Greetings from Twelve Little Tales!
Hello and welcome to the land of Twelve Little Tales!
Twelve Little Tales is a storytelling tool including a story starter and prompts so you and your children become the storytellers too! Every month brings a new starter tale and 12 prompt cards all adorned with art from my original watercolor paintings. My name is Marna Widom and it is my pleasure to write and paint about the seasons and the magic and wonder that we can find if we look just over that hill, just under that toadstool or right in front of us at the look on our children's faces when we are weaving a story together.
I love telling stories, but years ago when my young daughter would ask me to do so I found I could not think of a thing to say! It was probably self consciousness, but whatever it was I couldn't fulfill her wish. Over the years as a preschool teacher I learned to tell stories and found myself joyfully rewarded by the children being wide eyed and thoroughly captivated by anything I would come up with. As I realized there were many others who would benefit from some storytelling prompts, or would simply enjoy some monthly inspiration to add to their already developed storytelling abilities, I created Twelve Little Tales.
Now that I have a five year old son and teach kindergarten at a charter school inspired by Waldorf Education I find storytelling to be some of the most enjoyable parts of our day, at school and at home. Stories can be used for so many things - to address a difficult situation, to make one (or 24!) children giggle hysterically or to create a lovely resting or bedtime ritual. One of the very most magical aspects is the quality of the space that is created between people when making up stories. In Twelve Little Tales as one reads a little tale card and reaches the end with the ... (dot dot dot) - this is where the true connection is made. Everyone involved is present and in the moment. It is like magic, creating something from thin air - but the air is not thin, it is almost tangible with expectation and wonder.
Twelve Little Tales is enjoyed by parents and teachers with young children, by homeschooling parents and their younger and older children to help develop reading and writing skills, and is sent all over the world, including a seasonally appropriate Tale each month for friends in the Southern Hemisphere. I send out the Tales in three ways - in the mail packaged with postcards and stickers, digitally to print out or use on a device or a hybrid of the two. Also, the Tales are translated each month into French, Spanish and Dutch!
Please visit the site for a sample Tale. Twelve Little Tales is also on Facebook and Instagram.
Happy Storytelling!
Marna
This weekend, Twelve Little Tales is generously offering the following gifts to THREE lucky SouleMama readers:
Three months of Twelve Little Tales Digital (to print out at home or for use on a device) WITH Postcards and Stickers in the mail.
In addition, Twelve Little Tales invites all SouleMama readers to visit the site and click •free gift• to receive two postcards in the mail.
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To enter today's giveaway, leave a comment below (one entry per person, please). Comments will close by 9 am EST on Sunday. Winners will be chosen by Random Number Generator and announced in this post shortly after. Comments closed. The winners are...
What a beautiful and unique idea for littles! Pick me!
Posted by: Sarah
What a wonderful idea. I love telling my younger sister stories, it reminds me of a poem that says - "And children's faces looking up, holding wonder like a cup."
Posted by: susannah
Brilliant idea! My girls favourite time of the day is story time, and I love that they are just getting old enough to create the story together with me.
Posted by: Eve Newton
