Toy sheep in a treasure box

Inspire Your Young Storyteller with Story Boxes

Cave paintingHuman beings have been telling stories since someone first thought to draw a mammoth on a wall with a stick. Telling stories teaches empathy, encourages creativity, and stimulates our imaginations. A fun way to help your child develop storytelling skills is by making story boxes.

Here’s how:

a brightly colored boxStart with a box. This may be a shoebox, an old cigar box, a lunchbox, or a decorative tin. The possibilities are limitless. If the box is plain, your child might enjoy decorating it.

Place several objects, including human, animal, or fantasy figurines inside. The child opens the box and tells a story that includes all the objects.Box with coins and figurines

Here are a few variations on the basic idea.

Two or more children use the objects to tell an interactive story.

One child tells the opening sentence, then takes turns adding sentences with one or more other children.

Older children may write their stories, either individually or collaboratively and then share them.

Create a story box based on
a theme. (For example, if the cover of the box shows people riding camels, you might include props for a desert scene, along with a toy camel and rider.)

box with camels
You can use the same story collections over and over, if your child enjoys creating serializations, or you can change out the objects so the child never knows what to expect.toy frog with medical supplies in front of a first-aid box

This activity is endlessly adaptable for children of all ages.

If you do this with your child, I’d love to see your story boxes in the comments.

Toy sheep in a treasure box

2 comments

  1. Beautiful site! I wish I would’ve had all of this information when I was homeschooling my kids many years ago. I have passed the information on to our niece and nephews so they can enjoy it! Nice work

    1. Thank you, Rhonda Jean. Please tell your niece and nephews that, if there are specific kinds of activities they’d like me to post about, they can email me or tell me in the comments. I’d love to hear from them.

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