Practice Storytelling with Fairy Tale Dice

Storytelling is a wonderful and engaging learning tool to get your child to exercise his imagination and build up his reading and writing skills. You can inspire and encourage the inner story-teller in your child with this activity by having him create Fairy Tale Dice! All you need are some Styrofoam cubes, markers, and adhesive paper, and you'll have dice with story elements to play around with. Just roll the dice and sit back, as your child weaves his own innovative and adventurous story.

What You Need:

• 4 Styrofoam cubes
• Patterned adhesive paper
• Clear adhesive paper
• White typing paper
• Scissors
• Tape
• Construction paper
• Markers
• Hole punch
• Yarn

What to Do:

Phase One: Prepare the dice

1. Help your child cover the cubes with the patterned adhesive paper.
2. Print or write the following words or phrases on small pieces of typing paper that are cut to fit the sides of the cubes: bear, boy, girl, cat, queen, king, small, large, old, new, messy, clean, hut, house, castle, cave, city, farm, the store, a friend’s house, Grandma’s house, into the woods, into town, and to the park.
3. Tape the words on the cubes in the following order:
   • Cube One: bear, boy, girl, cat, queen, king
   • Cube Two: large, old, new, messy, clean
   • Cube Three: hut, house, castle, cave, city, farm
   • Cube Four: the store, a friend’s house, Grandma’s house, into the woods, into town, to the park
4. Cover the completed cubes with clear adhesive paper for durability. You have now completed your set of Fairy Tale Dice.

Phase Two: Write the story

1. Begin the story like this: “Once upon a time there was a…”
2. Roll the first die. Whatever character lands on top is now your main character for the story.
3. Insert the character into the story. For example, if the die lands with the cat on top: “Once upon a time there was a cat…”
4. Continue the story like this: “…who lived in a very …”
5. Roll the second die and insert whatever descriptive word lands on top. For example, “Once upon a time there was a cat who lived in a very messy …”
6. Roll the third die and insert whatever type of residence lands on top. For example, “Once upon a time there was a cat who lived in a very messy hut.”
7. Continue the story like this: “One day the cat decided to go …”
8. Roll the fourth die and insert whatever lands on top. For example, “Once upon a time there was a cat that lived in a very messy hut. One day the cat decided to go into town.”
9. Now, put the dice to the side and ask your child to continue the story from there. Ask leading questions such as, “What do you think might happen next?” Keep a record of his responses. Continue to ask him what might happen next in the story. Shape his response into a short story. For example:
   • "Once upon a time, a cat lived in a very messy hut. One day the cat decided to go into town. While the cat was in town, he went to the store. In the store, he bought a vacuum cleaner and a mop. The cat decided to go back home and clean up his hut. The cat lived happily ever after. The end!"
10. Encourage your child to draw illustrations for the story on colorful construction paper.
11. Add the text to the story, create a front and back cover, and bind the pages together into a book.

Put the new fairy tale book in your child's library, and now he has his own published story to share with others and enjoy!