Create a Story Box

When I was a child, I loved to visit an elderly neighbour who collected little things. If I were seated, my hands were clean, and I promised to be very careful, she would let me hold and examine them. There were tiny tea sets, dolls, and miniature ornaments from all over the world.


I think most kids are fascinated with tiny. Here's an idea to get them involved in story as well.


Find a special box. Collect small things for it. Encourage your kids to use those things as props to tell, or write stories.


You could consider including found objects like lovely stones, shells or seed pods, tiny books, small toys, blocks and bricks, plastic animals and characters, puzzle pieces, cookie cutter shapes, cake decorations, finger puppets, anything small that might stimulate interest, curiosity and creativity. The box ideally should have a way to fasten it, so you won't lose the bits. I've used story boxes with special themes like Zoo, Circus or Pirates. It's also nice to keep a special notebook and pencil handy, for jotting down stories urgently. 


This activity is ideal for young kids who love to handle objects and relate well to them. If you want a challenge for older kids, consider having them close their eyes to choose something from the box, then describe it aloud. They might choose three objects without looking and invent a story based on them. Or they could write a description of one object, without naming it, and see if someone else can recognize it from the description. With older kids too, you could try a story box in which you keep pictures for story prompts, or ideas for plots, characters and settings.

Photo credit: dmmalva on flickr

Update: There's a lovely post on Learning Parade called Small World Settings that gives great ideas for items you could incorporate into your story box.