You are a children’s writer, but you are many other things as well. You’re a parent, a grandparent, a teacher, a children’s minister, a camp counselor…whatever role you play, you do it because you love kids. You love watching children come up with amazing new worlds during playtime. You also love stories, and you want to inspire children to create their own stories. Why not connect play with story by teaching the kids in your life a storytelling game?

Whether you’re looking for a VBS activity or a game to play with your homeschool co-op, this list is for you. This list has a wide variety of games for both small and large groups, considering children with varying abilities and age levels. Try playing these games with your children’s ministry, at a birthday party, or in the classroom. The possibilities are endless!

1. Mad Libs. A classic! While Mad Libs books are easily found in stores, you can also create your own Mad Libs. You can find free templates online, or you can take a document you’ve already written and remove some nouns and adjectives. This is a great way for kids to learn grammar and parts of speech. Encourage them to be as silly as they want as they shout out their answers!
2. Make a Giant Story. Players sit on a couch or around a table. Each child gives you a sentence to add to the GIANT story, and you write down each sentence in a notebook. When you’ve reached the last player, your group must decide if they will end the story there or keep going. This could take a while so guide the children to a stopping point if the story is getting long-winded! When you’ve finished writing, let each child illustrate the pages they helped create. You can create a book with your finished story (see #7).
3. Try a Taylor-Made Tale. Have you ever read the series Taylor-Made Tales? In each book, Mr. Taylor, a teacher, spins a yarn for his students based off five things of their choosing. The books were so enchanting that my family made up Taylor-Made Tales all the time! To play, ask a child for five things they’d like to see in the story. They can choose characters, a setting, or objects. Then, listen to your imagination and make up whatever comes to mind. If children have suggestions in the middle of the story, throw them in!
4. Rory’s Story Cubes. This is a great game for writers! Each story cube has a picture on it. Roll the cubes and see which pictures land right-side up. Tell a tale about these items. If you want a genre-specific story, there are fantasy, mystery, and superhero-themed packs on the Story Cubes website.
5. Make a Map. When my sister and I were kids, our family would draw together on a long sheet of paper. We’d create neighborhoods full of restaurants, schools, hospitals, and talking dogs. (Every town needs a talking dog.) We’d talk out loud, pretending to be the characters who inhabited this city. Roll out a long sheet of paper, crack out your crayons or colored pencils and try drawing a town with your kids! They will love making up stories about the characters as they draw.
6. Sing Silly Songs. This is a common occurrence in my house. Someone starts singing, and I’ll join in with a rhyme or out-of-tune chorus. I often find myself singing whenever I enter a room! You can play this game with your kids, too. Try singing a silly line, then asking the child to finish it. Like, “Dinosaurs are super loud, they like to stomp all over town…”
7. Bind a Book. This activity is for children who love to tell stories but haven’t yet learned to write. Listen closely to the child as they dictate their story to you. You can write it down on paper or foam. Print it neatly for children who are learning to read. Let the child draw pictures to go with each page. Once you’re done, staple it together and you have a book! This is a good activity for mixed-age groups – a preschooler can dictate and illustrate the story to an older child who will write and staple the book.
8. Play with Puppets. Some children may feel shy about telling a story out loud. Playing with puppets can increase a child’s confidence. Let your child tell the story to the puppet or stuffed animal while your co-worker (or an older child) jots down the words. Children can illustrate the story when they’re through.
9. Be Story Pirates. This improv group adapts stories written by kids into sketches and songs. They encourage creativity by finding the heart of the child’s story, making it as dramatic or silly as the child envisioned. Their sketches elevate a child’s writing and make them proud of their work. You don’t have to submit to Story Pirates to BE a story pirate, however. Simply turn a child’s story into a game! Have each child pretend to be a character from the story. Ask the author for their thoughts – how would this character move? How would they speak or react in this situation? This activity can help children connect the dots between play and story.
10. Create a Fractured Fairy Tale. Encourage a child to re-tell a fairytale with THREE big differences. They can change the characters, (maybe Goldilocks is an alpaca), setting (perhaps a rock concert), and an object (who eats porridge, anyway?). Fairy tales give children a familiar story structure to work from. This exercise isn’t about rehashing an old story, however; it teaches kids storytelling basics (beginning, middle, end) and inspires them to give a classic fairytale a creative twist.

Have you played any of these games before? Have any suggestions for more storytelling games? Let me know in the comments! Happy writing! 😊