Show Me a Story: 40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children’s Storytelling by Emily K. Neuburger.  (Storey Publishing, 2012).

    Subtitled “40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children’s Storytelling”, this book is a terrific addition to your professional bookshelf.  Neuberger clearly articulates the benefits of storytelling and imaginary play in helping children exercise creativity, expand their emotional awareness, practice communicating, make connections, solve problems, and develop moral thinking – and then she provides instructions for forty knock-your-socks-off crafts that encourage kids to create, imagine, and tell.  Most of the crafts are designed for school-age children, but if you work with preschoolers, don’t let that stop you from checking out this terrific book – language-fostering activities like “Story Pool”, “Story Sparks”, and “Magical Mailbox” would be great additions to a preschool storytime or classroom if you pre-make the pieces.   Elementary teachers will find lots here to liven up language arts lessons, and for public librarians, well – you’ve got all you need right here in this little book for a weekly hands-on-storytelling program for school-age kids.  Our favorite project: “Storytelling Jar” (which Neuburger describes as “a storytelling terrarium”), a thing of beauty AND a story starter.  Though each of the crafts here is a bit more detailed than your typical storytime fare, each is eminently doable (even for the non-crafty) and uses everyday materials.