Article by
Laurie Block Spigel

Folktale and Story Activities

November 2013

Suggested books that are fun for the whole family Author and story time events in NYC (as of November 2013) Author and story time events in Manhattan (as of November 2013) Author and story time events in Brooklyn (as of November 2013) Puppet shows and theaters for kids Other Activities See also Favorite Books for Kids and Laurie's article Folktales Can Teach Global Understanding

Suggested books that are fun for the whole family:

• Fables, by Arnold Lobel
• Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling
• The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, by Jon Scieszcka
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by Jon Scieszcka
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs, as retold by Mo Willems

Author and story time events in NYC (as of November 2013):

Read original folktales and fairytales and attend story time events (for various ages, at most branches of the NYPL and Brooklyn Library). Here's their page of Programs for Kids See also this list of storytelling events in the five boroughs.

Children’s author and story time events are at many stores and museums (events in stores are FREE). This list is organized from downtown to uptown Manhattan, followed by Brooklyn.

Author and story time events in Manhattan (as of November 2013):

• Tribeca Performing Arts Center is doing Sleeping Beauty on Nov. 17, 2013:
• Strand Books has a story time every Thursday at 3:30 in the Children’s Dept.
• Scholastic Store in Soho
• McNally Jackson has a story hour every Saturday morning at 11:30 for ages 3-10, and another for ages 0-2 every Friday at 4:00 pm. On Thursdays at 4:30 pm they have story hour in Spanish for ages 2-6.
• Books of Wonder has story hours every Friday at 4 and Sunday at noon and also has authors’ events.
• Bank Street Bookstore has puppet shows of fractured fairytales on weekends and there are daily story hours for toddlers. Check their calendar for other events and activities.
• Book Culture on the Upper West Side has story times every week in English, French, German, and Spanish:
• Barnes & Noble story time (locations: E. 54th St., E. 86th St., and B’way & 82nd St.):
• Metropolitan Museum story time in the Nolan Library.
• MoMA: (There are no events scheduled for this fall, but check back to this site later. )
• The N-Y Historical Society has a Sunday story hour.
• The Museum of Natural History hosts story time in the Discovery Room on Monday mornings.
• Symphony Space hosts a storyteller from Trinidad on Nov. 23, 2013. They have a book club for ages 8 and up.
• The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden on E. 61st ST. has a story time that includes history and dress-up, on the 3rd Friday of every month at 10:30 am.
• Story time at the Jewish Museum every Sunday afternoon.
• All summer long there is storytelling at the Hans Christian Andersen statue in Central Park.
• Scandinavia House hosts the Storytelling Center with the Hans Christian Andersen Storytellers every Saturday morning.
• La Casa Azul Bookstore in East Harlem has Latin American storytelling, cooking classes, and other events for children. For dates and events, see their calendar.

Author and story time events in Brooklyn (as of November 2013)

• November 23, 2013 at the Brooklyn Museum, authors read at the 7th Annual Children’s Book Fair followed by a performance of Peter and the Wolf.
• Greenlight Bookstore on Fulton St., has story hours for ages 0-3, 3-8, and a book club for 8-14.
• Powerhouse in Park Slope has story hours, authors events, and a book club for kids

Puppet shows and theaters for kids:

• List of puppet theaters in NYC.
• Puppetworks in Brooklyn is currently playing Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.
• Swedish Cottage has a Marionette Theater in Central Park.
• The Puppet Mobile is a traveling puppet show.
Paper Bag Players.
• Jersey City Children’s Theater — this very special troupe of players specializes in folk and fairytale performances for families. After each show there is a free mini-workshop for children, attracting very young kids and open to everyone. They also offer classes for homeschoolers.

Other activities:

• In November, Sundays at the Jewish museum: make a puppet and make an accordion comic book.
• Download the Metropolitan Museum kids’ guides “Animals All Around” and “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” and tour the Greek galleries. At any museum, look for animals and recall some stories. Visit the children’s section of the bookshop.
• Visit the library! Check out some fables, folktales and fairytales.
• After you read or see a story, act it out together.
• Make puppets of the characters and have the puppets retell the story.
• Draw illustrations or make a comic book of the story.
• Write a letter to one of the characters or to the author. If the author is still living, mail the letter to the author c/o his or her publisher. (You might even get a letter back!)
• Collect some items that were in the story and fill a bag or box or tray as a still life of the story. Use these items to retell the story.
• Make your own version of the story. Change the characters into animals (or into different animals), change the setting (perhaps one you know, like your local park), and change the ending however you like. Make sure to include magical elements from other folk and fairytales.