Suggested audience: 7–12

A story is waiting somewhere in this pile. Shuffle it into existence.

YOU NEED: Paper, scissors and three small bowls. TIME: 15–30 minutes.

Use the examples provided, or better yet, or come up with your own!

Make the cards below, keeping each category in its own bowl.

CHARACTERS: a dragon afraid of heights; a retired detective; a very polite ghost; a forgetful inventor; a runaway royal; a talking umbrella; a suspicious librarian; a tiny giant; a monster groomer; a student magician; a delivery rider; a cat with two names.

PLACES: a floating bakery; an abandoned train; a school after midnight; a miniature city; a forest of glass; a museum basement; a stormy lighthouse; a moving mountain; a rooftop garden; a deserted theme park; an underwater library; a village inside a clock.

TROUBLE: a parcel starts ticking; everyone forgets one word; the exits disappear; a stranger knows your secret; something hatches; a map changes; the sun refuses to rise; someone steals the ending; a wish goes wrong; a rival arrives; an object begins arguing; tomorrow happens twice.

Draw one card from each bowl. You may swap one. Decide: What does your character want? Why does the trouble make that difficult? Write the first scene.

Suggested audience: 7–17

You have five minutes. The universe has a vacancy. Make something to fill it.

YOU NEED: A pencil and paper. Pick one task; stop when the five minutes are up.

WHEN TIME IS UP: Circle the detail you like best. That detail can become the beginning of your next project. You do not need to finish a story today.

Suggested audience: 7–12

Bored? Excellent. There is room for something strange to happen.

YOU NEED: Paper, a pencil and a few safe household objects. Choose your available time.

FIVE MINUTES: THE WRONG LABEL

Choose an ordinary object and give it an extraordinary label. A spoon might become ‘Moon Sample Collector: Handle With Extreme Optimism’. Draw the warning label.

TEN MINUTES: THE POCKET WORLD

Draw a place small enough to fit in a matchbox. Add a home, a danger and a transport system. Who carries this world around?

FIFTEEN MINUTES: THE SECRET RECEIPT

Write a shopping receipt from a suspicious shop. Include five items, their prices and a message hidden among them.

TWENTY MINUTES: THE UNQUALIFIED EXPERT

Invent an expert in something ridiculous. Interview them with these questions: What do you study? What mistake do beginners make? What is your proudest discovery?

THIRTY MINUTES: THE OBJECT ADVENTURE

Choose three objects. One belongs to your hero, one is the problem and one might help. Arrange them as a scene. Tell, perform, draw or write what happens.

WITH A FRIEND: THE SWITCH

Each person draws a door, then swaps papers. Draw what lies behind the other person’s door. Together, decide why it was locked.

Suggested audience: 8–17

The best way to find a story might be to ask a question the world cannot answer yet.

Example questions: __________________________________________________

1. What if your shadow turned evil?
2. What if dragons collected humans?
3. What if one classroom door led to yesterday?
4. What if your lunch knew the future?
5. What if the sea returned everything it had swallowed?

BUILD YOUR OWN: What if [ordinary thing] could [unexpected action]?

Now answer: Who notices first? What do they want? Who benefits? What becomes harder? Write the moment the change first causes trouble. Ten minutes is enough to begin.

Suggested audience: 7–12

Ordinary objects have excellent disguises. Yours is about to lose its disguise.

YOU NEED: One safe household object, paper and a pencil. TIME: 15–25 minutes.

Choose an object. Look closely before inventing anything. Note three real details: a scratch, a colour, a shape, a missing part.

Complete its secret record: __________________________________________________

OBJECT NAME: __________________________________________________

WHAT PEOPLE THINK IT IS: __________________________________________________

WHAT IT REALLY DOES: __________________________________________________

HOW ITS POWER IS ACTIVATED: __________________________________________________

ONE LIMIT OR COST: __________________________________________________

PREVIOUS OWNER: __________________________________________________

WHY THEY LOST IT: __________________________________________________

Now put the object into a scene. Your character discovers its power while trying to do something ordinary. What mistake reveals the secret? Who else notices?

KEEP GOING: Someone arrives claiming to be the rightful owner. Give them convincing evidence and one detail that makes your character suspicious.

Suggested audience: 10–17

Here is the final line. Your job is to discover how anybody got there.

YOU NEED: Paper and a pencil. TIME: 20–40 minutes.

Choose an ending from the list of examples below… or better yet, make up your own!

1. At sunrise, the city remembered us.
2. This time, she left the door open.
3. The crown made an excellent flowerpot.
4. He finally understood why the map was blank.
5. We agreed never to teach the toaster another word.

Work backwards: __________________________________________________

What happens immediately before this line?

What choice causes that event?

Why is the choice difficult?

What does the character believe at the start?

EXAMPLE: ‘The crown made an excellent flowerpot’ could end a story about a royal who chooses gardening over ruling… or a revolution led by plants.