Have children complete four fun and silly stories by working in teams of two or more (this might be a parent and child, two children, a small or large group, etc.). Here s how it works: 1. Cut out the stories and give one story to someone on the team. For children in grades K 3, consider also cutting out the Word Bank (separately) and giving it to the other team members. 2. Have the person with the story request parts of speech/specific word types (e.g., food, article of clothing, etc.) from other team members (children, parents, facilitators, etc.) to write on the blank lines in the story. The person with the story should not read it aloud until the parts of speech/word types have been written on the lines and the story is completed this will make it more fun! For younger children, it may be helpful to read the title of the story aloud before requesting parts of speech/word types to provide some context. For older children, the person holding the story may opt to read the title aloud or may decide to complete the story without revealing it to make the results even more unpredictable! 3. Once all of the requested words have been filled in, have the person who completed the story read it aloud to find out what sort of crazy story the group completed together! 4. Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3. Have fun! 5. Finally, have children use a pencil or computer/tablet to create their own fill-in-the-blanks story.
Stories (cut out and distribute one at a time) 1. Ice Cream Shop Jenny and her friend walked to a(n) (adjective) ice cream shop to get their favorite flavor, (type of ice cream). They asked for (number) scoops each, but the boy behind the counter said, We re all out! Jenny and (girl s name) had walked more than a mile to get their favorite flavor, and the anger Jenny felt boiled over. She said, What do you have, then? Nothing (happy adjective), her friend said with disgust. But the boy behind the counter said, Try this! He handed each of them a small spoon with something (color) on it. Jenny tried it, and said Yuck! What IS that? It s today s special, the boy said, (dinner food). Jenny s friend started coughing. What? Jenny asked. That s (unpleasant adjective)!, said her friend. Yeah, Jenny said. I can t believe we walked a mile just for this! 2. At the Zoo Sixteen (animals) (verb that ends in ed ) up and down on a hill. It looked like fun! The boy watched them and did what they did. Then the animals started (verb that ends in ing ). It made (boy s name) laugh and he was filled with joy. He couldn t remember the last time he (happy verb that ends in ed ) so hard. He laughed so much that he started (verb that ends in ing ) over and over and couldn t stop. His classmates started (joyful verb that ends in ing ) all at once. Pretty soon everyone was doing what the animals did and giggling joyfully.
1. Campfire Stories After the thunderstorm, the chilled campers sat around the flickering fire shivering and trying to get (happy adjective). Their camp counselor said, It s time for a story. Anyone have one? An (adjective) boy Jason had never seen before (spooky adverb) raised his hand. I do, he said. But it s true. Trees rustled. Then it felt like the air got still. Okay, listen up! their counselor said. It was a (scary adjective) night, said the boy, and I was walking in the (outdoor place) by myself looking for my (female relative). His voice was filled with fear. But something found me instead. Everyone got quiet. I know you might not believe me but it was a ghost. Jason looked at his friend (girl s name). She looked (scary adjective). I don t believe in ghosts, Jason said. You should, said the boy. Then he smiled (scary adverb). Jason felt a chill down his spine as the fire suddenly went out. 2. The Birthday Party At the (event), three (animals) were playing (musical instruments) and someone was (happy verb ending in ing ) in the corner. But all the birthday girl felt was sadness. She missed her best friend, (girl s name), who hadn t been able to come because she d gotten sick the night before. Gina missed her a lot and felt like (sad verb that ends in ing ). She couldn t stop thinking how (happy adjective) it would be if her friend was there. She decided that if she went into the (type of room) and had a good cry, she d feel better. After she came out of the (same type of room), everything seemed just a little less awful. Someone came up to Gina and said, Hey, do you want to (happy verb)? She smiled uncertainly and said, Okay.
Word Bank (cut out and distribute to younger kids at your discretion) Word Bank Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs shoe dance itchy happily ice cream played terrible crankily lemonade laughing smelly joyfully pickle sneezing good quietly bottle giggling warm loudly house smiled funny dangerously can hopped delightful carefully pencil howling frightened thoughtfully tree stopped gross quickly book crying magical wisely cup screaming wonderful unsurely
ACTIVITY 2 Directions: What s the story? You never know what it might be! Find the answer to the question by working with a partner or group. Here s how: Make up a playful story with lots of adjectives and adverbs. Then, erase some of those adjectives and adverbs and write the part of speech to the right of where the word was, in parentheses. You can even create space for specific types of words, like animals, numbers, etc. Don t read the story aloud! Just ask for parts of speech/word types and then write them on the lines. Afterward, read the story aloud. Here s an example to get you started: Miranda looked at the waterfall and felt happy. (Here, you could erase the adjective happy. Then, you could draw a line under where it was and put adjective in parentheses after it, so it looks like this): Miranda looked at the waterfall and felt (adjective). If your completed story doesn t make a lot of sense, don t worry. That s part of the fun!