Storydramatization:

A Kinesthetic Approach to Literacy

Story dramatization is a method of Creative Drama, using story as the structure for action.

Creative Drama is improvised drama designed by a leader for the benefit of the participants.

Improvised = there is no script

Designed by a leader = it is different from dramatic play
Benefits = are many! Including social-emotional learning, communication skills (both verbal and
nonverbal) empathy development, gross and fine motor skill development, self-esteem, self-
expression, emergent literacy and Relaxation, Concentration and Imagination.

Learning through drama encourages the development of divergent thinking.

A Recipe for Story Dramatization:

1. Tell (or read) the Story

2. Review the action (order of events)
3. Plan the space
4. Cast the story
5. Play the story
6. Reflect, and re-play

What makes a good story for dramatization? A story that makes a satisfying dramatization is one
that has playable action, negotiable conflict (to be resolved through non-violent means), and a
changeable balance of power.

When selecting stories for beginning group dramatization, choose stories that have a single
continuous action. Remind the children that we are making ONE story together. Consider
which characters in a story your children will most likely relate to and build your plan around the
action that character takes.

Storytelling: engage the children by considering the action in the story and the emotive aspects
of the characters. Emotional context is the strongest link to story for all people – but this is
especially true of children! Express emotion through character voices and inflection.

Playing in role: The teacher can draw children into the action of the story by modeling
commitment to character and focus on a single action.

The importance of reflection to the learning process:

People learn not from experience but from reflecting upon experience.

A few stories to try:

Anansi’s Wisdom Calabash The Gunniwolf
Are You My Mama? Hats for Sale
Ask Mr. Bear House that Jack Built
Big Bad Wolf is Good Jack and the Beanstalk
Blind Men and the Elephant The Little Red Hen
Bremen Town Musicians Little Red Riding Hood
Caps for Sale Shoemaker and the Elves
Chicken Little Three Billy Goats Gruff
The Emperor’s New Clothes Three Little Pigs
The Fisherman and His Wife Tikki Tikki Tembo
Five Little Monkeys Wide-Mouthed Frog
Frog and Toad Stories Wolf and the Seven Little Kids
George and Martha: Two Best Friends Wolf’s Chicken Stew
George Shrinks The Three Wishes
Gingerbread Man

Selected recommended books on storytelling and creative drama:

Stories to Dramatize by Winifred Ward

Stories Around the World, Hodder & Stoughton, eds.
Twenty Tellable Tales by Margaret Read McDonald
Juba This and Juba That: Story Hour Sketches by Virginia Tashjian
Creative Drama in the Classroom and Beyond by Nellie McCaslin
Development through Drama by Brian Way
The Creative Classroom by Lenore Blank Kelner
Storytelling in Emergent Literacy by Susan Trostle Brand & Jeanne Donato
The Arts as Meaning Makers by Claudia E. Cornett
Handbook for Storytellers by Caroline Feller Bauer

A. Ressler © 2019