A great way to teach story is through song! Think back to your summer days and nights in camp where we sang and acted out parts of silly songs and serious ballads. We wanted to include songs that definitely had a beginning, middle, and end and could be easily adapted by these creative kids. As storytelling teachers, we knew that gestures, motions, and vocabulary had to be experienced first in order to understand and have fun with each song. That's not always so easy when you have blind children who have never seen with their eyes or experienced the actions. We had fun! Repetition in the song was important to use so here's what we included this year:
1. "We're Going On a Bear Hunt."
2." Herman the Worm"
3. "What Do You Do With a Brand New Sailor" (we changed the original Irish bar song of "What do You do with a Drunken Sailor) - Such a catchy tune we all loved so we had to use it!!!!
1. "We're Going On a Bear Hunt."
2." Herman the Worm"
3. "What Do You Do With a Brand New Sailor" (we changed the original Irish bar song of "What do You do with a Drunken Sailor) - Such a catchy tune we all loved so we had to use it!!!!
"We're Going On A Bear Hunt" Script
| were_going_on_a_bear_hunt_script.pdf |
"Herman the Worm" Lyrics and Video
I'm including the lyrics we used for this fun story song but also a YouTube as an example of how to sing the song with the kids acting it out with gestures.
| herman_the_worm_lyrics.pdf |
"What Do You Do with a Brand New Sailor?"
One of my all time fun Irish pub songs to sing at the Renaissance Festival is "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor" because of its catchy tune. I thought why not have our storytelling kids come up with their own "appropriate" lyrics that told an engaging story out on the sea. Once I taught the first verse and refrain to the kids, they had a blast working together coming up with a sequenced story song! Great team work and I think our story changed about three times. Suspense was a must so we started with sea monsters, then a Tsunami, and I think we ended up with "strong winds blowing."
Each day we reviewed life on a ship before there were cruise liners and engines. Vocabulary and gestures were learned and practiced such as:
1. Throwing the anchor over board (we had to discuss the heaviness of an anchor and its purpose and how it was attached to a heavy metal chain)
2. "Hoist the sails" - we practiced pulling down on an imaginary rope. We definitely needed a real rope to use with each child so they could feel where their hands were placed so pantomiming would be easier.
3. Saluting the captain
4. Hold on tight
5. Swab the deck - We used a broom first and then pantomimed the action
We also created our own ships with sails, anchors, crow's nests, and mermaids. I wish I would have taken more pictures but here's one with your youth teller and volunteer, Gloria Kunnapilly, helping Leo with his ship. I hope the sails got fixed since they're both facing each other - haha.
Our video of the kids' story is below. They really worked at this and did a fantastic job. You'll see the difficulty some had but what a great learning experience they won't forget!
Each day we reviewed life on a ship before there were cruise liners and engines. Vocabulary and gestures were learned and practiced such as:
1. Throwing the anchor over board (we had to discuss the heaviness of an anchor and its purpose and how it was attached to a heavy metal chain)
2. "Hoist the sails" - we practiced pulling down on an imaginary rope. We definitely needed a real rope to use with each child so they could feel where their hands were placed so pantomiming would be easier.
3. Saluting the captain
4. Hold on tight
5. Swab the deck - We used a broom first and then pantomimed the action
We also created our own ships with sails, anchors, crow's nests, and mermaids. I wish I would have taken more pictures but here's one with your youth teller and volunteer, Gloria Kunnapilly, helping Leo with his ship. I hope the sails got fixed since they're both facing each other - haha.
Our video of the kids' story is below. They really worked at this and did a fantastic job. You'll see the difficulty some had but what a great learning experience they won't forget!
"We also incorporated our musical instruments with as many stories as the kids thought would work. One of our successes was with the story "Problems, Problems, Problems." While one of our tellers told the tale, our other members used the following instruments at the right times:
wood blocks - They were hit right after our teller would introduce her title: Problems (Blocks hit once) Problems (blocks hit once) Problems (Blocks hit once.)
rainstick - mosquitos
wooden frog and stick - frogs
rattles - snakes
You can access the audio of the story HERE
wood blocks - They were hit right after our teller would introduce her title: Problems (Blocks hit once) Problems (blocks hit once) Problems (Blocks hit once.)
rainstick - mosquitos
wooden frog and stick - frogs
rattles - snakes
You can access the audio of the story HERE
Please share other song stories that would be great fun for storytelling campers to try out! I'd love to hear from you!
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