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Select from our most popular categories to see how Helicopter Stories, The Poetry Basket and The Story Basket benefit young children, giving them a voice and bringing stories and poems to life.
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Why We Never Stop Asking in Helicopter Stories
For some children it takes longer to want to tell a story than it does for their peers. We’ve known children wait for a week or a month before they join in. For Tabassum it took two years. This is why we never stop asking in Helicopter Stories.
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A Cross-Curricular Approach to The Poetry Basket
EYFS Lead, Emily Taylor, explains how she uses poems from The Poetry Basket across the curriculum, exploring maths, geography and the seasons of the year, through a variety of activities that holistically bring The Poetry Basket poems to life.
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Why Once Upon A Time Will Never Be Enough…
When children first start telling stories they jump straight into the narrative. We need to be careful we don’t school this natural ability out of them. This blog explores how 'Once Upon a Time' is not the only way to start a story.
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Embracing The Poetry Basket across East Sussex
Discover how The Poetry Basket ignites enthusiasm, promoting oracy and supporting language development. “The impact on the children has been inspiring,” says one practitioner. “Their faces ‘light up’ when learning a new poem.”
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Listening To Stories and Making Them Up
Discover how using both Helicopter Stories and The Story Basket has supported language development and motivated children to write at St Paul’s Primary. “It’s rare to see such good progress in such a short amount of time," says Lisa Wilkins.
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Remembering Vivian Gussin Paley (Jan 1929 – July 2019)
Vivian Gussin Paley valued children's imagination. She understood and accepted every child she met, developing her storytelling and story acting curriculum to ensure the children in her classroom had a voice. In this blog, Gillian McNamee talks about their friendship.
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It Takes A Village: The Poetry Basket in North Somerset
To support Communication and Language in North Somerset, Early Years Advisor Gail Alder implemented The Poetry Basket across numerous settings in the county. In this blog she explores why rhythm and rhyme is such an important part of the Early Years.
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‘It’s Not Fair’: Taking Turns in Helicopter Stories
Taking turns to join in the acting out from their place around the stage can prove difficult for some children. This blog explores why this is such an important part of Helicopter Stories and the benefits of working in this way.
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Breaking Down Barriers with Helicopter Stories
Helicopter Stories breaks down barriers, creates a warmer classroom environment, and puts children's needs at the forefront of their learning. In Glenys Ingham's Lewisham Primary School, the approach is seen as a way to empower children to express themselves.
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The Poetry Basket: Why is Poetry Important?
Reciting poetry can ignite a love of language, but it also has the power to enhance the acquisition of vocabulary, as well as shaping the neural pathways crucial in the process of reading. This is why we created The Poetry Basket.
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EAL: Becoming Storytellers and Poets
Helen Prud'homme, is using three of our key programmes with EAL learners. In this blog, she talks about how she bridges the language gap with interactive activities, sensory experiences, and peer collaboration to foster communication and introduce new vocabulary.
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How to Create a Stress-Free Festive Show
Do you want to break free from the pressure of a perfectly scripted Christmas show? This blog suggests some stress-free alternatives including poetry, song and story acting and more, for a memorable seasonal celebration.
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Trust the Child and Watch Them Grow
Joby Gifford discusses the magic of Helicopter Stories, and how it can be used as an intuitive way to nurture language skills, well-being, and confidence. He has seen first-hand how the imagination of young children is unleashed once they are given the chance to tell a story.
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Why Now is the Best Time to start Helicopter Stories
If you are worried about whether it is too soon to begin Helicopter Stories then this blog is for you. Follow Rebecca’s first day at nursery, and discover how Helicopter Stories can help children settle in their new setting.
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Narrowing the Achievement Gap in the Early Years
Jo Hobbs, explains why Helicopter Stories is important to her team in Buckinghamshire, because it is rooted in good early years pedagogy, supports children’s communication, language and creativity, and on top of all this, it works for all children regardless of their background.
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Helicopter Stories: Giving Nursery Children a Voice
Alison Stead explores how Helicopter Stories celebrates children's voices and creativity. She looks at how trusting the child and waiting to find out where their story is going is now a key element of her practice, and how it enables her to know her children better.
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Understanding Children Using Story and Poetry
Jo Berry from Thrussington C of E Primary School has been using Helicopter Stories and The Poetry Basket for a number of years. The children have thrived through using both approaches and look forward to their weekly poetic performances every Friday.
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The Poetry Basket for Children with Additional Needs
SEN Practitioner Nadine Jones explores the impact of The Poetry Basket in her setting, and how she has found it to be an accessible way for the children in her care to express preference, demonstrate emotions and develop autonomy.
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Finding a Voice: Helicopter Stories in New Zealand
Emma Deakin tells the story of Abby, a girl with communication difficulties who finds a creative outlet in Helicopter Stories. Working in New Zealand, Emma is amazed as she witnesses the profound impact of the approach on a girl who usually struggled to join in.
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The Poetry Basket: Poetry Happening Everywhere
Amanda Belbin explores how The Poetry Basket has supported language development in her setting, fostering children’s confidence and imagination. She looks at how rhythm and rhyme feature in her setting and how willingly the children have embraced it.
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