Adventure - Day 4 - Storytelling

Mindfulness activity

Trivia question: What is the largest land animal?

a) Moose
b) African Elephant
c) Hippopotamus

Mindfulness activity:

• Put your palms together at chest height
• Push them against each other as hard as you can
• Which muscle gets tired first?

Shadow puppets

Supplies:

• Dark Paper
• Scissors
• Tape
• Kebab skewers or popsicle sticks
• Open wall
• Desk lamp

Watch the shadow wall puppets video

Directions:

1. Outline different animals or character shapes on dark or black paper. If you don’t have black paper, colour in the shape with black crayon or marker.
2. Cut out the shapes and tape them to the skewer stick or popsicle stick.
3. Create shadows on the wall by turning off the lights and adjust a desk lamp to project on an open wall. If you have dark colored walls you can tape up a white sheet for the shadows of the puppets to reflect better.
4. With the people in your house, take turns creating stories using your characters. You can also video tape your story and message it to friends and family.

Story cubes

Supplies:

• Paper
• Scissors
• Crayons
• Marker
• Tape

Directions:

• Create a cube out of paper. Cut out 6 squares, and tape them together to form the cube. 
• Draw different animals, characters or objects in each cube box
• Tape the template together to create paper cubes
• Gently roll the cubes like dice
• Tell a story about the character or setting your dice lands on

Storytelling pathway

Supplies:

• Sidewalk chalk
• Recycling materials

Directions:

• Using chalk, draw a path on the driveway or sidewalk wide enough to walk through
• Along the path draw different types of characters, objects or obstacles (eg. A brick wall, a lion, a river) be creative!
• Using recycled materials, create more imaginative situations and add it to your path (e.g. A box can represent a magic bolder that you cannot touch or it'll turn you into stone. How would you get around the magic bolder?).
• When finished, walk the pathway one-at-a-time and create a story of how you would overcome each obstacle or character – use your imagination!

Review questions

• How do you feel about telling a story with shadow puppets versus using the story cubes? (Feel)
• What was the best part about todays activities, who was your favorite character that you thought up today? (Think)
• What are some other ways you can plan a story? Perhaps paining characters on rocks and pulling a few out of a bucket at random? (Act)

Mindfulness trivia answer

Answer: African Elephant

Mindfulness activity

Trivia question: What galaxy is Earth located in?

Mindfulness activity:

"Just right" is a feeling in our bodies. When we are "just right," we feel calm and able to connect with others. Think of one of your best memories. In that memory, how close to "just right" did you feel? How calm did you feel? How connected?

Make a fort

Supplies:

• Pillows
• Blankets
• Chair
• Small lamp
• Flashlight

Description:

• Build a fort where you can read and relax.
• Find a free corner in the house.
• Place two chairs about a meter apart and put a blanket on top to create a tent.
• Inside, use pillows and blankets to make the floor comfortable.
• Use a small lamp or a flashlight to light up the inside.
• Grab your favourite book and enjoy some relaxing reading time in your fort.

Toy box

Supplies:

• Box
• Toys
• Paper
• Pencil

Directions:

For this activity, create stories inspired by your favourite toys.

• Gather 5-10 of your favourite toys like dolls, Lego, animal pieces, etc. Each of your toys can be different characters.
• Which toy do you think will be a good villain? Which one should be the hero?
• Let your imagination run wild and start the storytelling.
• You can write down your stories or narrate them out loud.

Photo stories

Supplies:

• Old family photos
• Paper
• Pen or pencil

Photos tell a story of a moment in the past. When you see pictures, you remember fun moments and special events in your life.

For this activity, collect photos of your family or friends and write memorable stories. You can write a story based on one picture, or collect several pictures and connect them by writing a story. You can also gather your family, or connect with friends on a video chat, and use photos to narrate stories to each other.

Review questions

Ask your child:

• How do you feel when someone is telling you a story? (Feel)
• Why do you think story telling is important? (Think)
• What can you do to practice your story telling skills? (Act)

Mindfulness trivia answer

Trivia answer: The Milky Way​​​​​

Mindfulness activity

Trivia question: What is the largest and tallest tree in the world?

Mindfulness activity:

• Do 15 jumping jacks
• Now notice your heart beating faster
• Notice your breath
• Notice your big leg muscles.

Story time reading

Supplies:

• Childhood storybook

Do you remember story time when you were younger? Learning to relax and using our imaginations are some of the memories we created during story time. Find a story you loved as a child, and would be comfortable reading out loud. Read the story to a younger sibling, or use video chat to read to other younger relatives.

Here are a few tips to consider when you are reading your story:

• Create a comfortable and quiet space to read
• Mood is important. Create moments of anticipation and drama
• Use expression and change your tone of voice to fit the story
• Adjust your pace to fit the story. During a suspenseful part, slow down, draw your words out, and bring your listeners to the edge of their seats. During action-packed parts, speed up
• Be enthusiastic and show excitement. Read stories that you enjoy

Picture your story

Supplies:

• Paper
• Markers
• Pencil

There are many ways to tell our personal stories. One of the ways is using objects or drawing a picture to explain the story we want to tell.

Think of an item or draw something to represent your story. Your story could be an achievement, an experience you had with a friend or family member, or something you learned during this time.

Once you have this item start considering what this means to you and why you want to share this story. Tell the story of why this is so significant to you by using the object or picture without writing any words down. Use the object to guide the story you want to share.

Family photos

Supplies:

• Old family photos
• Paper
• pen/pencil

Description:

Photos tell the story of a moment in the past. When you see pictures of your family, you remember fun moments and special events in your life. For this activity, collect family photos and write memorable stories. You can write a story based on one picture, or collect several pictures and connect them by writing a story.

Review questions

Ask your child:

• How does a good story make you feel? (Feel)
• Why do you think storytelling is important? (Think)
• What did you learn when you looked at some old family pictures? (Act)

Mindfulness trivia answer

Answer: California Redwood