Creative Story Vacations
(all ages)

NAPPA Gold award winning storyteller, author and recording artist Karen Golden takes you on a journey around the world to exotic lands where animals talk and wishes come true and back in time to her childhood and before her grandparents. Highly engaging style with music and song. Discover the art of storytelling and become inspired to create your own adventures. This program includes a variety of stories from different folk traditions as well as real life adventures introducing audiences to the diversity and range of this art form.

A walk Around The World In stories And Shoes
(Preschool, K-6)

Complete with twenty colorful pairs of shoes. Learn about life in other places and geography through folktales about people from near and far. Karen has been collecting shoes most of he lifer. She usually has time to tell five folktales from the people represented by the shoes, including, Holland, Peru, Korea, Tibet, West Africa, India, Guatemela, Native America, China. and Israel. Audiences learn abut the geography and climate of other places and interesting facts. Did you know that traditional Tibetian shoes are made from the leather and wool of the Yak! Some traditional Korean shoes are made of rubber.

Jewish Stories From Up Your Street and Around The World
(all ages)

Karen shares stories from her rich Jewish heritage, tales both old and new. Holiday and theme programs available. Stories come from a variety of sources including the Torah, Midrash, folktale traditions, her family and her rich imagination. Karen began her journey into storytelling at a very young age from listening to the tales of her parents who were both native Yiddish speakers. She then moved to Israel for seven years. Her fluency in Hebrew and knowledge of Yiddish and Jewish culture is passed on in all her stories. Audiences learn about the Jewish people, their various cultures, foods and traditions.

A Harvest of Tales
(all ages)

Stories of farming, gardening and flower power. An avid gardener herself, Karen shares a harvest of tales from her own life and the world of folklore. Discover an African creation myth that comes from the seeds of a giant pumpkin, find the devil in Karen’s childhood backyard and learn how the heart of the city of Jerusalem came from the love of two brothers who were farmers. This program will plant the seeds in your own imagination while teaching practical information about composting, the anatomy of flowers and the power of plants to heal.

Animal Tales From Here, There And Everywhere

Karen shares a variety of animal stories, and artifacts (including a twenty foot snake skin and a humming bird nest) many from her own experience as an animal collector and nature enthusiast. By the time she was ten, Karen had a pet alligator twenty turtles and more gerbils than you could keep track of! Along with being a professional storyteller, published author and recording artist, Karen is a walk leader with the Children’s Nature Institute.

Butterfly Stories From Near And Far
(preschool, K-5)

Explore the world of butterflies and moths through folktales from around the world. Learn about the three butterfly brothers from Germany who tried to keep dry, fly with a blue morpho butterfly in the forests of the Amazon, eat cabbage with Charlie the caterpillar and dance with the native American creation of the butterfly tale.

Holiday Programs

Tales of Thanksgiving, Tales to Warm your Holiday Heart: Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Valentines Day: Tales from The heart

Teaching residencies: (k-8)

Story Alive Residencies inspire students to be excited about the art of storytelling. Information found in a story is retained and learning becomes fun. Even history! Each week students hear stories from the history-social science and language arts curriculum including folk and true stories and experience the process of becoming storytellers themselves. Karen’s storytelling style Is interactive with singing, movement and music. The story art is broken down into seven essentials of a good story. Students participate in hands-on exercises to explore these seven essentials and gain the skills to tell a complete story crafted over a few weeks for a final storytelling concert.

Core curriculum - state standards addressed in this residency are available upon request

The goals and objectives of this residency have been met if students participate in story games and exercises, help to evaluate their classmates storytelling progress, complete homework assignments which include interviewing parents for stories, and prepare to tell a story for the final concert. This residency focuses on process rather than product. Evaluation is based on observation. The program begins with my meeting with the teacher to establish what subjects the class has covered in history-social science. After each class, feedback is gathered from the teacher regarding the student’s participation. The teacher is also given a teacher guide with further information about the art of storytelling. They are encouraged to continue the storytelling process between my visits. I am also available to meet with teachers to help them develop ways of using storytelling to teach curriculum in other core learning subjects including, language arts, history, social-science, and science.

Testimonials:

You are the greatest storyteller. Wow! I didn't care if we missed some of our lunch. Please come again!
— Beth 5th grader Vista San Gabriel Elementary School

I wish everybody could hear your wonderful stories.
— Evcna 3rd grader Hubbard St. School

My experience with Karen was never anything less than stimulating, fun, and energetic. Her positive energy spilled over into my classroom. The kids loved their time with Karen, and I always felt we were blessed with our time with her. Each week when she spun a tale for us, she slowly reeled in the kids attention until you could hear a pin drop in the room! It is my opinion as a 4th grade teacher, that Karen Golden will be a wonderful addition to your program.
— Ann Fredal 4th Grade Teacher Farragut Elementary School

You are an extremely talented and engaging storyteller. It was great to see how closely involved the children were with the stories…and so were the adults. I hope that you had as much fun telling the stories as we had listening to you.
— MaryAnn Bonino Director The Da Camera Society