StoryWalks exercise the body and the brain

HEATHCOTE’S StoryWalk was officially launched on Tuesday and students from Heathcote and Holy Rosary primary schools, Shine Bright Kindergarten and Jenny’s ELC came along to join in the fun.

Goldfields Library Corporation partnered with Healthy Loddon Campaspe and the City of Greater Bendigo to bring the program to the region’s children.

The Heathcote StoryWalk starts at the Barrack Reserve play space and leads walkers on a literary journey as they read successive pages from a book at regular intervals.

The current StoryWalk features Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo.

GLC CEO Mark Hands said a StoryWalk had many benefits for the whole family.

“They’re a great way of mixing a whole lot of health and well-being outcomes that we want to achieve through physical activity,” he said.

“But it’s also being able to walk around and read a story from beginning to end.

“It’s about children’s books; it’s a really family-oriented activity and the walk doesn’t have to stop at the end of the StoryWalk, it can branch off into other places.”

Heathcote Library story time presenter Ange Graystone said she thought children learnt best when they were doing something physical.

“It’s a great way to get families together and involved in literacy together,” she said. “Even the dog.

“When I took my girls on a story walk in Castlemaine years ago we had the best time. We covered all sorts of things along the way, and they still talk about it.

“I think it creates a lasting memory of a book or an adventure that you went on as a family, or with friends.”

StoryWalk is the brainchild of American retiree Anne Ferguson and was originally a local project in her home state of Vermont.

It has now become an international movement with StoryWalks in several countries.