Children enjoy seasonal stories and strawberries with cream because they are as sweet as strawberry ice cream! I am the Storytelling Queen, and I love to tell a children’s story with a seasonal scene. Our company, D. Green Storytelling, believes it is important for our children’s stories to change with and reflect the current season. While performing as a children’s entertainer, I have a plethora of original stories that are highly enjoyable any time of the year. I also have created numerous stories that are more appropriate for certain times and seasons. I take pride in performing stories with seasonal themes, which helps children form close connections with the story characters, as they experience, interact, and learn about seasonal objects, foods, events, etc. that come alive in these characters and stories. For example, when I was one of the featured performers at the Strawberry Festival, I wrote a story about strawberries. Children at the festival were thoroughly entertained during the storytelling. Even though this particular story was created for and introduced at the Strawberry Festival, I currently continue to present the story for other events and audiences during the spring and summer because of the great joy young listeners experience while the story is being performed.
My strawberry story has become a favorite among many age groups, and I get numerous requests to perform the story at various events during strawberry season, which generally ranges from late April to August. Children can easily relate to the main characters in the story (who are strawberries!) because many of the children are eating strawberries alone or combined with other foods at home, school, amusement parks, fairs, daycare centers, etc. during the strawberry season. For example, when I recently used the strawberry story during a show for a wonderful group of youngsters at a daycare facility, they were excited and made immediate connections with the strawberry characters in the storyline (and the strawberry products). It was evident that the children immediately bonded with the strawberry characters because, once they saw the characters, they were instantly engaged and focused on them throughout the story, which was the goal. During the story, the children formed a special friendship with the characters, which allowed them to share the characters’ happy feelings, as solutions to problems were presented during the story’s grand finale. In addition, because of the strong connection the children made with the story characters (the strawberries), it was easy for them to learn the valuable lessons that their friends, the strawberry characters, also had learned.
Even though an audience can enjoy the strawberry story any time of the year, I have noticed that special connections are made with the main characters during the actual strawberry season, which allows the children to increase their literacy skills by experiencing story engagement and story comprehension on their highest levels.
Just as children relate more to strawberry characters during the (spring and summer) strawberry season, likewise, in the fall, my stories with pumpkins and turkeys are always a big hit. Obviously, pumpkins and turkeys are popular symbols of fall, as students across the country take numerous trips to pumpkin patches and look forward to having a Thanksgiving feast, which almost always includes a turkey. After telling the story with the turkey character, I was honored when students said that they were thankful for my turkey play. Our fall collection also includes stories with “The Wacky Witch (Halloween Connections),” “Veteran’s Day Awards” etc.”
Another example of a seasonal favorite is our storytelling show with Mrs. Claus, which is highly requested during late November and December (because of the obvious connection to Santa Claus). Audience feedback indicates that the children are grateful to learn meaningful lessons and why it is important to give during the holiday season. We are always motivated by the audiences’ reactions to share our special messages through the character of Mrs. Claus with young audiences during the season of merriment and giving.
In January, our Martin Luther King show is preferred by many, as they like this unique method of receiving knowledge about Dr. King, which includes learning the meaning of his “I Have a Dream” speech. In February, in addition to our Black History shows, it is our pleasure to present shows with valentines as the main characters. On March 17 of this year, we were thrilled to introduce our interactive St. Patrick’s Day show, which delighted the audience as they anxiously became part of the storyline and helped Lucky Leprechaun and his friends solve problems. Our spring shows also feature fun bunny tales, in which students easily and excitedly connect with the bunny characters as well as the popular strawberry story. Our stories with patriotic story lines (“Go USA”) are requested throughout the year for special events that occur on or near Memorial Day, Flag Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Presidents’ Day, etc.
Customers enjoy selecting packages, which feature combinations of our original stories (that can be enjoyed any time of the year) with holiday/seasonal stories or exclusively seasonal stories. We feel that it is important to continue to create a large variety of stories that coordinate with the seasons. Children learn about and experience seasonal changes and the world around them in many forms. We are proud to use the performing art of storytelling as a valuable literacy tool that reinforces the enjoyment and knowledge of seasonal changes as children engage in audience participation and experience live entertainment. Experiencing the presentation of seasonal storytelling concerts can be compared with delicious strawberries—they are both seasonal treats with numerous benefits that are good for you!