Hey there! So, you want to get your kids into storytelling? Maybe you are staring at a bored child right now, or perhaps you are just tired of hearing “Mom, I’m bored” for the hundredth time today. I have been there. Trust me.
Storytelling is one of those magic activities that does triple duty—it boosts creativity, improves language skills, and honestly, it can buy you a solid twenty minutes of peace while your kid mutters to themselves in a corner. Win-win, right?
I have rounded up 12 storytelling activities that I have personally tested on my own kids (and my friend’s kids, and basically any child I could corner at a party). Some are classics, some are a little weird, but all of them work.
1. The “What Happens Next?” Picture Game
Ever noticed how kids can stare at a single picture for approximately two seconds before moving on? This activity fixes that.
How to play
Find an interesting picture—something with a lot happening in it. A busy market scene, a forest with hidden animals, or even a funny family photo works great. Ask your child: “What do you think happened RIGHT before this picture was taken?” Then follow up with: “And what happens next?”
Pro tip: The weirder the picture, the better the stories. I once used a photo of a cat wearing a tiny hat, and my daughter spun a fifteen-minute tale about a secret feline royalty ceremony. Was it accurate? No. Was it entertaining? Absolutely.
Why this works: It gives kids a visual anchor but forces them to build the narrative around it. Plus, it teaches them that stories have a beginning, middle, and end—even if that end involves a cat king demanding tuna.
2. Story Cubes (The Dice Game)
If you do not own a set of story cubes yet, stop reading and go buy some. Seriously. They are cheap, portable, and have saved me on more long car rides than I can count.
The basic rules
You roll the dice, and whatever pictures land face-up, you have to weave into a story. Nine pictures, one story. Simple.
My favorite variation: Let each person add one sentence at a time based on the dice. The results are usually hilarious chaos. Last time we played, a story about a friendly alien turned into a dramatic courtroom drama because my son decided the alien stole the moon. Kids are wild. :/
IMO, these little cubes are the best investment for any parent who wants to encourage creativity without doing any actual work.
3. The “Story Behind the Object” Hunt
This one gets kids moving, which is always a bonus when they have been bouncing off the walls all afternoon.
What to do
Grab a bag or a basket and send your kid on a mini scavenger hunt around the house or yard. Tell them to collect five random objects. It can be anything—a pinecone, a spoon, a mismatched sock, an old key. Once they come back, the challenge is to create a story that connects all the items.
The catch: They have to use the objects in the order you found them. So if they grabbed a leaf first and a shoe second, the story has to follow that sequence.
I did this with my nephew last summer, and he created an epic tale about a leaf that wanted to become a shoe so it could travel the world. Do leaves want to travel? Probably not. But his logic was unshakeable.
4. Comic Strip Conversations
Some kids are visual thinkers. They struggle to put words together, but put a blank piece of paper in front of them? Magic happens.
How to set it up
Fold a paper into six or eight squares. Hand it to your child with some markers or crayons and say: “Draw me a story.”
No rules: They can use stick figures. They can use speech bubbles. They can make it as detailed or as simple as they want. The key is letting them show the story before they tell it. Once the drawings are done, ask them to walk you through each panel.
Why I love this: It removes the pressure of “getting the words right” and focuses purely on the narrative flow. Plus, you get to keep the artwork afterward, which is way better than another random scribble on the fridge.
5. Two Truths and a Tale
You know the classic icebreaker game? It works for storytelling too.
The twist
Instead of just guessing which statement is the lie, have your child expand the “tale” into a full story. They tell you two true things that happened to them recently and one completely made-up event. Then they have to tell a short story about each one.
Here is the fun part: You guess which story is fiction, and they have to keep a straight face while telling it. Good luck with that—kids are terrible liars, and it is adorable.
My youngest once tried to convince me she met a mermaid at the grocery store. The mermaid, apparently, worked in the seafood section. I respect the commitment to the bit.
6. Storytelling with Sound Effects
This activity is pure chaos, and I mean that in the best possible way.
How it works
You tell a story, but whenever you point at your child, they have to make a sound effect. Start simple: “The knight walked through the spooky forest (point)…” and your kid goes “Wooooooo!” like a ghost. Then build from there.
Switch it up: Let them be the narrator, and you become the sound effects department. Fair warning: they will absolutely make you do embarrassing noises. My kids once made me produce the sound of a “sad trombone falling down stairs.” I am still not sure I nailed it.
7. Fairy Tale Remix
Classic fairy tales are great and all, but they get boring after the fiftieth reading. Time to shake things up.
The challenge
Take a well-known story—Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, whatever—and change one major element. What if Cinderella’s slippers were made of pizza instead of glass? What if the Big Bad Wolf was actually just trying to borrow a cup of sugar?
My personal favorite: We once did “Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs” and spent an hour discussing what kind of porridge dinosaurs would actually eat. (Spoiler: probably not porridge.)
This teaches kids that stories are flexible. Nothing is set in stone, and the best ideas come from asking “What if?”
8. The Story Sack
This is less of a game and more of a “keep them busy while you make dinner” activity.
What you need
A bag or pillowcase filled with random props. Think: a scarf, a fake mustache, a toy phone, a magnifying glass, an old hat. Anything goes.
The mission: Your child reaches into the sack without looking, pulls out three items, and has to act out a story using all of them. They can do it solo or rope you into being a character.
FYI, watching a seven-year-old try to incorporate a spatula, a superhero cape, and a rubber duck into a coherent plot is better than most television.
9. Finish My Sentence
This is the lowest-effort storytelling activity on the list, which is why I use it constantly.
How to play
You start a sentence, and your child finishes it. But you keep going, back and forth, building a story one sentence at a time.
Example:
Me: “Once upon a time, there was a dragon who…”
Kid: “…loved eating pancakes.”
Me: “But there was a problem—the pancakes were too hot because…”
Kid: “…the chef was also a volcano.”
Me: “So the dragon decided to…”
You get the idea. It requires zero setup, you can do it while driving, cooking, or folding laundry, and it always produces absolute nonsense that somehow makes perfect sense to a six-year-old.
10. The “Wrong” Story
This one works best with kids who already know their favorite stories by heart.
The twist
Start telling a story they know well, but deliberately get details wrong. Watch how long it takes them to correct you.
“I love the story of The Three Little Pigs! So there were these three pigs, and they all built houses out of cheese, right?”
The result: They will interrupt you immediately, and then you can challenge them to tell it “the right way.” Or, if they are feeling playful, they can roll with your wrong version and see how ridiculous it gets.
11. Postcard Stories
Do you have any old greeting cards or postcards lying around? If not, print a few random images from the internet. The weirder, the better.
The activity
Give your child a postcard and tell them it was sent by someone in the picture. Their job is to write or tell you what the message says.
Ask questions:
- Who sent this?
- Where are they?
- Why are they writing?
- What happened right before they sent it?
This turns a single image into a communication puzzle. Plus, it sneaks in a little handwriting practice if you have them actually write it down.
12. The Never-Ending Story
Remember that book/movie? The title works as an activity too.
The rules
Start a story, but stop at the most exciting part. Hand it off to your child. They continue for a while, then stop at another cliffhanger and hand it back to you.
Keep it going: You can stretch this out over days. Literally. My kids and I once kept a single story alive for two weeks, adding a chapter each night before bed. Did it make any sense by the end? Absolutely not. Was it worth it for the giggles alone? 100%.
Wrapping This Up (Without Wrapping It Up Too Neatly)
Look, the point of all these activities isn’t to create the next great novelist. It is to get your kids comfortable with the idea that they have a voice, that their ideas matter, and that stories can be fun instead of scary.
Some of these will work perfectly the first time. Others will flop. That is fine. Kids are unpredictable little creatures, and what works today might bore them tomorrow. The key is to keep trying, keep playing, and keep telling your own stories too.
Now go forth and tell some tales. And if your kid creates an epic saga about a spatula-wielding cat? Please share it with me. I genuinely want to hear about it. 🙂
