A StoryWalk trail is essentially a trail along which pages of a book are posted onto signs. It is a way to engage readers and encourage physical activity. The idea is that you walk along the trail stopping to read the next page in the story.
Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vermont, came up with the idea in 2007. Since then, StoryWalk trails have been installed in parks, on library campuses and along nature trails in countries around the world.
Traditionally, StoryWalk trails have used laminated pages from a cut up children’s book, but I think the concept can be widened. The name StoryWalk is a registered trademark. However, with some brainstorming your students can create their own appropriate name.
Key Aspects of a Storywalk:
- Presentation: Pages from a story are printed, laminated, and posted on signs along a designated path, often a park trail or walkway.
- Engagement: Children and families follow the signs, reading the story as they walk, combining literacy with physical activity.
- Benefits: Storywalks promote early literacy skills, encourage family reading, and can serve as a community outreach tool.
Using Trails to Develop a Range of Literacy Skills
The concept of a Storywalk could be expanded to include other literacy skills. Below are some suggestions:
- Older students could work in groups to write and illustrate a suitable story for a Storywalk. Each group has their story displayed on the trail for a month.
- Younger students could create a class story. Begin by walking the trail and developing a story line that reflects the environment at each stopping point on the trail.
- Each stopping point could contain a poem written by a student.
- Make it a local history trail. Students could research a person, building or event regarding their local area and develop an ‘information station’.
- Each stopping point could contain instructions for an activity which children can read and then carry out. It could be a physical activity they need to do, something to find or observe or …..
- The signs could form part of a nature treasure hunt. Rather than collecting objects, children could take photos of the described objects. The sign could included information about the object. The object could be a plant or part of a plant, an innate object (like a rock or water feature) or a creature often found in the area (an insect, a bird, etc.).