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Turning picture books into sensory stories

Learning type: Case study
Category: Author/book resource
Programme: Book Week Scotland, Read Write Count, Reading Schools, Sensory Stories
Language: English
Genre: Animals, Art
Age group: 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14
Topics: Disability and Neurodiversity, Storytelling

This resource shows how to adapt picture books into multi-sensory stories, including:

You can also download two examples of multi-sensory book adaptions, The Stick Man by Julia Donaldson and Peace at Last by Jill Murphy. For more ideas and examples of books to adapt into sensory stories, explore My Kind of Book, a blog run by Ailie Finlay, author of this resource and sensory specialist.

Downloads

Ailie Finlay's headshot'

Ailie Finlay

Storyteller Writer

Ailie is a writer, storyteller and founder of My Kind of Book. She specialises in working with people with additional needs.

Ailie’s inclusive story sessions are very interactive with handmade puppets, intriguing props and lots of rhyme and rhythm. She performs her sensory stories regularly in special schools, respite centres, care settings, nurseries, and at festivals and arts venues. She also loves to train people in the art of multisensory storytelling.

The belief that everyone should have the same access to fun and engaging books and stories is fundamental to Ailie’s work. It is this that led her to found My Kind of Book in 2020. My Kind of Book is a not-for-profit social enterprise that researches, promotes and creates books for children with additional needs.

Ailie’s recent publications include Max's Story (for the Scottish Huntington's Association), Beyond Memory, a guide to singing and storytelling with people living with dementia (for the Festival Theatre), a chapter in Storytelling Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Children with Special Needs (ed. Sherry Norfolk, Libraries Unlimited) and a series of core word books for Oaklands Special School in Edinburgh.