Happy National Share-a-Story Month! May 1st marks the beginning of a whole month of creating and celebrating stories, in all different ways!
At Discovery Diaries HQ, we’re passionate about this year’s theme: The Planet We Share. While our space missions take us far from home, looking at that small blue dot from beyond our atmosphere both humbles and inspires us. We see how interconnected we are, not just on an intergalactic scale but as members of our world and our communities. Stories help us learn more about that world and the people in it.
Stories can be told in all kinds of ways. Long before the written word, people shared them verbally, through music and by making art. Throughout May, we’ll be celebrating storytelling in all its different forms.
To help us celebrate, we’d like to challenge you to tell one story each week in May using different storytelling methods. Here are five different ways to get you started:
- Get your Hemingway on and write a piece of micro-prose, using Visual Verse’s daily visual prompt.
- Embrace the gift of the gab like Christian Rogers and host an oral storytelling session. You can do this in-person with your household, or online with your friends (with a parent’s permission if you’re under 16). Your story could be one you’ve made up or one you’ve been told.
- Follow in the footsteps of the great bard and dabble in poetry. Writing a Shakespearean sonnet is a particularly satisfying challenge. Following one of our templates will help you keep those rhymes in order.
- Songwriting is a fun way to share a story. Musician Will Stoert has created a simple five-step method to help you write a song. You don’t need any knowledge of music to use it, so warm up those vocal chords and have some fun!
- Not all stories are told through words. From the time our ancient ancestors painted the walls of caves, visual storytelling has been one of our traditions. Why not make your own space-themed comic strip? There’s no limit to where an intergalactic story can take you!
The Federation of Children’s Book Groups has all kinds of resources you can use to celebrate National Share a Story Month, from downloadable activities to reading lists. Their handy mind-map with help you come up with ideas around this year’s theme.
Don’t forget to let Discovery Diaries HQ know how you’re going with your Share-a-story Challenge! Use #discoverydiaries on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to tell us how you’re spinning tales.
