Thursday, April 27 is Tell a Story Day!
Here's how to make a jar that encourages creative storytelling in your house...
- Find a plastic jar (or basket, tub, or other child-safe container) that is big enough for kids and adults to reach into.
- Scour the house for tiny toys and other objects that can be used to represent elements in a story and place them into your jar -- action figures, plastic animals, craft supplies, nature objects, and more.
- Once you have a good selection of items in your jar, take turns storytelling with your child. One person pulls out three items and the other person has to make up a story using those objects.
- The person who chooses the items gets to decide what they are. For example, your child might decide that the yellow craft pom pom from your jar is the sun. On another storytelling turn, that same pom pom could be a baby chick, a playground ball, a dragon's egg, or a soccer ball made of cheese!
- If your jar is a big hit, consider making a trip to a craft store and exploring the dollhouse section for tiny treasures that expand your storytelling possibilities. Or your child could create new objects for the jar using pipe-cleaners, cardboard, bake-at-home clay, or other craft supplies.
Want to read more? Here is a blog post I wrote about our family's storytelling jar:
http://journeyleaf.typepad.com/journeyleaf/2013/04/the-story-jar.html
