Welcome to another Wacky Workshops project, making storytelling games.

In my post, Why Telling Tall Tales is Good For You, I explained the importance of encouraging this in children – and ourselves.

TEACUP TALES

The Goddesses love a television show called Teacup Travels. It inspired me to get the very special teacups out and have our own storytelling session (they have water in their teacups) about our imaginary ‘travels’.

A few days ago all four were visiting and we used a teacup candle as inspiration for storytelling time. The Goddesses took turns telling their delightful tales to the rest of the family.

Sometimes it is helpful to have props to spark ideas to open the imagination for stories.

This week I’m sharing how to make story blocks (templates included) and some storytime props.

STORYTELLING GAMES

HOW TO MAKE STORY BLOCKS

I have included three templates for this project. The blank block template is recommended. This way you can draw your own designs, increasing the creative benefits. However, if you need extra inspiration, I have two readymade templates with my own simple drawings you can just print out and put together.

MATERIALS

• Thin cardboard
• Template – blank, picture 1, picture 2
• Printer
• Scissors
• Glue
• Markers

METHOD

• Print out the template of your choice using the thin cardboard.
• Cut out the template.
• If you are creating your own drawings, now is the time to do that. NOTE: I like to mix things up a bit by adding an unusual element. You will notice in picture 1 I have drawn all animals plus an umbrella. This adds a little extra challenge to the game.

• When the drawings are complete, fold the block template on the lines.
• Add some glue to the outside tabs and fold around to form a cube.

TO PLAY

Player one throws both blocks. They start their story using the two pictures facing upwards as focal points. (You can use an egg timer to keep it moving if you like, or just let the story flow as it will).

The next player throws the blocks and adds to player one’s story using the next two upward-facing pictures as focal points.

This continues on until you feel ready to stop. At this point, you can announce it is the last roll for players so they need to start concluding the story.

It can be quite challenging, depending on what pictures are showing and what part of the story has already been told. However, it is almost guaranteed to make you laugh as the story becomes more and more ridiculous.

STORYTIME PROPS

Storytime props can be anything, from the teacups mentioned above to a favourite toy or nature find.

Another way to use a prop is to make your own, adding even more to the creative venture.

Below are the instructions for two very easy props.

BELLA BALLERINA

MATERIALS

• Paddle pop stick
• Pipe cleaner
• Cupcake liner
• Googly eyes (optional as you can opt to draw them on)
• Paper bow (just cut out a simple bow shape) or you could use a feather.
• Scissors
• Glue
• Markers

METHOD

• Twist the pipe cleaner around the paddle pop stick, about one-third of the way down, to form arms. You can add a dab of glue to keep in place if you like.
• Fold the cupcake liner in half and cut a tiny hole in the centre of the fold. It should be big enough to fit the paddle pop stick very snuggly.
• Push the paddle pop stick through the top hole in the fold to form the ballerina skirt. You can add a bit of glue to secure if you like.
• Glue the bow or feather to the top of the paddle pop stick.
• Glue on the googly eyes if using and use the markers to draw the mouth and ballerina shoes as shown in the picture.

BABY BIRD

MATERIALS

• Thin cardboard
• Pipe cleaner
• 2 x cupcake liners
• Googly eye
• Markers
• Scissors
• Glue

METHOD

• Cut the pipe cleaner about one-third from the end.
• Cut the shorter pipe cleaner in half.
• Twist each half around each end of the longer pipe cleaner to form bird feet.
• Fold the cupcake liners in half.
• Cut one of the liners around the curve so that it is slightly smaller than the other.

• Cut a thin oval out of the cardboard so that it is about 4 cm longer than the fold line of the larger cupcake holder.
• Glue this inside the folded, larger liner so that about 2 cm is sticking out each side of the liner.
• Glue the small liner on top.
• Fold the pipe cleaner legs and glue them inside the larger cupcake liner.
• Glue on the eye and use a marker to create a beak.

Now that you have Bella Ballerina and her baby bird, what adventures will they get up to? Will Bella teach the bird to dance? Will the bird teach Bella to fly? You might feel inspired to make scenery and more props as the story grows. We did.

Follow me on Pinterest for more fun ideas.

Happy crafting and storytelling, and have a gleeful week, Tamuria.