Continuing Stories

Continuing stories are a great way to spend some quiet time, whether it's at a meeting, riding in the car or spending time waiting somewhere. You can also do your story as a book, letting the girls take turns taking the book home and writing their page. Don't forget illustrations! It's a lot of fun reading the story together when you are finished. Consider making copies for everyone. The following are a few variations.

Cliff Hangers

This is a great take home project. You can decide on the subject as a group or let the first girl start the story. The first girl ends her page in a cliffhanger. The next girl resolves the cliffhanger, and so on.

Rhyming Stories

The first girl starts with a sentence, "I saw a fluffy cat". The next girl must come up with a rhyming sentence like, "He was sitting with a bat", and then follow it with another sentence that the next girl must rhyme with, like, "They were eating fries". The story goes on until everyone has a turn and the group feels the story is done.

Pass-Along Stories

Select an object, anything from a piece of fruit to a stuffed animal. This object becomes the star of the story. Give the object to the first girl. She starts the story. When she is done, she passes the object to the next girl, who continues the story, and so on. Again, the story is done when everyone has a turn and the story feels completed.

Good News, Bad News

The first girl starts the story with, "My sister found a frog. That was good news. She put it in my bed. That was the bad news." The next girl continues. ""The frog didn't smell bad. That was the good news. But it snored. That was the bad news." Again, the story is done when everyone has a turn and the story feels completed.

Fable

As a group, or individually, make up a fable, stories that teach a moral lesson. Use animals or everyday objects in place of human characters. Use subjects like, the value in being true to yourself, caring for others, the rewards of kindness... A great discussion starter.

Fairy Tales

Have the kids try putting a new spin on traditional fairy tales.  Try one of the following:

• Continue the story.  What happens to the characters after the story ends?

• Tell the story from the point of view of one of the other characters.

• Tell the story as though it happened in another time period.  What if the story of Cinderella happened today?  How would it be different?

Word Finds

Similar to the crossword puzzle idea above. Kids will have fun sharing them. It might be a good idea to photocopy them first for repeated use.  Make your own here or download one of these:

Back to School

Birds

Christmas

Creepy Crawlies

Farm Animals

Human Body

Medieval

Outer Space

The Beach

Weather

Rebus Writing

Have the kids write a rebus story, a story that uses pictures/drawings instead many of the words. They can draw pictures or cut pictures out of magazines. Take turns reading each others stories.

Crossword Puzzles, Word Finds & More!

Crossword puzzles are a great activity when you want to quiet things down. Pick a subject that you are investigating as a group or some other area of interest. Let the group each produce their own puzzles and challenge each other to solve them.

This and other types of puzzles, like word finds, can be made at Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker!