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Originally posted in Sept 2013, but I wanted to bring it back because we play this on our way to school… a lot… and the kids love it!
I wanted to share a fun activity that we do when we are in the car or when I have a few minutes. It is a great imagination building exercise for kids and our kids love to do this. I also did this with my students, when I taught.
It is just a fill-in-the-blank story, but it certainly gets them thinking and get their imagination going!
I would start by saying something like “Once upon a time there were two _______” I leave the sentence open-ended so that our kids have to fill it in with a noun. So, maybe they say “boys”.
So the story would start like this:
Once upon a time, there were two boys. “These boys were all packed up and ready to go ________.” “When they got to the _______, they saw the biggest ______ that they have ever seen!”
So what you are doing is just building on what they tell you. If you have more than one child or a classroom, take turns. Keep building on what they are saying. Make it funny, silly or whatever you want it to be! Have fun with it! Let them pick the adjective (“The tiger was so _______” and then your child has just decided where this story will go. Will they say “funny” or “big” or “orange” or “scary” or “hungry”?)
Our kids could play this game for 30 minutes or I could end it at 2 minutes. (For the end of the story, I will just say “And they saw a helicopter. They flagged it down and saw that it was their Dad driving! They were so excited! They hopped on and it took them home.”
This is a fun way to encourage their creativity. If it is your first time playing, you can make up the first few sentences (“One time Allie and Mommy were walking into the woods and all of a sudden they were so tiny! They were smaller than an ant! They found a hole inside of an old tree and they climbed inside. When they got in, they saw the most beautiful ________”. )
Of course, our story always has some sort of scary creature in it, but our kids always save the day at the end!
I hope that you & your kids have as much fun with this as mine do. It is a fun game to build imagination!
UPDATE: My husband just told me that this is call Mad Libs. I’m sure that some of you know this, but I didn’t. Well- whatever it is. Its is fun and the kids love it! Enjoy!
See more kid activities here or if you are home, here are a few preschool activities that only take 5 minutes, but will help your child to become smarter in so many ways!
Image Sources- Ksoo & Picmonkey
