Humans crave story. We listen to them, we watch them, we create them in our own minds constantly. We teach and we learn through story. Has there ever been a time when humans didn’t co-exist and co-evolve with story? Humans and story birth each other, every day, over and over again.
Children especially seem to love stories. Today’s activity is pretty simple: one person starts and tells a small portion of a made-up story, then passes it along to the next person to continue. With kids it can sometimes be helpful to give them a time limit (maybe using a small hourglass from a game or a timer) but you can just see how it goes and adjust as necessary. This could be really fun to do with your whole family, or with friends on a zoom or Skype call. And any of these activities can be done outside or inside!
WAYS TO EXTEND THE ACTIVITY
*Watch the story Mo (Co-leader of Living Forest summer camps and an amazing storyteller) and I recorded on Youtube! It’s about an hour long, so feel free to take snack breaks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il7KfsOOAOs
* Have your child draw a story just using pictures, then see if you can decipher it. You could do the same, then have them decipher your story.
*Record yourselves telling a pass-around story and them play it back for everyone to listen to. Bonus points if your tale is set in your home landscape.
*If your child is able to write (or if they’re not, have them partner with a grown-up), play “Writesey Drawsey”, the game where you pass around pieces of paper with alternating drawings and captions. Everyone starts by writing a sentence on the top of the page, and then passes the paper to the person next to them. On the next turn, everyone will draw a picture below the words, based on the sentence, then fold the paper over so only your contribution is showing for the next player. On your turn, If you see words, you draw a picture to describe the words. If you see a picture, you write words to describe the picture. Keep going until you get to the bottom of the page, then unfold everything and pass it around to see! It’s usually hilarious. It sounds complicated but it’s really simple once you get the hang of it!
*Have your child tell you an on-the-spot, made up story. Be the scribe and write it down word for word—don’t change any grammar or pronunciation mistakes. When they’re finished, you can ask them what the title of their story should be. Write it at the top. Then re-read them their story, including the title, and don’t edit at all, so they can hear their own voice. This method of recording story is inspired by the work of Vivian Paley, a kindergarten teacher who wrote many books and believed in the power of storytelling in developing the minds and social qualities of small children. I highly recommend you check out her books if you aren’t familiar!