Activity Ideas

Here are some of our favourite activities for Story Power

Storytelling: listening, templates, prompts and games

• Listen to over 250 fun, traditional tales on the Super Great Kids' Stories website

• The Story Pirates Podcast is one of the top three kids and family podcasts in the world! Listen or submit your own story on their website

• These easy activities and printables are a great way to generate stories

• Comics Club have plenty of tools and resources on how to make your own comic strip

• Use Imagine Forest's storytelling activities and prompts like Story Stones and Maps

• Ignite imaginations and encourage interactions by using a story sack

• Celebrate National Poetry Day on 2 October with resources from the National Literacy Trust

• Beanstalk Charity's Story Dice makes storytelling a fun, low-pressure way to engage with storytelling

• Check out this useful story mountain structure on BBC Bitesize

• Create stop motion animation using the I Can Animate app

• Make fun, spontaneous images as a group with the Exquisite Corpse drawing game.

Scavenger hunts and journeys are stories in action!

• The Woodland Trust have a page full of scavenger, seasonal, and tiny treasure hunt ideas and what you can find in Autumn

• While out in nature, recount your journey with a journey stick.

Make a place for stories: reading dens, castles and umbrellas

• Make the experience of sharing books special by building a reading den

• Oxford Owl has a helpful tutorial on their YouTube channel

• Medium shares useful hints and tips on creating a reading den.

Every family is a story: oral and family history

• History Begins at Home encourages connecting with family and friends through conversations about the past.

Multisensory stories

• Build multisensory stories with Scottish Book Trust.

Use an emotion wheel to support emotional vocabulary

• Try having children and adults identify the feelings of characters in a story and explain, show, draw, make a sound or facial expression to show why they feel that way.

Explore diversity and multilingualism in stories

• These reading lists by Penguin and Lauren's List champion stories that celebrate Black history and culture

• School Reading List and Puffin share books which celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, fostering understanding and promoting inclusivity

• The BooksForTopics website features children's booklists, sorted by age or topic

• Traditional Tales, Untraditionally Told shares useful information on incorporating multilingualism

• The National Literacy Trust's Words for Life page contains playful, imaginative activities to help improve children's language, literacy and communication skills.

Other ideas: Festival Pinterest Page

Find more inspiration on our Family Learning Festival Pinterest board.