FREE Family Storytelling Day

This is a drop-in event and does not require registration.

A jam-packed day of stories from around the world, starting with our Teddy Bear Picnic for the very young (don’t forget to bring your teddy bear!) and finishing with a puppetry piece for older kids (7+). As always, our Family Storytelling Day is FREE for everyone to attend, and every child goes home with a book, thanks to the Children’s Book Bank and Scholastic. The event is relaxed and allows for families to pop in throughout the day and stay as long as they’d like, but we recommend folks register for the event online so we can be sure to have snacks for everyone.

Curated by Mandy E. MacLean

Please note, registration does not guarantee you a seat in the audience, but does help us gauge how many people will be attending.  If you arrive and the theatre is full, we encourage you to participate in one of our outdoor activities until seats become available. Due to the drop-in nature of this event, you may be told the show is Sold Out when you try to register for it. For more information about how you can still join us on Family Storytelling Day, please complete this form.

Schedule:

10:00am – Introduction

10:15am – Teddy Bear Picnic
Children and their teddy bears are invited to a rollicking time with storytellers Sally Jaeger, Carol Ashton, and Mariella Bertelli.

10:50am – Little Bird
Ruth Danziger, Vijaya Agrawal, Gail Miller
Little Bird features tellers connected to the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program who will share stories that have travelled to Toronto from their own childhoods in various parts of the world.

11:25am – How and Why???
Kesha Christie
Stories that explain why an animal or plant looks or acts the way it does, or how a natural phenomenon came to be.

11:50am – Catch Me in the Kitchen Stories
A tasty storytelling adventure! Join Ginette Mohr and Stephen LaFrenie for a lively reimagining of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears.’

12:20-1:00pm – BREAK

1:00pm – Yonkhisothó:kon Ratiwé:ras/Our Grandfathers, The Thunder Stories for Children
Otsistohkwí:yo Elliott
In this storytelling session we will be going deep into the Haudenosaunee traditional stories of the Thunder beings. It will be shared with songs, puppets, and fun for the whole family with hopes of bringing new light and perspective on the gifts of the Thunder.

1:35pm – Collective Storytelling
Our host Joanna Kellam shares the tale that was collectively created by suggestions from the audience throughout the Family Storytelling Day.

2:00pm – Wren’s Recipes
Shawna Reiter, Ginette Mohr, Angela Rudden
Wren discovers an ancient recipe book which could hold the cure for her grandmother’s illness. A tale of magic, courage, and the extraordinary bond between a granddaughter and grandmother.

3:00pm – End of Day