A season for stories, schools 2023

 Summer stories, 2023

Stories in school and other excitements with Creeping Toad

celebrating the richness of the changing year, here are stories, puppet-making story-building, pop-up landscapes 

and boxes of treasures 

Scottish dates:

15^th – 26^th May 2023

4 – 12^th September 2023

other areas: just get in touch

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

Drawing on 30 years of professional experience, Gordon’s 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”

 

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)

finger puppets: we can make quick finger puppet animals or adventurers and create instant stories

From across lands and times: I can select stories to suit times and places: so we have had days of Native American stories, or Egyptian or Greek or Roman, there have been Chinese tales and African animal stories….lots of exciting resources to draw on here, to make new writing vibrant and lively. Castles are popular, too, with boxes of treasures to inspire a new adventure and release a bold princess or courageous dragon

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. These can be steered in various directions and we might listen to stories from Viking days or medieval and Stuart stories and even add some Scottish explorers and their adventures and disasters…

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

 

Charges: £280 a day 

Fee 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: 

explore the rest of this blog or

visit the Creeping Toad website at

https://creepingtoad.com/

To book: contact Gordon directly at

         creepingtoad@btinternet.com

         or by telephone: mobile: 07791 096857

Summer stories

ready for stories

 Summer stories

Stories in school with Creeping Toad

Summer 2015

celebrating the richness of the season, here are old stories, 

new adventures and chances to create tales that

no-one has ever heard before!

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.

me, in action at Plas Power Woods*

I am now taking bookings for the summer term -and would welcome enquiries from schools, clubs, parks and nature reserves looking for public events, and just about anyone really! We all breathe the same air, maybe we can all enjoy the same world!

 Where

I am based in Buxton in Derbyshire and organise work spreading out from there. I am due in the north of Scotland for two definite blocks of time

Scotland

April: 20 - 29th

August 24th - September 4th

Other than that will be working across England, with a few days now and then in specific areas - Sussex for example in April and May.

So, if you're interested in a workshop get in touch and we'll sort something out

planning Arts Week? shaking your literacy up a bit? designing a celebration? hoping to get to grips with the stories of stones or the speaking and listening of your children....

Who are workshops for?

Most of my work is with school children from Reception through to the end of Primary , but activities can be adapted to suit Reception or High School students. Equally, public events might be aimed at families or shifted to suit particular audiences - I'm writing stories and poems with adult groups just now on one project and training teachers on another.

What could we do?

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)

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 or maybe the thrills of a lifecycle in a setting, key characters and the words that set the adventure running

a shadow puppet visit to a castle

shadow stories: out of my stories might come new stories: drawing on whatever theme we are working with to create quick performances of shadow puppets. Incorporating silhouettes, translucence and transparency, we'll mix science with story to create an (almost) instant set of story performances to show or perhaps to film

Ancient Lives: add 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

 

inspired by Celtic jewellery

Old Scotland: sets of stories drawn from a Scottish heritage: tales of clans, of heroes and villains and the wonder-tales of an ancient Celtic world

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 Greeks…fairies, frogs and trolls…..where in our school would bears live?…the Great Fire of London have all featured in recent Creeping Toad projects

How much?

 £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 Reception through to Secondary

 To book: contact me (Gordon) directly at

            creepingtoad@btinternet.com

            or by telephone:

            landline: 01298 77964

            mobile: 07791 096857

you never know who, or what, will end up

 in a Creeping Toad story!

* Plas Power Woods photo c/o Laurence Crossman-Emms 

and the Woodland Trust

Stories Alive!...a beginning

Once upon a time in Burnley...

storymaking calls for lively action....

A new project is slowly uncurling its storytelling horns and peeping its beautiful face out of its shell…(I like snails). Stories Alive! has placed 5 artists in 5 Nursery Schools (see below) in and around Burnley in East Lancashire. Our teams have been challenged to develop sets of activities to help embed storytelling and storymaking in Nursery practice, in families and in the children we are all working with

 

wordcloud: what are we doing, what do we remember?

We began a couple of weeks ago with an InSeT evening with 50 staff from across the Nurseries reminding themselves of skills they've already learned and processes they already use. Initially, this was a slightly daunting process when I saw how confident the group were in their storymaking (what could we contribute?). Reassuring, too: here are teams of people who remember previous training (a year or more ago with Carol Graham from Storyspace), take new ideas on board and are ready to take risks. Great! So we went on to make up new stories and build little books to help hold our stories together

 

Pippa in action

Then we all gathered at the wonderful Burnley Youth Theatre for children and staff to meet their artists and create their first stories together. All? Yes, ALL. There were buses ferrying small figures from all over the place, converging on their slightly anxious artists. Over two days some 300 children and assorted staff and parents joined us at the theatre. And we all survived! And we didn't lose anyone (or not that we've heard yet!). And it was fun!

Now, as the snowdrops prepare to flower, our teams of teachers, children, artists and parents are ready to flower too!  Over the next few weeks, workshops will explore ideas and develop activities. Our artists aren't there to simply go in and deliver a storymaking workshop here or there. Our role is indeed to bring our expertise but to find ways of sharing skills and developing programmes that suit the individuals and communities of our Nurseries

And every so often we'll all meet and share experiences, swap artists, try each other's activities and watch this old Toad worrying about whether he's booked enough coaches

As the project develops we'll post moments here - for project members to enjoy and, hopefully, for my wider blog-visitors to see what we're up to

ARTISTS

Pippa Pixley

Carol Ferro

Hannah Stringer

Ben McCabe

Gordon MacLellan - Creeping Toad - me!

NURSERIES

Taywood

Basnett Street

Newtown

Rockwood

Rosegrove

and they all lived.....

Stories Alive! is supported by Arts Council England

Winter tales and spring stories

Winter tales and Spring stories

Stories in school with Creeping Toad

December 2014 - April 2015

marking the changing edge of the year, here are old stories, new adventures and chances to create tales that no-one else has ever heard before!

in performance,
photo c/o: Laurence Crossman-Emms
and the Woodland Trust

With stories running from the frozen edges of the world right through to the first flowers of spring and the waking of the bumblebees, here are stories and activities to enchant and inspire.

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

Here are some workshops and suggestions for activities that you might like to jump onto for a session in your school - or other centre

A day’s visit to your school (or country park, library or exciting crypt...) might include

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

stories out of anything! usually we might do this outside but given wintry weather, we'll use leaves and pine cones, twigs and stones and shells indoors 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 or maybe the thrills of a lifecycle in a setting, key characters and the words that set the adventure running

Winter lights: finding words and images to hold the essence of winter or the hopes of spring in quick poems, we'll slide words  and pictures into lanterns and make a swarm of small glowing lanterns to glow through the darkest nights or gloomiest days

shadow stories: out of my stories might come new stories: drawing on whatever theme we are working with to create quick performances of shadow puppets. Incorporating silhouettes, translucence and transparency, we'll mix science with story to create an (almost) instant set of story performances to show or perhaps to film

Ancient Lives: add 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? pirates….tropical islands….ancient Greeks…fairies, frogs and trolls…..where in our school would bears live?…the Great Fire of London  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. Activities can be adapted to suit groups from KS 1, 2 or 3

For further information: visit the Creeping Toad website at http://creepingtoad.blogspot.co.uk/           

To book: contact Gordon directly at

            creepingtoad@btinternet.com

            or by telephone:

            landline: 01298 77964

            mobile: 07791 096857

you never know who, or what, will end up in a Creeping Toad story!

Sharing joy

telling stories:Dove Valley Centre, Wild Day Out, June

 summer arrives: chives in
flower at Dove Valley Centre

Maybe the Joseph Cornell* connection isn’t as awkward as I am thinking it is, but so much of my work is really about sharing joy that sometimes it is a bit overwhelming. No, not a gushy, weepy, saccharine sweetness but a sense of delight: in the world we explore, in the discoveries we make, in the memories we renew (Oh, so that’s a ground beetle), in the people we share these moments with

And delight runs deep. Joy is a vibrancy that doesn’t actually need smiles. They are nice but delight wakes a sense of richness in ourselves and our world that, hopefully, lasts beyond the edges of a smile.

When I’m telling stories, that is what I am feeling. Even when the story is grim or sad, there is still a richness in the occasion: in the imagery used, in the emotions evoked, in the experience shared. Art and exploring workshops are equally potent: to walk on mud, to listen to the wind in the trees, to stand in the park at the end of the street and realise there are stories hidden inside beetle and earthworm and flowers in the municipal flowerbed, leaves me reeling a bit by the end of it all

a beetle and a grasshopper setting out on an adventure (WH)

So, I feel that my work is about sharing joy…just hope that spills over to the groups  work with too!

a cheerful fox at the Wild Day out 

a thoughtful moment at an Ecoschools conference

*Cornell’s book “Sharing the Joy of Nature” was a seminal environmental education text in the transformation of env ed back in the 80s

Schools and places:

Dove Valley Centre

Windmill Hill Primary School, Runcorn

University of Derby, Eco schools committee challenge day, June 11th 2014

the (slightly scary) rabbits of Windmill Hill

a story not told (yet) of an owl and a fox

grasshopper!

The waters of the loch

The waters of the loch

Calm waves, tranquil water.

Children stand and watch the sea,

The waves sigh onto the shore.

A ship sails on a gentle sea,

A boat glides over the loch.

A deep blue sea.

Dolphins swim,

Seals splash in the water,

Bubbles blow where animals live.

Calm waves, tranquil water,

Above the seaweed that,

Waves over the sunken ship,

Where fish keep watch through the portholes.

John Dory

Calm waves, tranquil water

It all looks still,

Until you look under the

Deep sea waving,

Still mysteries 

Still waiting to be solved.

 cheerful blue whale

Calm waves, tranquil water

Gloomy dark water

Glowing green seaweed,

Tough seaweed in the deep, 

Hard to find

Pink sad starfish,

Anglerfish, mackerel and John Dory

Swim through the blue and the green and the grey

Mackerel

The loch grows dark and murky,

Waves thrash against the rocks

Seals pull out onto the shore,

Dolphins hide,

Orca withdraw,

Scary, scaly fish rising up from the darkness

Would make the biggest catch in the world

If anyone could net them,

But

A two-headed shark eats two divers

In one mouthful,

Grey sharks gather, and bull and mako

A ray ripples over the floor of the sea

a ray in preparation

The storm throws the waves at the shore,,

The spray soaks the children on the beach,

Run and hide, run and hide!

And don’t see the whales that hum and sing in the storm

Miss the monsters of the sea’s abyss

with thanks to the children and teachers of 

Badcaul and Scoraig Primary Schools 

for their imaginations, poems and wild stories!

(words and creations by the children)