• Storytelling is a public health tool

• Children are active helpers and spreaders of asthma knowledge

• Communities are partners in health

• Simple, joyful education reduces fear and stigma

Storytelling and play therapy was at the heart of our approach. We believed that asthma education didn’t need to be clinical, frightening or complicated. Instead, we used puppets, crafts, games and familiar tales to help children recognise inhalers, understand symptoms, and feel confident helping others.

As one Brownie told us after a session:

“I told my cousin who has asthma about taking your brown preventer inhaler every day and he was really impressed that I know about it.”

Why Storytelling?

Research shows that stories increase levels of a chemical called oxytocin in the body,which improves empathy, attention and recall. Children as young as 3 don't just hear the story, they are actors in the story. And when children act out fictional situations — such as giving first aid to a puppet wolf using placebo devices — they can take responsibility and remember what to do in real life. 

We saw this repeatedly. A Brownie in Ashton on Mersey recognised her father was having an asthma attack, called the paramedics, and gave him his blue inhaler through a spacer at one minute intervals until they arrived.

Storytelling helped children:

• learn correct inhaler technique  and how using spacers helped

• understand the difference between reliever and preventer inhalers

• learn the signs of an asthma attack

• practise first aid in a safe, playful way

• talk openly about asthma without stigma - children with asthma are heroes not victims, because they defeat 'Wheeze Monsters' every day

 

You don't need more clinicians, you need community

Basic child asthma care is simple: brown, blue, spacers, asthma action plans, first aid - but it goes wrong so often! So we trained sixth formers to tell the story of the Big Bad Wolf to primary school children. We helped Brown Owls and Akelas tell the story in their units. Once they know, they know!

 

Supporting the environment

Storytelling also supported greener healthcare by reducing avoidable hospital admissions for asthma attacks, unnecessary travel to health appointments and inhaler overuse.

 

Downloadable Legacy Reports

We want others to benefit from what we learned. You are welcome to download and use the reports below to inspire your own community projects, youth leadership programmes or asthma education activities.

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Our Main Story: The Big Bad Wolf Has Asthma (Available FREE on YouTube here)

Our most-loved story, told to over 5,000 children, was a reimagining of The Three Little Pigs story. In our version, the wolf can’t blow the houses down because he’s coughing or short of breath. He's forgotten to look at his asthma action plan and hasn't be taking his preventer inhaler regularly.

Children helped our puppet wolf:

• use his asthma action plan

• choose the right inhaler

• take his inhaler correctly, using a spacer

• stay calm during an asthma attack and give him the right (blue) inhaler

• call 999 if needed

As one feedback form put it:

“Kids did learn about asthma and what to do… giving the children the info about asthma and emergency 999 number.”

We later created a teen version HERE — The Big Bad Instagram Star — for Year 7 students.

Across libraries, schools, uniformed groups and holiday clubs, more than 5,000 children heard the story.

Children shared what they learned with siblings, parents, cousins and friends — a ripple effect we called “pester power”.

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Asthma Challenge Badge project (2022)

Download the report here

Trafford Council funded the roll out of our asthma challenge badge (a Brownie Badge) with Girl Guiding and Scouting units in Sale. The badge was developed and tested with Girl Guiding Lancashire South County (Wigan and Leigh) during the pandemic over Zoom and this is the first time that BreathChamps delivered the badge face to face with youth groups in Sale. 

A study of 483 children aged 5–11 showed:

• Asthma knowledge increased by 21% (children already know a lot about asthma!)

• 70% of children shared information with friends and family

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Storytelling in Trafford Libraries (2024–25)

Download the final report here

This report documents BreathChamps’ tour of The Big Bad Wolf Has Asthma across 11 Trafford libraries, delivering 15 storytelling sessions plus two additional community events. A total of 201 adults and children attended, creating asthma related art that was displayed in seven public venues. Footfall past these exhibitions reached thousands daily.

Feedback showed strong impact: 94% of participants felt more confident about understanding asthma. Children especially enjoyed “blowing the house down” and practising inhaler technique. The report includes attendance data, craft examples, photographs, and quotes from families.

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Sixth form leadership project

Report published here (image below)

Between December 2023 and July 2024, BreathChamps partnered with eight 6th form students from Altrincham College to tell the story “The Big Bad Wolf Has Asthma” to younger students. Funded by Trafford Council, this project aimed to develop students’ leadership skills and test if they could learn and share basic clinical knowledge by telling the Big Bad Wolf story in feeder primary schools.

95 pupils aged 9-12 heard the story. Not only could students facilitate storytelling, but they were also capable of taking turns to lead the whole
class and answer the questions from younger students.