Some years back I was searching online for stories for my younger son. It was the time when he was entering into terrible twos and every meal would need exquisite preparation. The meal in itself was just basic, it was the amount of toys and diversions and stories that needed to accompany the meal that needed all the preparation. Every diversion would not hold good for more than 3 mouthfuls, after which the tactics would need to be dramatically changed.
Back then, I never had the heart to get him into a high chair and simply let him stay there with his food doing whatever he wanted with it for as long as he wanted. Maybe it would have helped him, but I somehow thought that a Mother's feeding ( not even spoon, just hand) was a more natural way of lingering a bit more on the special bonding that forms during nursing. Well of course quite soon, around his third birthday, I stopped all the feeding, just promoted him to the table to sit with his brother and he picked up quickly and became independent immediately. Stories still remained a part of table routine for a little longer, though.
It was during one such frantic preparation search that I hit upon Story Cove. It required a free registration which was a quick process and then I tried the very first one, Anansi and the pot of beans with my boy. It became an instant hit. The jingles were catchy and the children loved it. The story was nicely told and the kids made me cook beans for days together! We then ventured deeper and realized all the stories were equally good. There was no violence, nothing hurting, it was completely safe and positive and with some learning in most of the stories as well. I remember sharing this site with friends and family back then, and everybody had something good to say about them!
The stories are mostly old folk tales from various continents retold in a simple way with added animation. Most of the stories are also accompanied by lesson plans and activities that have some good information about the animals featuring in the story etc. The stories are also available as books, which I am sure would be just as lovely. I checked out today and found out that it is also available for sale on ebay in UK. But the children have outgrown these stories, so I guess I'll never have the chance of seeing these books!
If you have children aged between 2 and 5 or even 6, Story cove is certainly a site to try. If you, like me, have kids who ask you to just tell them a story ( not read, not show, just tell), you could prepare yourself quite well with these :o). It was a welcome break for me, my boys always want me to make up "Pillayar Murugan Adventures" on the go. There's only so much an Enid Blyton book could do in terms of helping in cooking up an adventure in 5 mins, so in between such imagined adventures, Story Cove tales served as welcome substitutes and the kids would love listening to them, particularly Anansi stories.
Happy reading and story-telling!
Back then, I never had the heart to get him into a high chair and simply let him stay there with his food doing whatever he wanted with it for as long as he wanted. Maybe it would have helped him, but I somehow thought that a Mother's feeding ( not even spoon, just hand) was a more natural way of lingering a bit more on the special bonding that forms during nursing. Well of course quite soon, around his third birthday, I stopped all the feeding, just promoted him to the table to sit with his brother and he picked up quickly and became independent immediately. Stories still remained a part of table routine for a little longer, though.
It was during one such frantic preparation search that I hit upon Story Cove. It required a free registration which was a quick process and then I tried the very first one, Anansi and the pot of beans with my boy. It became an instant hit. The jingles were catchy and the children loved it. The story was nicely told and the kids made me cook beans for days together! We then ventured deeper and realized all the stories were equally good. There was no violence, nothing hurting, it was completely safe and positive and with some learning in most of the stories as well. I remember sharing this site with friends and family back then, and everybody had something good to say about them!
The stories are mostly old folk tales from various continents retold in a simple way with added animation. Most of the stories are also accompanied by lesson plans and activities that have some good information about the animals featuring in the story etc. The stories are also available as books, which I am sure would be just as lovely. I checked out today and found out that it is also available for sale on ebay in UK. But the children have outgrown these stories, so I guess I'll never have the chance of seeing these books!
If you have children aged between 2 and 5 or even 6, Story cove is certainly a site to try. If you, like me, have kids who ask you to just tell them a story ( not read, not show, just tell), you could prepare yourself quite well with these :o). It was a welcome break for me, my boys always want me to make up "Pillayar Murugan Adventures" on the go. There's only so much an Enid Blyton book could do in terms of helping in cooking up an adventure in 5 mins, so in between such imagined adventures, Story Cove tales served as welcome substitutes and the kids would love listening to them, particularly Anansi stories.
Happy reading and story-telling!
