make small masks, giant masks, flags, lanterns, pop-up landscapes and create wild and wonderful occasions”

Scottish Tour dates: 
April 25th - May 6th
September 5th - 16th

Dates for England & Wales:  
just about any other time - I tend to plan trips as bookings come in

These notes are written for schools. if you have a community grouup or fancy a public event these might give you a guide to what wee might do but talk to me about your specific situation...

a group telling their own stories,  Woodland Trust 2015

In school

A day’s visit to your school might include:

storytelling performances: lasting up to 60 minutes for up to 90 children at a time 

stories out of anything! outdoors or in, we'll use leaves and pine cones, twigs and stones and shells to inspire words, create poems and shape a set of stories never told before
(allow 60 minutes for a class session)


New workshop!
headfulls and handfuls of river animals
puppets and headfulls of animals: like the illustration, we can make quick finger puppet animals or magnificent animal crowns. Allow an hour and a half for a class
New workshop!
Heroes for stories: building characters - as quick puppets and as written pieces: capturing the qualities of our characters for stories: their ambitions, triumphs, disasters and secrets - skills for a richer tale

make your own book
story and book workshops: taking a bit longer (allow 90 minutes for a class) as well as discovering those stories no-one has ever heard before, now we will build those into the books that no-one has ever read before and leave the classroom with a library no-one has ever visited before!

pop-up storyscapes: allow an hour for a class: gathering ideas, images and words we’ll make quick 3-d landscapes holding the essence of a story in a setting, key characters and the words that set the adventure running

tales of old Scotland: a collection of stories of Highland folklore and Scottish histories, of heroes and sorrows, bravery and the magics of sea, mountain and moor

Ancient Lives:  a wider historical perspective could be involved, by adding a voice from the distant past to your history topics with stories that our Stone, Bronze or Iron Age ancestors might have listened to. Stories, models, artefacts and drawings can feed into art inspired by cave paintings, carvings and jewellery

your own themes and ideas: or are you exploring a particular theme that you would like to involve some stories in? In recent projects we have also made talking stone puppets, a giant eagle to hang from a classroom ceiling, prehistoric rockpools, a swarm of shadow dragons, pop-up castles

an African selection

Charges: £250 a day: includes storyteller’s fee, travel and materials. Can be paid on the day or I can invoice you. Activities can be adapted to suit groups from P1 through to Secondary

For further information and to book    
contact Gordon directly at
         creepingtoad@btinternet.com
or by telephone:
landline: 01298 77964
mobile: 07791 096857

release the storytelling pirates!
 

Saturday, 2 May 2015

Telling tales and heading homewards

first days: Dollar Glen

A Cavalcade of Stories
Northern Scotland, late April 2015

who did you meet on your adventure?
Dingwall Primary
Two weeks on the road winds to a close. These were good weeks full of unexpectedly snowy days (and hail, sleet, rain and even sunshine, now and then)

I was “on tour” through northern Scotland throwing myself about from Farr and Daviot, out to Nairn (Millbank Primary) and up to Thurso (Pennyland Primary and Miller Academy)

In Daviot, puppets told strange stories of horses, witches and rabbits.

In Dingwall, some rather grisly accounts of the lost stories of the town surfaced

Up In Thurso, Pennyland Primary and MIller Academy hosted marathon storytelling sessions. New stories were told inspired by my collections of strange objects

story landscapes at Daviot
Farr Primary saw the lost  tales of the glen shaping up with spooky houses, mushroom armies, and people hiding in wooden houses that turned into boats so that they could sail away down the river

At Lochardil Primary among all the stories I felt privileged to see rehearsals for the R-Rock competition the following week

And I never manage to take enough photos to capture all the moments we encounter! But I have met, worked with and told stories to some 1500 children over the last 10 days
this little lamp from Dubai airport always gets ideas going!


Haunted House
a Daviot witch
1,000 years old, with
1,000 years of ghosts, and
1,000 years of screams, and
1,000 years of fear and terror, and
1,000 years of emptiness, and
1,000 years of hopelessness, until
A single person finds
1,000 years of treasure
(Jake, Daviot)

Stories have come and gone including the man who poured hot water into a genie’s goblet to chase the poor thing out and got 2 wishes before the genie decided it wasn’t giving him any more.Then there was the red dragon who emerged from smoke and mist, and flew away. (Miller Academy stories)
Farr: a house to hide in

And from Miller Academy in Thurso also comes what must be one of the best endings of all!
“...and surprisingly he got away. Then he looked back on that day and forgot about it”

Thurso, late afternoon
Thanks to all the storytellers, storymakers, artists and dreamers I have met over these 2 weeks! Congratulations on your wild imaginations and don't wake the giant under the hill!

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Stories on tour: Wild tales and animals



Wild tales and animals
Stories in school with Creeping Toad September 2013

celebrating the Year of Natural Scotland here are old stories, new adventures and impossible fictions about the wildlife of Scotland

From heroic mice to wrens, eagles and mysterious trees we’ll meet stories that encourage us to look with new eyes on the world around us and remember that there are stories inside the humblest of creatures and the most ordinary of plants, and that we can all have adventures too

I am Gordon MacLellan – Creeping Toad – is one of Britain’s foremost environmental art and education workers…and I tell stories as well! 

Between 2nd and 13th September, 2013 (and probably again in November), I will be working in the Highland area (at least) and is available for bookings….

A day’s visit to your school - or your nature reserve or education centre - might include 

storytelling performanceslasting up to 60 minutes for up to 90 children at a time

stories outside! using the school ground, we’ll take storymaking out of the classroom and use the immediate environment, the day’s weather and whatever we can find to inspire words, create poems and shape a set of stories never told before (allow 60 minutes for a class session)


story and book workshops: taking a bit longer (allow 90 minutes for a class) as well as discovering those stories no-one has ever heard before, now we will build those into the books that no-one has ever read before and leave the classroom with a library no-one has ever visited before!

pop-up storyscapes: allow an hour for a class: gathering ideas, images and words we’ll make quick 3-d landscapes holding the essence of a story in a setting, key characters and the words that set the adventure running

tales of old Scotland: a collection of stories of Highland folklore and Scottish histories, of heroes and sorrows, bravery and the magics of sea, mountain and moor
I rather hope this isn't one of the
heroes of old Scotland!

your own themes and ideas: or are you exploring a particular theme that you would like to involve some stories in? pirates….tropical islands….ancient cave people…..where in our school would bears live?…castle adventures,  have all featured in recent Creeping Toad projects

Charges: £250 a day: includes storyteller’s fee, travel and materials. Can be paid on the day or I can invoice you

To book: contact Gordon directly at
or by telephone: 

landline: 01298 77964
mobile: 07791 096857

sometimes new stories call for ancient animals

Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Creeping Toad on tour, Highlands September 2012


What else could happen?
Creeping Toad on tour,
3 - 14th September 2012

what else could go wrong?
what other trick could we play?
what will happen next?

With stories to inspire, enchant and engage, workshops to captivate, books to make and new adventures to find, Creeping Toad stories involve participants in worlds of marvel and wonder and leave people full of words and images and ready for action

“like dogs who need toys to have fun and be happy, children need fun and to play to be happy. Then we learn well. With Gordon we play and have fun and learn at the same time”
Year 5 pupil, Runcorn, 2011

effective story ideas are absorbing
and invite concentration
Gordon MacLellan – Creeping Toad – is one of Britain’s foremost environmental art and education workers…and he tells stories too!

Between 3rd and 14th September, 2012  (and again in November), Gordon will be working in the Highland area (at least) and is available for a few bookings….

A day’s visit to your school ( or nature reserve or private group or college...I'm versatile!) might include

storybuilding using found objects and a few treasures
storytelling performances: lasting up to 60 minutes for up to 90 children at a time

stories outside! using the school ground, we’ll take storymaking out of the classroom and use the immediate environment, the day’s weather and whatever we can find to shape a set of stories never told before (allow 60 minutes for a class session)

story and book workshops: taking a bit longer (allow 90 minutes for a class) as well as discovering the stories that no-one has ever heard before, now we will build those into the books that no-one has ever read before and leave the classroom with a library no-one has ever visited before!

tales of old Scotland: a collection of stories of Highland folklore and Scottish histories, of heroes and sorrows, bravery and the magics of sea, mountain and moor

storymaking works across ages and continents
your own themes and ideas: or are you exploring a particular theme that you would like to involve some stories in? pirates….tropical islands….ancient cave people…..where in our school would bears live?…castle adventures,  have all featured in recent Creeping Toad projects

Charges: £250 a day: includes storyteller’s fee, travel and materials. Can be paid on the day or I can invoice you

For further information:
         visit the Creeping Toad website at www.creepingtoad.org.uk
        
         creepingtoad@btinternet.com
         or by telephone:
         landline: 01298 77964
         mobile: 07791 096857

storymaking invites you to pause and step out
of busyness and into a sense of the place