Circle storytelling

Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.

Share in a story

This activity works really well around a campfire, or as a chance to calm down after an exciting activity.

Everyone should sit in a circle.
Someone should begin to tell a story with a short phrase.

The next person in the circle should continue the story by adding a short phrase, for example ‘I saw a big green monster, who’.
The story should keep moving around the circle and everyone should take it in turns to add a phrase.
Once the story is long enough, the last person should add an ending, for example ‘then we went home for tea’.

Reflection

This activity needed everyone to get imaginative and communicate with others. How did everyone make sure that everyone else understood their phrase? Perhaps people made sure to speak (or sign) slowly and clearly, or repeated their phrase for anyone who missed it. People needed to keep going to keep the story building – it can be tricky to keep focusing and thinking of new ideas. How did people think of their ideas? Sharing ideas with others often helps to spark ideas; it’s a brilliant way to be creative.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.