Story Tag

Opening Discussion

Ask your students if they have ever made up a story before. Is it easy or hard to invent the characters and the things that they do? Did they invent exciting stories? Scary stories? Tell them that you would like them to make up a story…but that they’ll do it together as a group.

The Challenge

Invent a story that you all create together!

Doing the Activity

1. This game is played with the entire group of children together, and can be played anywhere, inside or outside.
2. The rules of the game are simple: Ask everyone to close their eyes, and then you (the teacher) should touch one child on the arm. That child should open his eyes and begin the story with one line. He should then touch a second child gently on the arm, and that child will invent the second line of the story. This continues until the last child is tagged—that last child should finish the story, OR the child who began the story can be the last child tagged, and they can create the last line of the story.
3. Play the game once, then gather children together to talk about the game.

Let’s Talk About It

After playing once, gather everyone together to talk about the story. Was it easy or hard to create the lines of the story? What did kids do when they had an idea in mind, but the story went in a different direction? Is there anything they would change about the story and the line they invented?

Build On What They Talked About

If they would like, your children can play again, creating a whole new story. Or, you can ask them to create illustrations for the first story, then see if they can tell it again with the illustrations.