Free Video: Kate Shelley on Storytelling for Communication and Inclusion

Kate Shelley, CEO & founder of Tales Toolkit.

Kate invented Tales Toolkit while working as an early years teacher and developed it alongside children and practitioners. Tales Toolkit developed as Kate worked in management roles as Children’s centre locality lead for play and then Nursery deputy head. In 2015 she gave up work to run Tales Toolkit full time. Eek! It was scary! But she’s so glad she took the leap.

Tales Toolkit’s child-led storytelling approach, with a focus on empowering practitioners without adding to their workload and combining quality interactions with children’s agency in creative play has gone on to win multiple awards and impact 1000s of children worldwide.

Awards include: Bett Award ‘Best Early Years Product’ 2025; Teach First Innovation Award 2015/16; two Gold Nursery World Awards and many more.

Goldsmiths University of London found Tales Toolkit had a positive impact across the curriculum and closed the gender gap in literacy. (boys writing)

Over the years Kate’s team have been supported by TeachFirst, UnLtd, The Mercers’ Company, Goldsmiths University of London, The Lego Foundation, ChangeX, the DfE, the Education Endowment Foundation, The Institute for Employment Studies, The Education Policy Institute and more. The EEF reported positive outcomes for children using Tales Toolkit in communication, social emotional skills, creativity, storytelling, problem solving and more

In this session, Kate Shelley explores how playful, child-led storytelling supports communication, inclusion and children’s agency in Early Years settings. Kate offers practical ideas that any practitioner can try, without adding to their workload.

In this episode you’ll:

• Discover why storytelling is far more than a literacy tool, and how it supports language, social-emotional development, problem solving and even maths outcomes
• Find out how play-based storytelling creates genuine inclusion, giving non-verbal children and those with SEND a voice, agency and a role in the story
• Learn practical strategies for bringing storytelling into everyday provision, from the home corner to the outdoor environment, through props, movement, sensory play and a little improvisation
• Hear the research evidence behind Tales Toolkit, including how it closed the gender gap in boys’ writing by 62% and the positive outcomes reported by the EEF
• Explore Kate’s exciting partnership with Chicken Shed Theatre, including visits to the British Library, the V&A and an upcoming project working with families in a prison setting

Watch this session to explore how storytelling can strengthen communication, deepen inclusion and bring genuine joy back into your practice.

Episode Links:

Website – https://www.talestoolkit.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/talestoolkit/
Twitter – https://x.com/TalesToolkit
LinkedIn Kate – https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
LinkedIn Tales Toolkit – https://www.linkedin.com/company/11169452/admin/dashboard/
Join our mailing list – https://tales-toolkit.outseta.com/email/lists/dQGn1om4/subscribe
Research reference:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8179166/
Kerry Murphy book: https://amzn.to/3MVgr2h
Storyproof by Hendal Haven https://amzn.to/40oY2xQ