Story time is so magical as a child, so easy to get lost in a tale. My four year old especially loves when we tell stories, not just read them in books; it has always been part of our bedtime routine that she pick a character and theme and then we make up a story to go along with it. To expand on our storytelling I started looking into story stones. After reading more about them, I loved the idea that before children can fully verbalize or write their thoughts, they were still able to tell a story. I decided I was going to make a DIY set of story stones!
Our first set of stones I went with a fairytale theme. I included the following elements:
- Characters- Princess, Knight, Fairy Mermaid, Unicorn
- Setting- Castle, Water, Rainbow
- Conflict-Dragon, Potion
- Resolution- Magic Wand, Spell Book, Magic Beans
To say these were a hit would be an understatement, Lily absolutely adores the stones. I instantly started creating different sets. My original plan was to have each set stored individually but I then realized how fun the stories could become with various elements. I added space, medical, weather, and emotion themed sets to our basket of stones. I will tell you the basket is quite heavy but it keeps Lily entertained for so long.
How the stones work is pretty straight forward. We keep ours in a basket and if I am telling a story to the kids I enjoy picking a stone at random and making the story up as we go; Lily likes to hand select her stones and tell her story. An example of a story is written below this next photo.
Once there was a little girl with golden blonde hair that couldn’t wait to go to the beach, but suddenly it started to storm. Although the girl was disappointed, she decided to read a story. In the story there was a strong princess that went on an adventure following clues on a map to find a beautiful rainbow. When she arrived at the rainbow she met the friendliest dragon and went on more adventures with her new friend.
This is a great way to shake things up when children are having a hard time. The stones can be used to be silly or they can be used to express true feelings and frustrations. They are such a great resource to have in our playroom. How I made them was rather easy. I opted to use permanent markers versus paint. I knew I would have more control with a marker than I would a paintbrush. I do intend to seal these at some point but for now, I keep them away from my little guy so he does not put them in his mouth.
Whats Needed:
- Stones
- Permanent Markers
I opted to purchase my stones for the purpose to time. The set I used can be found here under the homeschool category.
How To:
- Decide on a theme
- Establish your character stones
- Establish your setting stones
- Establish conflict stones
- Establish resolution stones
- Draw each picture and play!
