Are you sitting comfortably? MAXINE GORDON unveils the work of York’s Storymakers.

ONCE upon a time there were two woman who wanted to open up the imaginative world of picture books to young children.

Five years later, Jenna Drury and Nicolette Hobson's Storymakers are still going strong, attracting a devoted and loyal following from families across the city.

Jenna and Nicolette run performance and drama workshops for children of primary-school age. Storymakers is their event for pre-schoolers that runs weekly out of York Theatre Royal.

The fun kicks off at 10.15am on a Wednesday when parents and carers congregate in the café area, where tables are stacked with scrap paper and sticky tape and kids are encouraged to get creative.

Today, the youngsters are making a hat. Little Harry Jaconelli is chuffed by his final result: a green cone covered in a silver gift bow and topped with a cocktail umbrella. The three-year-old has been coming to Storymakers since last September and his mum Suzanne says it's one of the highlights of their week.

After 30 minutes or so of hat-making, Jenna starts to gently sing "time to tidy up..." and soon the crafts are packed away and her charges are enthusiastically lining up behind her, eager to embark on the next stage of the Storymakers journey.

Pied piper-style, Jenna and Nicolette, along with fellow Storymaker Ben Rosenfield, lead the children and parents to the De Grey Rooms next door for the second part of the session.

Accordion music fills the air as we enter the large room. The lights are low and chairs and floor cushions form a horse-shoe shape around a charming set featuring a wall screen covered in fairy lights, a hat stand full of quirky designs and an eclectic collection of suitcases, boxes and scarves.

As the children settle, Jenna address her captive audience. "Let's start our story. It is set in another country, where they speak another language."

Within moments she has transported the children to Paris, France, has them on their feet, raising their arms above their heads to resemble the Eiffel tower, then walking their "dogs" in a park, stopping to take "photos" of them of an imaginary camera.

She begins telling the story of Madame Chapeau, played by Nicolette. Jenna invites the youngsters to peer into Madame Chapeau's window: Ben holds an empty picture frame in front of the set and the children line up to gaze through the "window".

Interaction is the byword for Storymakers, and one of the reasons behind its continued success. The team fuse storytelling with drama games, role-play, music, dance, puppets, multi-sensory play, and lots of dressing up.

Jenna said: "It is great for kids' confidence and their imagination as well as their social skills."

Nicolette says they purposefully start the session with craft making first in the theatre cafe. "It's a gathering space and parents can have a coffee and chat and we can talk to the children before they come into the storytelling space."

It also means whatever they make isn't guided by the story, but by their imaginations. "The hat they make doesn't have to be the same as the one in the story," says Jenna.

Children take away the item they make, often using it to retell the story at home.

Young mum Suzanne says the sessions have really boosted Harry's confidence. " When we first started coming he wouldn't join in with the making, he just wanted to watch me. But as the term went on, he started to make things himself and get excited about making things. He got more ideas and became more confident and more chatty with Jenna and Ben."

York mum-of-three Griselda Goldsbrough has brought all three of her children to Storymakers over the years. Today she is with her son, three-year-old Mojo. "All of them got so much from it. It's the best group I ever took them too and I tell everyone about it.

"Parents really enjoy it because they get to interact with their kids too."

Storymakers is run with the support of York Theatre Royal and forms part of the organisation's educational work.

Juliet Forster, associate director of York Theatre Royal, said one objective was to "encourage families to feel this is a place for them" and that another was to ensure people were engaged with theatre throughout their lives "from child to adult".

She said developing the imagination was a vital life skill. "The imagination is the most useful tool we have as human beings and theatre is a particularly good medium for exploring that."

Storymakers runs in term time at York Theatre Royal on Wednesdays from 10.15am to 11.30am. Tickets available from Theatre Royal box office priced £5 per child (£2.50 for families on low incomes).

Mud Pie Arts run other storytelling sessions too, including one for under fives at Explore Acomb Library, Jump Into A Story, on Thursdays from 1.30 to 2.15pm. Tickets cost £2 per child and families are encouraged to bring a book with them to swap.

Find out more at mudpiearts.co.uk