The Method

OutoftheBox is an atmosphere in which people can breathe, trust, listen, feel, wonder, play and love.
Stories can be shared with individuals or groups in sessions that last from 10 minutes to up to an hour or more, using all or some of these elements

• Building of the circle to ensure that everyone is ready for a story.

• Sharing of the story with care, slowing down the pace, and opening it up to the imagination.

• Wondering using open questions in a space where we let go of judgement.

• Community Play to reflect together about something of particular interest or importance to the group.

• Creative response as an opportunity for people to continue to play, e.g. create new stories, paint, build, write, dance, walk in the woods.

• Celebration with food and drink to allow people to connect socially and offer a threshold to move on from the OutoftheBox session to the rest of the day.

Become a Member to access the stories and receive training and ongoing support in the OutoftheBox method and philosophy

The Stories

OutoftheBox stories are carefully selected and sensitively worded. Each story comes with a script outlining both the words and the actions, and a video on cloth and on sand.

Membership of OutoftheBox provides access to 49 Wisdom Stories exploring the themes of challenge, control, choice, contentment, change, community and conflict (e.g. see Ask the Horse!, Hidden Heart and Donkey). They are drawn from children's literature and a variety of worldviews and faith traditions. Members can also join Story Development Teams to co-create new stories.

Our range of stories is growing, to include stories across a number of genres:

• Wisdom - the 49 Wisdom stories are included in the membership

• History - stories of historical events (e.g. see our Children’s Train and Remembrance stories)

• Arts - stories to support appreciating Music, Poetry, Dance and the Visual Arts

• Nature - stories to help us think about the world and universe we live in

• STEM - stories of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and their discoveries and inventions

• Religions - stories from religions presented in a non confessional way (e.g. see our Advent and Christmas stories)

• Faith - stories to explore and nurture a Christian faith (e.g. see our Psalm 23 story). We hope that other faith traditions might be added.

The Resources

All the stories can also be told using one basket of resources! Our beautifully crafted Story Basket helps to instil value in the stories we share on cloth or on sand and may be particularly suited to organisational and professional environments. OutoftheBox resources may be purchased by our Members who have access to training and support in how to use them.

OutoftheBox stories can also be told anywhere and using any medium - for example on the woodland floor with twigs and leaves, on a pub table with beer mats and glasses, or in the living room with toys and ornaments. The chosen resources simply enable a playful approach to working with the story.