One-Sentence Stories
We’ve talked about storytelling before, a few months (or maybe it was years? Who knows anymore…) ago. But this storytelling activity is a very exciting and unique way of going about it, because your family tells the story together, one piece at a time! It’s called One-Sentence Story, and here’s how it goes:
The first few times through, tell stories you already know – perhaps your favorite Bible story, one everyone knows from start to finish. For example, you might choose to tell the story of Jesus’s birth.
Tell the story one sentence at a time
The first person will say, “Once upon a time…” and then tell the first thing that happens in the story. In our example story, that might be “Once upon a time, Mary and Joseph were on their way to Bethlehem.”
The next person adds on what happens next, perhaps something like, “Mary was about to have a baby.”
Keep taking turns until the story is over! When that happens, the last person to go will say, “The end.”
Pretty simple, right? Just keep these two things in mind as you play: First, if you have younger kiddos, they might need a little help with the format, at least in first. Feel free to prompt them with, “And what happens next?” if they’re not sure what to say. Second, remember (and remind your fellow storytellers) that the person whose turn it is might not choose to say the same thing you would’ve said. That’s okay! It’s an interesting glimpse into the details different people file away as “IMPORTANT” when they’re listening to a story.
Once your family has mastered re-telling stories you already know, you can make up new stories together using the same format! This can be challenging but is lots of fun. You might need to remind younger storytellers of the elements of really interesting stories: People (or non-human characters!), Place (what we often call Setting), and a Problem. Stories also need a beginning, a middle, and an end. The rest is up to you!
If your family includes slightly older kiddos, or you just get really good at one-sentence storytelling and are ready for a challenge, you can try One-Word Story – it works the same way, except the story is told one WORD at a time. With this format, it’s even harder to predict what the next person will say, so be open to the story going a completely different direction than you anticipated, and instead of trying to push it where you want it to go, just enjoy the ride! And if your family comes up with some fun stories, please share them with us on our Facebook page – we’d love to hear them!
