Storytelling-Rugs are excellent pedagogical tools that create a three dimensional space for children to apprehend stories and books. This motivates children to engage and participate verbally and phsically in the story.
Launched in the late 80s by specialist educator Clotilde FOUGERAY-HAMMAM, these rugs are well-established in the extensive network of libraries in France and internationally (Belgium, Switzerland, Brazil, Portugal), the primary purpose of the Storytelling-Rug is to serve as a bridge between the child and the book.
The rug is a large, fabric, three-dimensional environment in which the story evolves. The characters of the tale are brought to life by the hands and words of the adult (or child) storyteller. The book is the backbone of the storytelling session.
Through this animation tool to which children are particularly sensitive, the aim is to encourage a relationship with books and reading based on pleasure and interest, and even to encourage children to tell the story themselves...
A storytelling rug allows children to enter the book as if into their own imaginary world. Drawn faithfully from the book illustrations, it transports children into the heart of the tale creating a strong connection between word and image, oral and visual languages.
This tool encourages the desire to read in children who read little or not at all. It offers adults a way to guide them toward mastery of oral language and subsequently reading without the young reader perceiving it as a constraint. It fosters and nourishes their appetite and curiosity for the images in the book and its narrative.
Stimulated by the Storytelling-Rug the children "play the story' with three dimensional characters. Through this play not only do the children acquire vocabulary unselfconsciously, but also are drawn closer to the desire to read.
With younger children, the tactile and visual attraction to the raconte-tapis and its characters - combined with the adult's storytelling of the book - captures their attention spontaneously and leads them to approach the book itself for a more thorough exploration.
Clotilde FOUGERAY-HAMMAM is the "big shot" of storytelling carpet's, the person through whom this adventure was born and subsequently flourished, turning 'Raconte-tapis ®' into a brand and a recognized practice at the heart of libraries. This was in the 80s, when nothing similar existed.
One of the last photos of Clotilde
- who left us at the end of 2021 -
by Lauriane CANOVAS.
A specialized educator (C.E.M.E.A. Centres d’Entraînement aux Méthodes d’Éducation Active), on retirement she devoted herself to volunteering as a librarian in Lignières, her adopted municipality in Cher, France. Passionate about reading, she was convinced of its importance for the inner development of everyone, especially children. Noticing a very moderate interest in reading among the school children welcomed in her library (in the 80s in the province), she, as a good educator, sought the magical tool that would make reluctant children want to approach books... and ultimately experience pleasure and interest in their company.
The trigger was the sensory mat she crafted for her soon-to-be-born grandson, the starting point for conceptualizing the magical tool she needed! Naturally, her initial raconte-tapis were no longer just sensory mats. They emerged from a project targeting 6-10-year-olds (learning or consolidating reading and writing skills) and an approach derived from her educational practice: an appealing tool, close to children but precisely following the narrative structure of a story, through which the child can engage in storytelling and reading in a playful manner, without constraint.
Finally - and this is a good measure of the importance of her approach - by promoting her concept of storytelling mats over the years, Clotilde was undoubtedly the inspiration behind all the forms of storytelling mats that can now be found here and there : narrative rug, storytelling carpet's, story aprons... In this way, she gave birth to a practice that is widely recognised for its relevance and effectiveness in promoting reading !
A great and beautiful achievement, indeed…
The creation of a storytelling carpet – to ensure its beauty and strong visual impact – requires good artistic skills and a conceptual approach capable of making it a coherent and effective narrative object, reflecting the children's book it will accompany.
As for storytelling with this tool within the scope of our interventions, we are also engaged in an artistic (and pedagogical) approach, both in the art of narration and in the staging of the children's book / storytelling carpet duo.
Thus, all members of our small team have a well-rooted artistic sensitivity in both their past and current practices...
HUGO ET CAGOULE by Dauvillier & Lizano
Departed on her final journey at the end of 2021, she left us with the invaluable gift of a practice widely recognized for its relevance.
Educator, trainer at CEMEA (Center for Training in Active Education Methods), and in Schools for Educators. A voracious reader and storyteller by family tradition. Expresses herself artistically through interior decoration, setting up exhibitions, and theater set designs (within CEMEA). Involved in the community life of her town and a volunteer librarian, she began developing the idea of the storytelling carpet (raconte-tapis) there since 1987.
Eric narrates and facilitates Racontetapis training sessions. He crafting the storytelling carpets.
Se forme en arts plastiques puis en théâtre (cirque, mime, commédia dell’arte). S’oriente vers la mise-en-scène et la formation d’acteur (France, Italie, Brésil, Portugal). S’intéresse en particulier aux processus qui mènent à une expression authentique dans le jeu d’acteur… A partir de 1994, il participe ponctuellement à l’aventure des racontetapis initiée par Clotilde, sa mère, puis s’y investi pleinement en 2002 comme conteur, formateur et créateur de l’outil.
Now on different paths, his years of storytelling and facilitating Racontetapis training sessions have left their mark on the team's work.
Amanda studies theater at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom). Her journey as an actress (Japan, Poland, Italy, England, France) emphasizes the socio-cultural approach (hospitals, prisons, schools, daycares, socio-cultural centers), street theater, and theatrical masks. She has been practicing storytelling carpets since 2004, fulfilling her inclination for oral tradition, tales, and singing.
He crafting the storytelling carpets.
Of Dutch origin. Illustrator and creator of art furniture. Inspired by nature, she specializes in crafting creatively shaped garden furniture. She also designs children's rooms. Sensitized to Raconte-tapis and trained in this particular artistic practice, she embarked on crafting this tool in 2013 with great pleasure (shared! as the quality of her creations invites us to do so).
He crafting the storytelling carpets.
Studied dressmaking at an arts and crafts school in Lyon. Trained in puppet-making. Produces textiles that she tells and animates for children, and runs creative sewing workshops for children and adults. Author of the book "Créer vos contes en tissus" and other works published by Créapassions. She will be joining the raconte-tapis team in 2023 to help design and create this wonderful tool.
He crafting the storytelling carpets.
Diplômée d’un baccalauréat en arts appliqués et d’une licence en École Européenne Supérieur d’Arts de Brest, Aniéla se lance en tant que modéliste-couturière en 2009. L’arrivée de son fils la plonge dans les livres pour enfants, et elle découvre les raconte-tapis! Formée à la technicité de ce concept par Eric Hammam, elle rejoint l’équipe début 2025 pour confectionner ce merveilleux outil de communication.
Departed on her final journey at the end of 2021, she left us with the invaluable gift of a practice widely recognized for its relevance.
Educator, trainer at CEMEA (Center for Training in Active Education Methods), and in Schools for Educators. A voracious reader and storyteller by family tradition. Expresses herself artistically through interior decoration, setting up exhibitions, and theater set designs (within CEMEA). Involved in the community life of her town and a volunteer librarian, she began developing the idea of the storytelling carpet (raconte-tapis) there since 1987.
Eric narrates and facilitates Racontetapis training sessions. He crafting the storytelling carpets.
Formé en arts plastiques puis en théâtre (cirque, mime, commédia dell’arte). S’oriente vers la mise-en-scène et la formation d’acteur (France, Italie, Brésil, Portugal). S’intéresse en particulier aux processus qui mènent à une expression authentique dans la communication… A partir de 1994, il participe ponctuellement à l’aventure des raconte-tapis initiée par Clotilde, sa mère, puis s’y investi pleinement à partir de 2002 comme conteur, formateur et créateur de l’outil.
Now on different paths, his years of storytelling and facilitating Racontetapis training sessions have left their mark on the team's work..
Amanda studies theater at: the University of Exeter (United Kingdom). Her journey as an actress (Japan, Poland, Italy, England, France) emphasizes the socio-cultural approach (hospitals, prisons, schools, daycares, socio-cultural centers), street theater, and theatrical masks. She has been practicing storytelling carpets since 2004, fulfilling her inclination for oral tradition, tales, and singing.
He crafting the storytelling carpets.
Of Dutch origin. Illustrator and creator of art furniture. Inspired by nature, she specializes in crafting creatively shaped garden furniture. She also designs children's rooms. Sensitized to Raconte-tapis and trained in this particular artistic practice, she embarked on crafting this tool in 2013 with great pleasure (shared! as the quality of her creations invites us to do so).
He crafting the storytelling carpets.
Studied dressmaking at an arts and crafts school in Lyon. Trained in puppet-making. Produces textiles that she tells and animates for children, and runs creative sewing workshops for children and adults. Author of the book « Créer vos contes en tissus » and other works published by Créapassions. She will be joining the raconte-tapis team in 2023 to help design and create this wonderful tool.
He crafting the storytelling carpets.
Diplômée d’un baccalauréat en arts appliqués et d’une licence en École Européenne Supérieur d’Arts de Brest, Aniéla se lance en tant que modéliste-couturière en 2009. L’arrivée de son fils la plonge dans les livres pour enfants, et elle découvre les raconte-tapis ! Formée à la technicité de ce concept par Eric Hammam, elle rejoint l’équipe début 2025 pour confectionner ce merveilleux outil de communication.
Racontetapis ® is a registered trademark.
Usage rights reserved for our productions.
Site address
Site manager
Mailing address
Phone number
Email address
Trade Registry Number
Site hosted by
Built with
We assure you complete confidentiality for your navigation in all native parts of our site.
In its architecture and operation, we do not use cookies other than those known as session cookies to facilitate your navigation during your visit. We do not conduct visit statistics retrieving individualized data and do not use any resources other than our contact form, allowing the identification of users of the site by name.
The information transmitted via our contact form is in no way used for commercial purposes with third parties, and we do not share these personal data with anyone. Finally, for the follow-up of our commercial relationship with you, we proceed with the confidential retention of this data, which you can ask us to delete at any time. This does not take into account data stored for administrative, legal, or security reasons.
We may offer links to other sites that we do not operate. We check their relevance and quality, but since we have no control over the web pages to which these outgoing hyperlinks lead, the user therefore refrains from holding us responsible for the content and resources related to these outgoing hyperlinks.
La possibilité d’accéder à un (ou plus) réseau social lié à Raconte-tapis n’est pas proposée, mais si cela devait l’être, la collecte des données serait propre à ce ou ces réseaux, collecte à laquelle il vous appartiendrait alors de consentir ou non via le réseau concerné.
Currently, our site does not host any embedded content from other sites (video, images, articles...), but if we were to do so to diversify the information on our site, this embedded content from other sites can potentially behave in the same way as if the visitor were to visit those other sites (cookies, possible data collection, tracking of your interactions with these embedded contents if you have an account connected to one or another of these other sites, etc.). Also, since we do not have control over these behaviors, it will be up to you to ensure whether to consent or not via the links associated with these sites.
We hope to have fully addressed your legitimate concerns and wish you a pleasant visit to our site.
EN 
FR 
ES 
