An Online Course With Melanie Patterson
Waldorf Storytelling & Puppetry
Bring a story to life with your voice, your hands and a world of imagination.
Discover the art of telling stories and creating puppet plays for young children. Follow a welcoming path from choosing and learning a story to preparing your stage and sharing your first full telling.
$299 in full
or 12 monthly payments of $27.
A Story Begins With You
A cloth becomes a meadow. A figure sets out along a path. Your voice carries the story, and the children enter its world. This course invites you to develop those skills through thoughtful reading, practical exploration and tellings you can share at home, in a co-op or in your classroom.
Created for parents, homeschooling families, co-op leaders, and Waldorf, Montessori and preschool teachers. No previous storytelling or puppetry experience is needed.
Read, Reflect, Practice & Share
Each lesson gives you space to understand an idea, try it for yourself and make it part of your own storytelling.
Written Lessons to Return To
Read the lesson in full, explore its ideas and revisit the guidance as your practice grows.
Words From the Tradition
Encounter quotations from Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf storytellers and puppeteers from around the world.
A Journal of Your Own
Use reflection questions to notice what you are learning and gather ideas for future tellings.
Conversation in the Circle
Respond to lesson prompts in the comments and share your discoveries with Melanie and fellow learners.
Your Path Through the Course
Thirteen sections lead from the foundations of Waldorf storytelling to the experience of bringing a complete puppet play to life.
SECTION 1Why Story Matters
Explore how young children meet stories through imagination, rhythm and living pictures.
SECTION 2Preparing Yourself as the Teller
Learn a story through its pictures and develop your own presence as a storyteller.
SECTION 3The Threads Within the Stories
Discover archetypes, purposeful work, nature beings and the themes that connect a story world.
SECTION 4The Forms of Waldorf Puppetry
Explore lap and table stages, standing figures, silks, story aprons and outdoor puppetry.
SECTION 5Bringing Figures to Life
Practice walking, gesture, stillness and movement for people, animals and nature beings.
SECTION 6Finding Your Story Voice
Work with clear speech, musicality, prose, verse and song.
SECTION 7The Ritual of the Play
Create an opening, a bridge into the story, and a closing that brings everyone back to the room.
SECTION 8Staging With Silks
Arrange landscapes, entrances and transitions so the story can unfold clearly.
SECTION 9Writing for the Spoken Word
Shape tellings with vivid pictures, repetition and words that work together with your hands.
SECTION 10Stories Through the Year
Choose stories for different ages, seasons, festivals and moments in family life.
SECTION 11A Week of Story
Explore repetition, children’s play and ways to carry one story through the week.
SECTION 12A Living Story World
Step inside Sunflower Story Garden and begin sketching a story world of your own.
SECTION 13Your First Full Telling
Work through common challenges and bring your preparation together in a complete telling.
Begin With What You Have
A story you love, one or two figures, a cloth and a place to tell it are a wonderful beginning. The course explores materials and staging as you go, with room to build your collection over time.
Make Room for Your Own Pace
The lessons live on Mighty Networks, where you can read, practice, reflect and join the conversation. Work through the course over a season or take a year to explore it. Return to the lessons as your confidence and your story repertoire grow.
There Is a Story Waiting to Be Told
Come with your curiosity and a love of children. Begin building a storytelling practice that you can carry into your home, your gatherings and the turning seasons.
$299 in full
or 12 monthly payments of $27.