Long before modern media, long before there were books, storytellers collected and told stories to entertain, to persuade, to teach. Cultures developed different styles of storytelling and tools to organize and to support their telling. We know ancient stories because storytellers traveled from community to share their tales. A story must reach many ears to be remembered and passed down
Create a wagon that will transport your storyteller. Begin with a wagon that transformed into a stage for storytellers in a Shakespeare play. But make it change again and again for stories from China, Japan, Africa, and Germany.
~~Make a whistle and hyōshigi (拍子木) Japanese clapping sticks to draw a crowd.
~~Make a Kamishibai (Japanese: 紙芝居, "paper play") pictures and a portable stage that organize a story
~~Make shadow puppets from China and hand puppets from Germany to act out stories.
~~Make a slapstick, rattles and other instruments to make special effects.
Learn to tell stories with your hands. The ancient arts of storytelling are still useful today.
