Writer Julia Donaldson and her award winning Gruffalo character were the stars of the Fostering Network’s latest storytelling event.
The event was held at the MacRobert Arts Centre in Stirling, known to be one of the most child-friendly arts centres in the UK, on Sunday 27 January. More than 60 people, two thirds of them children, attended.
The Fostering Network has now run five such events, sponsored by the Roald Dahl Foundation and linked to a storytelling competition based on Jacqueline Wilson character, Tracy Beaker.
The day at Stirling included face painting and a drama and storytelling workshop. Teenagers spent their day as a film crew with Heather Lynch, head of education at the MacRobert Centre. Meanwhile parents and foster carers attended a workshop and learned the art of storytelling with Janet Robertson, director of the Scottish Youth Music Theatre.
Julia Donaldson gave a reading and signed books, allowing the children to meet her and the Gruffalo and do some singing. As a rhyming, lyrical book, the story translates naturally to song. There was "Gruffalo Grub" and more performances to follow, before a Gruffalo cake and farewell song saw the day come to a close.
The events emphasised both the importance of reading for children and its potential to be a pleasurable experience for all. Donaldson commented:
"Shared reading doubtlessly does confer all sorts of benefits, but that’s not why we do it. We do it because we love it and because it’s miraculously easy – take one parent, one child and one pile of books; result: total pleasure."