ELORA – Sky Hammond is riding high since TVOKids signed him to create a second season of Teeny Tiny Stories.
Part two of the animated series launched on TVOKids’ YouTube channel in November and can be found on the channel.
Episodes will also be aired on TVO television, but in an unscheduled way, mainly as single episodes between television shows.
Sky Hammond
Originally, Hammond, who lives in Elora, starting writing very short four- or five-sentence stories when he was studying law as a way to make him write succinctly and stave off the tedium of reading legal text.
The writing exercises became stories, the stories were compiled into The Big Book of Teeny Tiny Stories, the book was pitched for television and, in 2022, TVOKids signed on for 30 animated episodes.
The episodes were less than a minute long and were viewed on TVOKids’ YouTube channel as well as between programming on TV.
“It was amazing,” Hammond said in a phone interview. “I was hoping it would get maybe 100,000 views online, but it hit two million. That’s when I knew it was a success.”
Now it’s poised to be an even bigger success, as Season 2 launched earlier this month.
With Season 1, Hammond learned teachers were using the stories in the classroom.
The stories serve as a launching pad for classroom discussion, art, writing and drama projects and prompt the question, “what’s next?”
Hammond said he’s facilitated sessions with students at the Guelph Public Library and found that kids would come up with their own stories.
“I’d help them take the parts, do some brainstorming and help them become coherent stories,” he said.
Season 2 was written with input from education specialists and the concepts of the stories align with Grade 3 and 4 curricula.
Teeny Tiny Stories serve as springboards for:
– writing exercises and creative storytelling;
– visual art exploration and analysis;
– drama and character development;
– critical thinking and perspective-taking; and
– social studies discussions and cultural understanding.
“These stories mirror the quick-paced nature of modern media while delivering meaningful, curriculum-connected content for Ontario teachers,” explained Hammond.
“Each episode opens up possibilities for classroom discussions, creative projects and conversations that extend well beyond its 45-second run time.
“We’re really invested in making them entertaining and useful to teachers.”
He did most of the writing for the new series and worked with the production company Good Game Films to turn the words into short, amusing, entertaining video stories.
Of course the animation makes the videos come to life, with charming characters and beautiful artistry.
Season 2 of Teeny Tiny Stories is free on TVOkids’ YouTube channel, joining the existing collection that has become a resource for educators, parents and young viewers.
