I recently had the opportunity to host a workshop at the Annual Jewish ECE Conference sponsored by Colorado Agency for Jewish Education (CAJE) and the ECE Initiative in Denver, CO. The event brings together Jewish preschools in the greater Denver, Boulder Colorado Springs area as well other cities in Colorado.  Educators attend various workshops and seminars focused around a general theme. This year the theme was “The Power of Story.” I presented a hands-on workshop, Enhancing Storytelling using Story Stones and Loose Parts, and we had an amazing group of educators who made the session a total success. For more insight on story stones, please see my related blog post.

Please enjoy some pictures below from the workshop. I would love to answer any questions you may have and hear about how you use story stones in your classroom!

Telling a Story

Creating Noah’s Ark using a combination of story stones loose parts and traditional toys:

Examples of Jewish Themed Story Stones

These stones are hand drawn illustrations using permanent art markers.

Some of the stones are decorated with clipart images that were printed from a computer and affixed with glue. Other images are hand drawn on paper and then glued onto the stones. All of the stones were covered with a water and glue mixture to seal the paper onto the stones.

These stones are either hand-drawn or they have stickers glued to the face.

Room Set- Up and Materials

Trays filled with white and yellow sand with loose parts

Acrylic Paint with different materials to use to paint with: wood circles, foam rollers, wooden napkin holders, paint “knives”, brushes

yarn and ribbon

General Themed Story Stones

Adding an Auditory Element to the Stories

A chime, wooden frog instrument and a rain stick

The Results