Welcome to the second instalment of Creating Stories with Children! Today, I’ll explore 4 more activities that build upon the suggestions I made last time. They’ll be simple, fun and engaging story-creating activities that you can use to inspire your young learners.
Activity 5: What did the eagle see?
The Dramatic Eagle video is great for teaching children about story plot: It clearly shows the most dramatic part of a story. I showed the video to my students and asked them: What did the eagle see? I then instructed the children to write a short story with a beginning, a dramatic middle and an end – the dramatic middle being the part that evokes the eagle’s reaction. It is up to you as a teacher to decide whether you want your class to complete this activity using the written word, or oral communication.
Activity 6: Musical chain writing
This is a fun activity that lets children write a story as a whole class, or in a smaller group. You need music for this activity. When the music starts, the first child writes the first sentence. After the child is done, they will pass the pencil and paper to the next child. The second child writes the second sentence and then passes it to the third child. This continues until the music stops. The last child who holds the pencil and paper has to conclude the story.
Activity 7: Using silent short videos to create stories
A short video clip that tells a story, particularly one without dialogues or narrations, are great for getting children to practice their story-writing skills. Silent videos are perfect because they let children interpret the stories in their own words. There are many different ways the video can be used in a story-creating lesson. One of them is to let the children watch the video and then retell the story. Another way is to print out screen shots of several frames of the video – ideally the parts that represent the beginning, the development, the dramatic middle, the resolution and the ending – and then let the children tell the story in parts, using the screen shots as their guide. Another alternative is to let the children rearrange the screen shots in the correct sequence and write a story based on the new sequence of events. Children can also write descriptions of the characters, explain the mood and the emotions, or write dialogues for different scenes in the videos. The following silent, short videos are perfect for these purposes:
Activity 8: Publishing the story
Children’s work should be appreciated. Making the children’s stories available for an audience can provide a great motivational boost and inspire children to write more. Publishing can be done in many different ways. The teacher can use a class blog to share the stories with the whole class. The teacher can also share the stories with the whole school through the school’s newsletter, bulletin or the notice board. The class can also compile the stories into a hand-made book or a picture book.
Some Practical Suggestions
To help children become fluent story-tellers and story-writers, it should become a frequent classroom activity. I hope that my posts have inspired you to get creative! Which stories do you want your class to submerse themselves in?
Make sure that you haven’t missed any of Cindy’s series! Here’s her previous post, where she discusses using stories as a way to create a joyful learning environment.