An Outdoor Journey - Telling the Tale of Ibong Adarna

For the month of April, the Cuenta Cuento team shared a modern retelling of the Filipino classic “Ibong Adarna.” Suitable for an adventure tale, the storytelling activity was held outdoors at Retiro Park instead of the usual indoor setting, allowing the children to enjoy both the story and the surrounding scenery.

Michelle led an icebreaker game in which the children danced to the Ibong Adarna theme song while passing around a bird plushie that symbolized the story's main character. Before the storytelling began, we made the session more interactive and encouraged participation among children by distributing puppet sticks of characters such as Haring Fernando, the magical tree, Ibong Adarna, and etc. Each time the children heard a character’s name, they raised their puppets helping them to follow the story and engage with the different characters.

This month, we explored a different approach to storytelling. We collaborated with Grandma Khied, a content creator who shares educational stories on YouTube. Using AI, she brought the video material for this session to life. We also discussed with the kids the moral of the story that goodness and forgiveness conquer jealousy and greed. The children demonstrated their attentiveness through a fun true-or-false game. We concluded the session by sharing popular Filipino snacks and enjoying time together at the park.

Special thanks to the creative team - AJ, Isay, and Michelle - for preparing the activities and props, and to Grandma Khied for the video presentation, making sure the children had an immersive and enjoyable cultural experience.