In blazing unexpected sunshine at the beautiful Mayow Park Community Garden we gathered to make story props…

…we made trees of recycled card, leaves, flowers, herbs…

…and we made magical people to hang in the branches of an enchanted wood:

These were to be our ‘props’ for our storytelling session later, and it was fascinating to see the care and concern and intensity of focus that went into the fixing of each petal of a fairy skirt:

…the fine detailed drawing of a wizard:

… the carefully considered contribution of a trio of imps based on the young artist and his two brothers:

The fact that these beautifully unique creations were to be used in our stories seemed to lend a deeper significance to them, the children looked so pleased with their work and so proud as I arranged the little handmade forest and hung the magical beings on branches, and they were very deeply engaged in the stories we made together.

Working with our hands and the imagination is a way into the deeper quiet where story parts lie; people and places waiting for their stories to be woven, to be spoken out loud into the open.

At the end, the children sat on their logs in our story circle under the trees, looking thoughtful and dreamy, still lingering in the world we had made together, gazing up at the magical folk above us in the trees…

…before running back into the sunshine to play!