A Story in a Loaf of Bread

How to Tell Stories to Children

Baking bread with children can be one of the most rewarding experiences, second only to the joy of eating it. We take it one step further by drawing a story into the experience.

Stories help us tie our imaginations into the web of reality at our fingertips, in this case the dough. By listening to a story and helping in the kitchen, we bake a rich experience out of simple ingredients, a process we call the Storytelling Loop.

The Storytelling Loop is a journey we take with our kids. We start with something real (like dough), then “plant” a story in it. When we finish, our kids are left with something very real that sparks both memories and their imagination. Play is often a further component, as children commonly repeat or act out the story with a favorite doll or stuffy. Tasting the fresh baked bread makes this experience one of the sweetest.

In This Episode

• Learn how to bake bread as a storytelling experience
• Visit our website for ingredients and a video tutorial
• As the dough rises, listen to the recorded story of “Baker Lou & The Mouse King,” or tell your own
• Explore how storytelling can change your relationship to real things. Can you see each ingredient - water, honey, grain, and salt - as a character in your story?