The length of time you have access to each programme depends on the programme itself. For example, The Poetry Basket is not subscription-based and gives you access for life, whereas The Story Basket and The Poetry Basket 2 are yearly rolling subscriptions. Helicopter Stories On Demand gives one year’s worth of access, and can be renewed upon request. My relationship with her began in the classroom as her assistant teacher. Every day my mind filled with questions about what the children were doing, how Vivian saw different situations and how she responded. As we cleaned up at the end of the day, I asked her questions; she talked through the events of the school day until we were walking out the door. Eventually, she said, “Come over on Friday afternoon for tea so we can talk more.” That Friday turned into many Fridays, and sometimes there was a glass of wine after tea, and eventually Shabbos dinner. Making up imaginary stories is a fantastic way for children to explore their creativity, and let their imaginations run free as they use it to make sense of the world around them. But there’s an extra special approach that lets children take their imaginary stories to the next level.

Two children from around the stage came up to take on the role of her parents. Another group of six children created the walls of her bedroom. They stood around her, forming a prison. The girl in the story looked out through the walls of children, peering at the class with the saddest of eyes. Martha was in her element. Helicopter Stories let children dictate and act out a story of their own making. It’s a completely open-ended approach, as children can interpret and act out their story any way they like. They use their arms to create windmills, or their whole body to make trees. Helicopter Stories is a simple approach, based on the work of our late patron, Vivian Gussin Paley. It involves scribing a child’s story verbatim, word for word, and then taking the time to act it out.

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When we applauded, she smiled coyly, the pride in what she had just achieved flushed across her cheeks. “That was a big punishment for that girl, just for getting her dress dirty,” I said. We’ll go into how much a difference you can make by introducing this storytelling and story acting in a minute, but first here’s the run-down of how Helicopter Stories work from start to finish: Believe it or not, the benefits of story acting don’t stop there. Encouraging children with their oral language development has a wonderful effect on their writing skills later on.

And there is great potential for this to be develop; how wonderful it would be to show him pictures of other countries, or objects from around the world, to enable him to explore the tastes and flavours of these different places for example?Chisenhale Primary School in London is a MakeBelieve Arts Helicopter Stories Centre of Excellence, and Bonnie Mendoza, an EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) teacher at the school and a Helicopter Stories Champion, reveals how the approach has helped the children.

Later, if you want to, as it’s Helicopter Stories at Home, you can write your own story too, and maybe act that out with your children as well. Or you could ask your child if they would like to scribe your story too. It doesn’t matter if it is in emergent writing or they can’t spell some of the words. Between the two of you, when you act it out, you will remember what it said. Write Your Child’s Words Exactly

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Write down their story exactly how they tell it. Don’t be tempted to make grammar changes - just write down what they say, word for word. I introduced the first poem, Chop Chop, to a group of children. They were instantly engaged. The actions and the simplicity of the poems makes them so accessible. Our setting has a high level of children with speech and language issues, and they love The Poetry Basket. They confidently recite the poems, and beam with pride that they can remember and articulate them so well. A child with very few words was able to ask for the poem he wanted by using the actions. As we use a Total Communication approach in our setting, the actions that go alongside the poems makes this resource highly inclusive. From that first introduction I knew The Poetry Basket was going to be a positive change for our children and their language development. The Story Basket, The Story Basket contains 15 audio-only fairy tales and folktales, accompanied by music and sound to bring these magical stories to life. The collection is designed to be listened to throughout the academic year with five stories and accompanying resources selected for each of the three terms. It includes a host of activities, thoughts for discussion and resource ideas suitable for children aged 3 to 7. This truly is an enchanting compilation that will enthral audiences both young and old. If I said to you right now ‘Be a house,’ you’d probably make a very square shape and point your hands up to act as the roof,” says Trisha. “But children see things differently - their eyes are fresher than ours.” If we interfere, we’re projecting our own views onto children, and stifling their creativity.