Tell a Group Story with Children
Create a Tale at School, Around the Campfire, or on a Car Ride
Jul 1, 2009
A storytelling group can include children who dislike writing stories, as well as those who always want to regale those around them with their latest tales. Tell a group story around the campfire or in the classroom. Use props to prompt events in the story, including those seen out the car window on a drive.
Whether children dislike writing stories because they can’t think of exciting events or because their ideas come faster than they can write them down, oral storytelling with a group eliminates some of those pressures.
For children who love creating stories, the challenge is adding to details concocted by another child. A group story needs at least three people, but this activity is a case of "the more the merrier."
Guidelines for Telling Group Stories
Before starting, establish a few guidelines to encourage creativity and organization for the group.
Sit the group in a circle. Pass the story either clockwise or counterclockwise around the group. If the children are sitting in rows, establish the pattern of sending the story from person to person.
Each person should add something, even if just a sentence that sums up an event or detail added by someone else. This keeps each person engaged in listening to the story. Avoid skipping over participants or jumping around the group.
Encourage the children to listen to the story instead of concocting their own section of the story while other people are talking. Details may change that will make their additions redundant or irrelevant when the story comes around to them.
Remind them to be clear as to whether they are pausing for dramatic effect or because they want the next person to take over the story. If they want someone to take over the story, they should look at the person and point or nod their head.
Oral Storytelling With Children
With a group story, one person starts telling a story, stops at an interesting point, and then allows the next person to continue the story.
An adult may want to start the story to exemplify the types of details, actions, and cliffhangers the children can use. Introduce a problem the main character faces.
Start the story with details connected to the place where the storytelling is taking place – school, a bus ride to a museum, a campsite. Mention details that the children will have seen or heard. Although the story may take a fantastic turn, some familiarity will remind the children that they tell personal stories about their world all the time.
Halfway around the group, point out that the main character should start figuring out a solution to his or her problem. Encourage the children not to finish the story too early (before everyone has added something to the tale).
Telling a Story With Props
A single prop could encourage children’s storytelling. The children could pass around a “magical” rock. As they hold the rock, they translate its life’s journeys. A blue bead could represent a molecule of water that tells of its travels from the ocean to clouds and through plants and animals.
Another option is to have each child pull an object from a bag or box and try to work the item into her part of the story.
Group storytelling encourages children who dislike writing, as well as those who enjoy creating stories, to share the experience of telling a tale aloud whether at school or around a campfire.
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