Once Upon a Time, We Learned Life

Long before screens brought stories to life, there was the art of storytelling: a magical passage into forgotten lands, distant kingdoms and worlds that existed only in the imagination. Through words, a storyteller could transport listeners across oceans, into enchanted forests and towards adventures where the impossible seemed entirely within reach.

Passed down orally from one generation to the next, these stories entertained, educated and helped children make sense of the world around them. Grandmothers were master storytellers, as were grandfathers, who gathered their grandchildren around a little lamp in the evening and conjured empires, magnificent castles, wars between rival kingdoms and encounters with mysterious creatures. They recounted tales of extraordinary bravery, sang paeans to courage and wit, and brought heroes and villains alive through nothing more than their voices, expressions and an impeccable sense of drama.

Folklore and mythology were also living repositories of a land's culture. They carried its food, clothing, customs, festivities, beliefs and language, preserving the collective memory of communities. Sound effects supplied by an enthusiastic narrator, dramatic pauses before a climactic moment and gestures that made invisible creatures appear almost real were all part of the experience. Across the world, travelling puppeteers added another dimension to this magic, carrying colourful, resplendent dolls from one village or town to another and transforming makeshift stages into theatres of wonder.

Then Came the Screen

Stories found new ways to manifest as moving images, beginning with silent films before evolving into elaborate productions enriched by sound, colour, animation and increasingly sophisticated special effects. Epics that once depended on the imagination of a listener could now unfold in breath-taking visual detail. Today, technology has taken storytelling further still. Children can shoot short films on their phones, experiment with visual and sound effects, and even use artificial intelligence to bring their ideas to life.

Yet, amidst this extraordinary evolution, an important question remains: what has become of the stories that travelled through generations? Do folklore, mythology and the tales told by grandparents still have a place in childhood?

Perhaps more than ever.

The Magic of Story-Telling

Stories invite children to imagine what they cannot see, anticipate what might happen next and find words for thoughts they have never expressed. Listening closely, following a plot, remembering details and interpreting characters engage attention, language and memory. Constructing alternative endings or debating a character's choices encourages reasoning, perspective-taking and creative problem-solving. These are not merely literary skills; they are abilities children carry into relationships, classrooms and the decisions they make throughout life.

There is growing concern that an overreliance on ready-made answers and digital conveniences may leave children with fewer opportunities to practise sustained attention, independent reasoning and imaginative thinking. Cognitive processes such as working memory, executive function and critical thinking develop through experience and practice. Technology can certainly support learning, but when it consistently does the imagining, composing and problem-solving for us, children may lose valuable opportunities to exercise these abilities themselves.

Bring Them Back!

This is where classrooms can rediscover the storytelling arena. Occasionally, put the textbooks aside and switch off the screens. Invite a teacher to narrate a folktale, a grandparent to share a childhood favourite, or a child to invent an ending nobody saw coming. Encourage questions, disagreements, improvisations and delight. Let children become the storytellers, changing characters, inventing worlds and discovering that a single story can lead to a hundred different possibilities.

The responsibility rests with parents and educators to bring these narratives alive for a new generation. Folklore need not be preserved as a relic of the past, nor should every story be reduced to a ready-made moral. These tales can be questioned, reinterpreted and connected to the realities children experience today.

After all, the magic of storytelling was never just about what happened once upon a time. It was about what happened inside a child's mind while listening. And that is a kind of magic no screen should entirely replace.