Knowsley Safari has created a series of short stories known as ‘The Chronicles of Conservation’ as it supports local primary schools in encouraging creative and imaginative storytelling among early years children.
The Safari’s Learning and Discovery Team will bring the stories to life in school classrooms around National Storytelling Week – an annual event that helps thousands of teachers and pupils across the UK to tell great stories.
The Chronicles of Conservation have been created to capture children’s fascination with animals and their growing interest in sustainability to engage them in storytelling.
The three stories include; ‘Rainforest Rumble’ – a tale about Knowsley Safari’s bush dogs receiving some alarming news from their cousins living in an under-threat rainforest, ‘Fishing Fiasco’ which tells the story of the Safari’s sea lions helping fight falling numbers of fish in the seas and ‘Wildlife Wasteland’, where a clean-up crew of cockroaches fight littering to save the forest.
Nikki Mallott, Head of Learning and Discovery at Knowsley Safari, comments: “We’ve created the stories to inspire children and get them excited about telling their own stories about topics they’re really interested in and enjoy.
“We’ll go into schools, running Safari Storytime classes that will see us tell the stories using a host of artefacts, props and costumes, and most importantly, involving pupils in choosing how they want each storyline to develop. This will make the stories interactive and help the children to think about how they can take the story from the beginning, to what happens in the middle and how it gets to the end.”
The lessons have been designed for early years foundation stage and reception classes. Each lesson lasts for one hour, with each one telling a story from ‘ The Chronicles of Conservation’, and are suitable for up to 30 children. Classes run from 20th January until 14th February 2020, covering the period of National Storytelling Week, which takes place from 1st – 8th February 2020.
The classes are designed and delivered by Knowsley Safari’s Learning and Discovery Team, which has helped over 25,000 school children learn about wildlife and conservation during the past 12 months.
Nikki Mallott concludes: “We’ve had great success working with schools, delivering interactive and engaging classes like ‘Move Like Me’, which used animal movements to encourage children to get active. Children have such natural enthusiasm for animals and saving the planet, and we’re confident we can draw on this to promote the art of storytelling. This is all about thinking creatively and helping children to construct narratives and tell great stories. It’ll be a lot of fun!”
Classes are being rolled-out in schools across Merseyside and will be delivered free-of-charge.
Schools interested in booking the Safari Storytime classes free-of-charge can email: learning@knowsley.com
