This is a great game to play with two or more players. I used to play a version of this with my daughter as we walked to school, whilst waiting for our meal in a restaurant, walking the dogs in the woods or even when on long car journeys…. Her friends often asked to play when they were with us.
Begin with a game of ‘Eye Spy’.
For example:
- Player One begins ‘Eye Spy with my little eye something beginning with….’ (let’s say C).
When one of the players gets the right answer (ie: Clouds) they become the lead player (Player Two). - Player Two makes up a story beginning ‘Once upon a time’ and using the word they guessed (Clouds) as part of this story – after two to three sentences they return to ‘Eye Spy with my little eye something beginning with…’ (let’s say W).
- Whoever guesses the right answer (Wellies) continues the story that Player Two started, including into it the word Wellies.
- The game continues, passing back and forth between Eye Spy (to give you words) and the story, until the story is complete or you’ve reached your destination – whichever is soonest!!
Alternative: The Player who guesses Eye Spy correctly has a choice of either:
- Carrying on with the next section of story.
- Passing on this task to another Player.
If they choose (2) they wait for the next section of the story to be spoken before then taking back the lead with ‘Eye Spy with my little eye something beginning with…’
Here is an example of the story
Player One…
‘Once upon a time, far way in the land of Clouds there lived an old and cheerful clown who had unexpectedly blown away on the North Wind a year or two ago. The Clown liked Cloud-land so had decided to stay.
Player Two…
Erica the Clown had always wanted to drive a bus but as she hadn’t learnt to drive this wasn’t possible before. However here in Cloud-land, instead of driving a bus she could instead drive on the back of a huge and imperious Eagle. The strange thing about Eagle was that she always loved wearing bright red wellies.
Player Three…
TIPS:
- There is no right and wrong way to tell a story!
- Don’t worry if the story is silly – I’ve found that the more you play the game the stronger everyone’s imagination becomes and the stories get better and clearer!
- Often, surprisingly, the more mundane the story the more interesting and satisfying it can be (not like the story above!!!).
- If you keep in mind what’s gone before you and reference back to characters, places and objects it makes the story more fun and enjoyable.
- Use of metaphor or simile is always fun… for example if the Eye Spy answer is ‘banana’, instead of being literal you could say ‘the sun was shining so brightly it was as yellow as a banana’.
- Have fun!