Inventing stories with children

At what age can you make up stories with children?

To come up with a story from beginning to end requires abstract thinking, which is generally not yet well developed in two- or three-year-olds. On the other hand, the same applies to inventing stories as to all creative work – Practice makes perfect. That's why it makes sense to involve children in storytelling from the very beginningYou can start by making up stories yourselves and occasionally ask small questions about the details: 'And do you know what colour the dog was?', 'And what did the knight then discover in his castle?' Gradually your child can contribute more and more to a story and in this way train their creativity. From about the age of five, children can also come up with more complex stories with a continuous plot and several characters.

Inventing stories – how it works

Geschichten erfinden | Baby spielt mit Mutter und Bruder

Sometimes the stories come all by themselves – when you're lying comfortably on the living room carpet, wandering together through the woods, or cuddling in bed before falling asleep. But you can also deliberately prompt a story. At first it may be a bit bumpy, but over time your child will learn the process and tell stories more freely.

Warm-up: To get into storytelling mode, you can, for example, retell a familiar story. This can be a favorite picture book or a shared experience – the main thing is that your child can tell it freely and in their own words.

Finding a theme – What if? An easy way to find a theme is the question 'What if ...?' Either you or your child can give it a direction: What if our house could fly? What if I open the fridge and find a group of tiny penguins in it? The advantage of such questions is that they usually put the familiar environment at the center of the story – which makes it much easier to tell the story.

Finding a theme – finding the story structure: If you invent stories with several children, you can outline the basic elements of the story in advance:

Who should be the main character of the story?
Where does the story take place?
What is the problem / What adventure must the hero of the story overcome?

Usually a first plotline develops naturally from these questions. You can support by asking further questions, for example: Does the hero ride a bike / ride a horse / have a flying carpet?

Finding a theme – suggesting ideas: A nice incentive can be to tell the first few sentences of a story and let your child continue it: 'Once upon a time there was a little boy who lived right on the edge of the forest in a house that was almost entirely overgrown with blackberry bushes. One day he went out the front door and there on the doorstep he saw ...'

Geschichten erfinden | Papa und Tochter schauen in ein Buch

For parents: tips for inventing stories with children

Don't force it: If your child doesn't feel like telling a story, maybe read a book aloud instead and try again another time.
Create a calm atmosphere: Time pressure or restlessness at home hinder creativity.
Get things started: Describe an opening scenario or ask your child who the hero should be – that's an incentive to participate.
Describe details: When your child sketches the action, you can add details that make the story more vivid: 'The wind rustled in the leaves, the branches creaked, and an owl called "hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo!"'
Take turns telling: Everyone may contribute their part to the story – if you like, you can also use an egg timer to time two or three minutes each for telling.
Help if it gets stuck: Offer a few ideas when your child doesn't know how to continue or has become tangled up in the plot.
Meet your heroes again: Many children find it easier to invent stories when they already know the hero of the tale. If you've come up with a character for a story, you can invent a new story about the same character next time.