Includes more than forty selections, including action songs, chants, tongue twisters, musical games, and audience participation tales.Whether you are working with preschoolers or high schoolers, a story stretcher is a great way to create immediate rapport with your audience and within your group. These "two-minute miracles" from storyteller Naomi Baltuck will have children and adults, singing, moving, laughing, and begging for more. For each stretcher, she has included music, hand motions, tips for telling, or other personal touches developed during the countless times she has used it to hold the attention of her audiences. Time lengths and target audiences are also included so that you can select the best stretchers for every situation. Naomi has gathered these gems from her own childhood, from other storytellers, as well as from her children who bring home new activities from camp. Tried and true, these stretchers are a wonderful way to bring together family, friends, classes, Scout troops, and audiences everywhere.
About the Author: Naomi Baltuck Bio: Naomi has been storytelling for over twenty-five years. She grew up in Detroit and graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English Literature. In Seattle, she worked as a teacher, performing dancer, and a puppeteer. In 1985, she left the classroom to become a full-time professional storyteller. Naomi belongs to the National Storytelling Association and currently serves as president of the Seattle Storytellers Guild. Naomi has taught storytelling at the University of Washington's Experimental College and storytelling for educators at Seattle Pacific University. In addition, she co-hosted a Saturday morning children's program known as "Cracker Barrel Mornings. She's also toured with the Washington State Arts Commission's Cultural Enrichment Program and was named the Artist-in-Residence for Washington State. Naomi has been a featured performer at young authors' conferences, storytelling festivals, folk festivals, medieval fairs, schools, libraries, bookstores, museums, and coffee houses. Organizations, including Childcare Providers, Toastmasters, Parents' Anonymous, Girl and Boy Scouts, University Child Development Center, and KCTS TV have hired her to tell stories, give keynotes, and present workshops.Her storytelling books and recordings have been honored with a Parents' Choice Gold Award, three Storytelling World Awards, and the Anne Izard Storytellers' Choice Award.