Autumn has been long this year and it was the first autumn for many years that I haven't been out collecting dozens of beautiful leaves to take with me to storytelling sessions at the early childhood centres. I hope your children have enjoyed playing in leaves and using them in craft

Winter arrived a few days ago. Sitting by the fire on a winter evening is a great time to cuddle the children and tell stories. Tell them about winter as you remember it from your childhood. I remember the frosts and the icicles that grew under a dripping tap, and hurrying to school with my breath showing like fog. I always wished I'd wake up to snow so deep I would be able to toboggan like the children in my storybooks. When my children were small we had donkeys that were rugged each night to keep them warm. In really wet weather or snow, they kept their rugs on in the daytime. It is so dry this winter that we must take special care that our animals and birds have enough to eat.

Talk to the children about keeping their pets warm in winter and talk about food we like to eat on cold days. Tell a story about feeding the birds or read The Great Big Enormous Turnip and dramatize it.

Yesterday I heard about rescuing a cow that became bogged in a local dam. That reminded me of a story I made up about Old McDonald's animals getting bogged while he was away in the city. His wife had to rescue them. She drove the tractor and managed to drag the cow, the horse and the pig etc.out of the mud. It was an opportunity to show that women can do farm work just as effectively as men. It was great fun for the children to dramatize taking the parts of a number of animals who had gone to help each other, but become stuck.. Then Mrs McDonald, hearing a great noise, came out to look. I used a chair as a tractor and had real rope for the children to hang onto as I pulled each one out. Try telling a similar story to the children in your group, Have fun everyone.