Voices of the Water - Stories in Action

Salina Khatun is a primary teacher and CEO of Kindle Corner as well as a local Somers Town resident. She and her team of storytellers have joined the Voices of the Water team by running water themed storytelling afternoons with young children and their parents, grandparents and guardians.

Salina talks about her experience of running the storytelling sessions.

“My child enjoys coming to sessions and engages well with the book!

“My fridge is covered in the drawings they do!”

Stories in Action follow the motto, ‘Today a reader, tomorrow a leader’, where interactive reading sessions are led followed by activities and healthy snacks. It is a place where children are stimulated to love reading.

Reading is one of life's greatest pleasures but sadly has been stolen from many of our children in the community. You may be wondering how so? Well, some children are naturally shy and may go under the radar. Others may come across as disruptive and get placed in the naughty corner. Underprivileged families don’t have access to resources and parents may not be equipped to read aloud with children. These are just a couple of the reasons some children do not have access to books and reading, however, you will find these very children are imaginative and need their energy channelled by opportunities provided which allow them to engage with the stories being read to them. It also provides an opportunity for parents as during the session, parents are also able to observe how to interact with young children whilst reading a book. 

During Stories in Actions, as part of the Voices of the Water project, children from different ethnic minorities, backgrounds and abilities were also able to engage. Some were quiet at the beginning, however as the sessions and weeks progressed the same children were engaging with the books and listening to  other competent children talking, and some of those who were more shy, began raising their hands to speak. Those who were also slightly more ‘disruptive’ became less so, and just showed high degrees of energy and enthusiasm. By acting stories out, energetic children were able to channel their energy positively. They learnt and asked questions about saving water, recycling and not throwing items in the seas and rivers through reading a book and this sparked curious minds alongside hands being eagerly raised to contribute to the discussion. 

We find that being at the same eye-level as the children, whether sitting on the floor or standing, allows us to see their joyous smiles, their frantic hands waving in the air - translated as excitement, the burrowed eyebrows inspired by the stories being narrated and played out and questions whizzing in the children's minds.  From this we can see that children aren't just children, they are inspiring ideas, they are passion, and they are change; they are seeking to learn about the world and willing to get their hands stuck in. They want to get their hands stuck in! Sometimes literally! Imagine you are in a classroom for 6-7 hours, then you come back home to sit again for a book to be read to you in a monotone voice …. That can be draining and unengaging to many children. 

At the Story Garden, kids are allowed to be kids by also getting them engaged in arts and craft – which is amazing might I add, as some of the kids then independently drew pictures from the book after the reading. After reading ‘Somebody swallowed Stanley’, the kids were also very creative during activity time. They didn't just make boats and draw sharks, but at craft-time when we thought that they would draw fish, or maybe the plastic bag in the water, the kids drew Stanley as a kite as he was saved and freed from the sea! 

We did face some challenges though in running the sessions - cold evenings, miscommunication, closed venues and budgeting were all hurdles we had to overcome.  But these challenges are not big enough to prevent our vision of making literacy fun and accessible to the community. The story garden has truly been a safe space for families who come here to enjoy the stories in action. Those who attend both witness and feel the ambience and buzz of our story sessions. Stories shared in the Story Garden are stories to take home, for parents to engage the children in discussion, curate further activities and maybe even inspire a child’s future.

These are some of the water themed books we read in the weekly sessions: 

• Secret seahorses 

• Shark in the park 

• Bite sized 

• Sharks 

• Grata and the Giants 

• Somebody swallowed Stanley 

• Snake and the whale  

• Snow For Christmas 

• AND MORE

You can find out more about the sessions on instagram at @kindlecornerkids

Find out more about the Voices of the Water programme here.

Notes from the Garden