Sharing Longer Stories with Little Ones

[image error] I've written a long segment in First Teacher on how to select stories to tell with younger children--they especially like simple stories with repetition, like "The Gingerbread Boy" or "The Three Little Pigs." But what about sharing longer stories, especially if you have a mixed-age group?
Our group of 1- to 5-year-olds is a younger mix this year, so when I first told "The Snow Maiden" after Christmas break, I was losing them. Even using the adaptation by Bronja Zahligen in the WECAN book Plays for Puppets, this is still a fairly complex Russian tale.
When I found the first day that I wasn't holding their attention, I stopped right away and said, "And tomorrow I'll tell you what happened when...." The next day I condensed what I had told them up to then and continued in a different style, basically changing the "Waldorf ideal" of "relating what you are seeing in a very melodic voice" to being much more conversational. By being more conversational in tone--talking directly to them and being less dreamy and descriptive--I found they stayed with me. Now, having told the story every day for two weeks, I 'm doing the puppet play and find I can be much more lyrical when they have the images in front of them and are already familiar with the songs and story.
With the mixed ages, we sit in a circle with 12 children and 3 adults, and the littlest ones (under two years of age) sit on our laps--they're clearly not tracking, but they stay with us. I insist that the other children sit up because once one lies down everything is lost. But, in general stories are very successful: the older ones still like the simpler stories, and the younger ones are (usually!) carried by the group when I'm telling an story for older children.
Another example: I wanted to tell the Rapunzel story for the older children, so I decided to do it at the lunch table. This is a great time for stories because the younger ones are occupied with their food. But, even with the help of being at the table, I simplified the story to start with "Once upon a time there was a girl named Rapunzel" and then went back to her mother's craving for rapunzel (a type of lettuce, rampion) and the promise the father had made to the witch, rather than being completely chronlogical in the story. The reason this was simpler was because I was "talking" to them rather than relating a dreamy tale that went on and on.
In addition to telling fairy tales and simple children's stories, I also continue a tradition that y daughter Faith started two years ago: telling a story about "Pirate Jack" during snack (it always starts the same way, and then tells Jack's adventures discovering distant lands, treasure and foods). Or a story about the adventures of Mauwie the Cat. They still love these ongoing stories and ask for them.
What do you find telling stories for children of mixed-ages. Be adventurous--the children will let you know what works and what doesn't!
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