Last night I was bored with our bedtime stories. I didn’t want to search through the shelves and shelves of books we have to find something that sparked my interest. So, I picked up my Eeboo Tell Me A Story – Mystery in the Forest
With my best magician impersonation, I let Lydia pick five cards. I glanced at them and tried to put them in a logical order. There was none. So, I held up the first card and started talking.
Our story began with Princess Perriwinkle and her best friend/confidant/servant Petunia the Pig. Petunia the Pig and Mr. Squirrell the Milliner tracked down a thread theif. The contrite thief, Little Racoon apologized for being disobedience and worked hard to rectify his misbehavior.
If you didn’t quite get the progression there, don’t worry, there were lots more details and five beautiful picture cards to illustrate. Lydia was enthralled and when it was over, we actually had a teachable moment about Little Racoon’s repentance. How’s THAT for a good bedtime story?!
There are so many ways to use this deck of cards. You could just pick one card at a time and tell a funny story based on what pops up. Lydia loves to pick a few out and lay them on the ground, then tell a story about what she sees. Asa just likes to pick up the cards and look at the pictures. Today we laid them all on the floor and tried to jump over them—so, whatever works!
I just love this because this whole idea fosters creative writing, imagination, comprehension for a pre-reader and understanding of sequence. Not to mention bring in some art appreciation with the lovely vintage-y illustrations! But my favorite part is that you get to spend a few minutes creating something for your child. It will be a one-and-only story that’s just for that moment. It’s a gift!
You should check out Eeboo’s website. You will want one of everything. And in case you were wondering, this isn’t a paid post. But it should be. Seriously. I love these things.
What do you do when you are bored with bedtime?
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What a great product! I’m sure it would be good for school-age children learning to write, as well.
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I am a teacher and I have tell improvisational stories every year. I get the students to draw pictures. I don’t tell them why they are doing this other than the fact that everyone in the class will see it and that we will be using it for an activity later.
I then take the drawings and put them into a bag. I randomly pull out a picture and begin a story. I then pull out pictures to help continue the story.
It always seems to be a hit. Just thought I’d share a variation on your theme here.
Thanks for sharing. Picture stories are great!
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I’ll have to check these out! They sound right up our alley!
I”ve never seen these, but they look great. I need some inspiration for our nightly story-telling sessions.
I always end my stories with the very uncreative: “and then she went home and went to bed. the end.” 🙂
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This is fantastic. My kids would be all over this idea. We often do stories where one of us starts and the other has to pick up where we left of and then we go back and forth with the story. It pretty much always involves princesses 🙂