The Benefits Of Storytelling In A Digital Age – Jack And The Beanstalk |AD

*Advertorial Feature With Plusnet*

I don’t think I am alone in saying as parents it’s hard to find a balance with technology and our children’s childhoods.

When I remember my own childhood, I would love for my boys to experience something similar, but that time has passed, and the idea of a tech-free childhood is not something that exists in our modern-day digital world.  

Well, remembered stories and fairy tales from my past and that of my parents are so far from today’s realities that some kids can’t comprehend them. My kids are the generation that don’t know how to answer a phone that doesn’t show who is already calling. They will be the generation of kids that buying online is the norm and not in a store.

With all this in mind, this summer the boys and I have been looking at ways of having fun but doing it in a way where our traditional games, stories and tales are brought to life in a more realistic way for the kids. 

Plusnet, one of the UK’s great value phone, broadband and mobile providers, have also been looking at ways to integrate and support our children’s growth with the help of storytelling and taking it to the next level by giving it a digital twist, and adding in a splash of reality for 2019.

They have based the campaign on research that found hundreds of parents admit to drastically changing fairy tale plots to fit today’s beliefs and ideologies because they find them to be un-PC for their kids and that more than half of parents don’t read aloud to their children every day.

Plusnet, in collaboration with Larry Lamb, have taken three classic fairy tales and adapted them by ‘cutting the fluff’ and telling the true story behind the goings-on, all with a tech-twist. They have adapted the moral messages of fairy tales for kids in a modern way, be it with an additional level of humour that appeals to grown-ups too.

The three adapted tales are read by Larry in a Jackanory-style, and are live on Plusnet to watch and also download to share and read with your children.

The Oliver’s Embrace Storytelling In A Digital Age

With the new modern fairy tales on the Plusnet site, we have been talking to the boys about storytelling and how fun and exciting it can be, especially now in a digital world, by taking a closer look at one of the boy’s favourite tales, Jack And The Beanstalk. We had a Jack and The Beanstalk afternoon, watching the new jackanory style video, talking about the new modern twists and making some beanstalks of our own – of course with the beans being related snack! 

Not being an avid crafter we loved the idea of the make your own beanstalks onabctoacts.com with paper plates. However, I have to say we had limited supplies, but I asked Joshua what he thought we could use with things we either had at home or things we could buy from eBay. So, after a rummage around the house we made a little list of a couple of things to buy online.

For our craft, we based it loosely on a craft activity we found online, except we used no paint. We used green paper plates instead along with using fake leaves we made some of our own out of green paper napkins.

To make sure the fake leaves stayed put Ollie and I used the glue gun and the kids stuck the leaves on while we supervised! Joshua was the king of cutting and after a couple of practice runs, he got rather good at cutting out the spirals into the paper plates to form the beanstalk.

It was a really lovely afternoon spent together, me enjoying learning how my children’s story world differs now from my own. The boys enjoying story telling on a digital level and getting some much-needed time as a family together learning what makes a great story and a great no pressure craft activity. Not to mention the magic beans we ate for snack! (who doesn’t love a few jellybeans?!)

 If you fancy taking a look at the three adapted tales that are read by Larry in a Jackanory-style, you can find, watch and download them HEREor see them on @Plusnet’s Instagram page.