All of these stories evolved while working with very young children aged between one and four years old. While they came out of the tradition of pedagogical stories which regards the story as the best way to indirectly introduce a message or teaching theme, they also developed out of the need to capture the very young child whose attention could not sustain large amounts of language. Hands on activity, participation and the use of sounds and songs immediately bring most children to a very different quality of attentiveness. By using the development of the senses as story inspiration, a very wide range of ages and learning needs can be involved at the same time. The approach of using sensory elements in the telling of a story supports children with challenges in sustaining attention but also offers a more embodied and immediate way of being in the story and absorbing a wide range of language, whatever the age of the listener. In my experience, music, song and sound effects such as animal sounds and the patting of fingers to simulate rain, never fails but to bring everyone into the pulse of the story.

Rhythm, ritual and repetition, are some of the fundamentals in telling stories to young children. Establishing the space is one of the ways to bring a child very rapidly into receptivity. This can be done by building rituals: lighting a candle, singing a simple song, invoking the fire fairies, setting a small story stage with simple colored cloths. The rhythm you create invites the children to come along with you and to be profoundly attentive as the story goes into them. For young children, repeating the story three times, over three days or three weeks, builds a deep sense of security and a strong connection to the story that can come back in to their free play.

Staging stories is a wonderful way to show the child how any object can be used symbolically and so strengthen the child’s own imaging capacity. For example, one week you might use a sock to represent a bird, the next week, a piece of colored wool and the third week, a feather. The more minimalist you get, using rocks and stones, twigs and leaves, simple things from nature and simple wooden toys, the more you ask of the child’s own imagination, and the simpler your own immediate capacity to tell a story. In turn, this supports the natural processes of childhood to build and integrate the experiences of life through symbolic play.

The following stories came out of meeting different needs and themes in the young child. Many of the stories are designed to captivate and hold children through the awakening and vibrancy of their unfolding senses which is how the very young child mediates the entire world. They cover a range of themes such as, the wisdom of knowing when and where to use loud voices as in “The Squawky Birds”, appreciating one’s own gifts as in “The Muddy Farmyard” and “The Little Wooden Mixing Bowl”, dealing with impatience as in “The Little Lemon Tree” and meeting the fear of the dark, as in “The Fire Faery”. Here is one of these stories:

    We are little lemons, we grow on trees,
    We are yellow lemons who love to be squeezed!

Once upon a time, in a garden not so very far away, there was a little lemon tree. On that tree there were many lemons but all of them were green, not ready to be picked and not ready to drop.

One of the little lemons was very impatient. “When will we drop? When will we drop? When will we drop from the tree?” he called out to the to the others and anyone who would listen. “Not till the sun has ripened us yellow” called out the large lemon next to him. But the lemon was eager to leave the tree and he shook this way and that, huffing and puffing and blowing like the wind as all the branches rustles and swayed.

“When will we drop? When will we drop? When will we drop from this tree?” The little lemon jumped up and down so hard on its branch that the lemon next to him who was also still not ripe, dropped right off with a big thud and landed on the ground below. That was a sour lemon! He wailed and lamented “Not yet ready! Not yet ready! Not yet ready to leave! What have you done you foolish lemon? All alone on the ground!” The poor little lemon who was still very green and only a bit yellow, rolled over and lay on the ground feeling very sour. The other little lemon was sorry that he had made his neighbor fall and turned away, to hide his face. As he did so, his face was struck by the tree next door, all covered in golden round fruit like the sun itself.

“Oh what kind of tree and what kind of fruit are you?” called out the lemon who had never seen this fruit before and found it quite dazzling. “Why we are oranges! Round and orange like the sun itself!” the oranges sang back. “Oh you are so beautiful!” said the little lemon wistfully. “But you are a lemon and a lemon is beautiful too!” beamed the big round orange happily. “But a lemon isn’t orange!” said the little lemon shaking on his branch. “Well no a lemon isn’t orange because an orange is orange! A lemon is yellow!” chortled the orange back.

The little lemon sighed. Night was falling like a big blue blanket. Time to rest. As night grew deeper, gray clouds gathered and a gentle rain fell all over the garden, watering the leaves and soaking the earth. When morning came and the birds began to sing the lemon opened its eyes to the bright morning sun which grew hotter and hotter as the day went on, ripening everything under its gaze. All the little lemons on the tree in the garden grew fatter and juicier, soaking up water from roots in the ground and soaking up warmth from the big golden sun.

That evening as the air was filled with the smell of evening flowers someone came into the garden. Two firm hands wrapped around the little lemon who was now all yellow, and picked the lemon off the tree, saying “My how the lemons have ripened!” Even the sour lemon sulking on the ground was scooped up and taken indoors in a great big basket.

Very soon those ripe lemons were in the sweetest of moods for they heard they were to be cut up and made into lemonade! What fun it is to be chopped into chunks, squeezed and squished, swished and swirled in all their lemon yellowness while great chunks of ice and honey from the bees made it feel like a party in then pitcher. So happy was the little lemon that he sang and sang.

    We are little lemons, we grow on trees.
    We are yellow lemons who love to be squeezed!

You can bring into two greenish lemons or something to signify the lemons. Place the two lemons on a simple cotton gauze cloth; I use purple to really bring out the color of yellow. A yellow cloth beside this can be folded around the lemons when the sun ripens them. At the end pass the lemons around for the children to squeeze and smell them.

Have the children finger paint yellow onto a lemon shaped cutout. Have them tear paper and stick onto textured paper the colors of the story: yellow, green and orange. These activities bring sensory awareness and tremendous enjoyment which immediately supports a deeper and more natural breath. A big bowl of bubbly water to wipe hands off afterwards can continue the same benefits. Of course you can also make lemonade as squeezing movements are also very good!

The newest edition of The Breathing Circle, published by Hawthorn Press is widely available through online booksellers, if your local bookseller does not have it. It is easily available:

In the United States from waldorfbooks.com,  Lindisfarne Press, and SteinerBooks, as well as Amazon.

In Ireland the remarkable Orchid Books.

In the UK options include The Book Place,  Hawthorn Press,  Blackwell's, and Amazon.