I tell improvisational stories to my students every year. I like that we can have fun creating something together. The students always seem to enjoy it as well.

Here’s how to do it.

1) Get the students to draw pictures. Don’t tell them why they are doing this either. Just let them know that everyone in the class will see their drawing and that we will be using it for an activity later. The drawings shouldn’t be too complex. They can be a single object or setting.

2) Take the drawings and put them into a bag.

3) Have the class sit down on the carpet and tell them that you will now tell them a story using their pictures.

4) Randomly pull out a picture from the bag and begin to tell a story using that picture as a starting point.

5) Continue telling the story by pulling out pictures to add to the narrative.

The best thing about this is that the students are involved in the creation of the story. The students take a lot of pride in their picture and the role it plays in shaping the narrative. Since we are in the process of figuring out the story together, I find that the students are always attentive.

This activity also shows that stories can be fun. They can be spontaneous and that you can take inspiration from the things around you. Hopefully this is a lesson that the kids will take with them and will inspire them to write and create their own stories.