Story In A Suitcase

Have you ever seen a story in a suitcase? It’s all about creating a warm, miniature environment in a suitcase designed to arouse children’s interest and spark their curiosity. This method of telling stories is often used in Luxembourg, where there are three official languages. Schools make use of such methods in order to develop the children’s vocabulary and to encourage them to participate actively during story time.

I saw this method presented at the Erasmus+ KA2 conference in Brussels and I fell in love with it. It inspired me in so many ways and I immediately imagined my book transposed in a suitcase.

The first thing I did was to buy an old suitcase at a flea market and start creating. I took to cardboard tubes and covered them with real tree bark. I covered the surface of the suitcase with real moss and planted the two trees right in the middle. Oakley and his mother waited for the forest to unfold. I made the forest only from natural materials and used miniature plastic animals. I also created birds out of Shrinky Dinks, a fascinating material that I only recently discovered.

That’s all folks! Now, this suitcase is ready to travel in different cultural centres, in schools and in homes eager to hear fascinating stories. The Mighty Oak Who Embraced Change suitcase story travelled already at the Belgian Chocolate Village at an event organised with the Brussels North-West Cultural Centre and at the ACE of Brussels School. Both kids and adulted seemed fascinated with the technique, asked questions and engaged throughout the story.

The Mighty Oak Who Embrased Changed has now taken another shape. From a book, to a play and now to a suitcase… This is to show how versatile story telling can be and how creativity is limitless.