What Is A Kamishibai?
There are different ways of telling stories. The form that is chosen will be key to keeping the attention of the children during the story and, in some cases, even remember it for a long time. Despite this, one of the ones that most attract the attention of children are the kamishibai.
Today we will tell you a little more about this special and magical way of telling stories that the little ones love.
Kamishibai: the oldest way of telling stories
Nowadays it is very common to see professionals from the world of children’s literature transport a kamishibai and use it to tell their stories. However, this very special way of transmitting stories is not an invention of a few years ago, but centuries ago.
The kamishibai date from the 12th century and were created by Buddhists in their temples with the aim of telling stories to the most illiterate population, always including a moral at the end of them.
Components of kamishibai
To tell these stories we only need three things. First of all, the small theater where the stories will unfold. This is called a butai and it is usually made of wood consisting of two doors that fold up when the story ends and open when it is about to begin.
When the kamishibai is closed, it is shaped like a briefcase, thus offering the possibility of transporting the stories anywhere in a simple way.
The second of the components are the sheets. On the one hand, these sheets will have illustrations, which will be the part that is shown to the children’s audience according to the story. On the other hand, they can contain text, which will help the storyteller, our last essential component of the kamishibai.
These sheets are placed before starting one after the other and are introduced into the butai. As the story progresses, the storyteller will eliminate the plates by taking them out of the theater on one side, thus leaving the next one.
Finally, as we have already said, the third of the essential components is the storyteller. Without a person who transmits the magic that makes this way of telling stories so special, nothing would make sense.
What makes Kamishibai so special?
As we have indicated before, this way of telling stories transmits magic and captures the attention of children in a way that no other way can. The small theater so unique and the mixture of the words and the voice of the interpreter with the illustrations that are happening, make the little ones totally enthralled.
It is, therefore, a simple way to awaken the imagination and promote a taste for children’s literature in the little ones.
Books to use with the kamishibai
Once you have learned a little more about this fantastic way of telling stories, we leave you a selection of suitable books to use with this theater and thus attract the attention of the little ones.
The Color Monster
The subject of emotions is one of the most important and at the same time difficult to deal with with children. For this reason, we are not surprised by the success of the author Ana Llenas with this fantastic book, since it deals with emotions in a way that is totally suitable for the little ones.
A great weight of the story resides in its illustrations, since the monster identifies each of them with a different color. For this reason, it becomes an ideal book to use with kamishibai and to be able to deal with the subject of feelings and emotions with children.
Lord Nimbus and the Cloud Machine
The profession of Lord Nimbus is to make clouds and distribute them throughout the world. This manufacture and also its distribution is carried out with a bike-machine that performs both functions. One day, after a fantastic nap, Mr. Nimbo gets up and… his bike-machine has disappeared! How will you do your job now?
The fearful king
An ideal story for the little ones to be aware that we are all afraid at some time, as well as the importance of learning to overcome them. And is that everyone is afraid: some of the airplanes, others of the heights and others of the dark. And when we say everyone, it is everyone, even the little king who, despite being king, is also afraid. Do you want to discover which one is yours?
Pete Rocket, the sleepy rocket
Pete the rocket dreams of reaching the moon. That is his dream since he left the rocket factory, and every day he waits impatiently for night to fall and he can fly.
Pete’s problem is that he always falls asleep before dark because he is always very sleepy and never gets to see the Moon. Will Pete ever be able to travel to it and fulfill his dream?
