For teachers
Storytelling games for the classroom, silly on purpose, with a point.
A good classroom story game hides a writing lesson inside a game. Pupils laugh, but they also have to link sentences, choose words and steer a plot.
Here are eight games for roughly ages 6 to 13 (KS1 to KS3, grades 1 to 8). Each one names the writing skill it practises and how long it takes. All of them work on paper; some also work on a projector.
Eight games, each with a focus
Story chain: beyond “and then”
Focus: cohesion and connectives. Time: 15 minutes. Each table adds one sentence to a class story on the board, but “and then” is banned. Give a word bank: meanwhile, suddenly, after that, luckily, by the time.
Start with The chocolate cake vanished from the bakery window at 4:15 p.m., and the only clue was a single blue feather.
Fold-and-pass
Focus: reading for meaning, following on. Time: 20 minutes. Groups of 4 to 6 share a sheet with an opener at the top. Each pupil writes a line, then folds it so only their line shows. Read them aloud at the end. This is the classroom version of exquisite corpse.
Start with Every Thursday at midnight, someone sneaks into the town museum and polishes the dinosaur. Nobody knows who.
Show, don’t tell relay
Focus: descriptive writing. Time: 20 minutes. Give a “telling” line, such as “The house was scary.” Each pupil adds a sentence that shows it instead: a sound, a smell, a detail. No feeling words allowed.
Start with At 3:07 a.m., the grandfather clock struck thirteen, and the portrait on the stairs blinked.
Genre switch
Focus: genre conventions and tone. Time: 25 minutes. Halfway through a story chain, reveal a new genre card: news report, fairy tale, sports commentary. The next writer keeps the plot but changes the style. Discuss what changed.
Start with MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM DEEP SPACE: “Hello, Earth. We are coming to visit on Thursday. Please tidy up.”
Secret word challenge
Focus: vocabulary in context. Time: 15 minutes. Each pupil gets a secret word on a slip. They must use it naturally. The class guesses who had which word. Use topic vocabulary to revise a unit.
Start with Secret words: clue, alibi, witness, motive, footprint, disguise.
Fortunately, unfortunately
Focus: cause and effect, sentence openers. Time: 10 minutes. A quick warm-up. Alternate lines starting “Fortunately” and “Unfortunately”. Works well with EAL learners. Starters.
Start with Captain Mei unrolled the treasure map, and the X began to wriggle slowly away across the paper.
Story mountain twist
Focus: structure (opening, problem, build-up, climax, resolution). Time: 30 minutes. Play a chain story, then map it onto a story mountain. Where did the problem start? Was there a climax? Play again and steer on purpose.
Start with The superhero academy had one entrance test: rescue a cat from a tree without upsetting the cat.
Read it like you mean it
Focus: speaking and listening, performance. Time: 20 minutes. Groups rehearse their finished chain story, then perform it with pace, volume and pauses. Compare a flat reading with an expressive one.
Start with Ship’s log, day 41: still no land in sight, still no treasure, and the ship’s cat has been promoted to first mate.
How to run it without chaos
- Agree the rules. Lines must be kind, no real names of people in the room, and your line must follow on from the one you can see.
- Read the opener together. Read the first line aloud with drama. It sets the tone for the whole story.
- Keep turns short and visible. Use a fixed order (table 1, table 2…) and a timer: about 90 seconds a line for ages 6 to 8, 60 seconds for older pupils.
- Add one twist at a time. Start with a gentle twist such as a secret word. Add genre switches or villains once the class knows the game.
- Save the reveal for the end. Read the whole story aloud, then vote for the best line with a show of hands. Ask voters why it worked.
- Turn it into writing. Pick one group story and edit it together: fix the links, improve three words, add an ending.
Handling silly lines
- Expect silliness. It is the hook. Channel it: “Funny is great. Funny and connected is even better.”
- If a line ignores the one before, ask the class: “Does this follow on? Which word links it?” A derail becomes a lesson on cohesion.
- If a line is unkind, fold it under (paper) or fix it before sharing, and have a quiet word later.
- Let pupils who find writing hard dictate to a partner. Everyone still hears the finished story.
Openers that suit most classes
- The ship’s parrot had been silent for twenty years. This morning it cleared its throat and said, “Don’t trust the cook.”
- Ship’s log, day 41: still no land in sight, still no treasure, and the ship’s cat has been promoted to first mate.
- A bottle washed up on the beach with a message curled inside: “Help! I am stuck inside a bottle.”
- Captain Drizzle could make it rain, but only on herself, and only when she was already running late.
- The city was in danger, the sky was full of giant bubbles, and the only hero available was Grandpa Bao in his dressing gown.
- “Never fear!” cried the Marvellous Mop, landing on the roof. Then he realised he had forgotten what his power was.
Questions
What age are these storytelling games for?
Roughly 6 to 13. For ages 6 to 8, use spoken games and let a grown-up scribe. From about 9, pupils can write on fold-and-pass sheets and handle twists like genre switches.
Do I need devices?
No. Every game on this page works on paper or out loud. Taletoss adds a projector mode and a read-aloud reveal if you have one screen.
Which writing skills do story chain games practise?
Mostly cohesion: linking each sentence to the last with connectives and time phrases. With twists you can also target description, dialogue, genre and story structure.
How do I stop it getting out of hand?
Agree the rules first, keep turns short and timed, and use a fixed order. Praise lines that are funny and connected, so the class learns that the best laughs come from good writing.