How to make and use Story Stones

Instead of screens today, why not… use story stones to tell a tale?

We went on a rock hunt and found some smooth pebbles in the creek near our house. On the day we went hunting it was a wet day and the leeches were rampant! Eeek! Once those leeches started attaching, I didn’t feel quite so silly for carting our salt mill along with us. Yes, I took the whole salt mill because I couldn’t find a packet of ground salt… so picture me bush walking with a large salt mill in hand and you get the idea. Ah, the things we do.

See, finding your stones is obviously half the fun! Once you find some, here’s how to make some story stones for creative prompting.

How to make story stones

First up, we painted the creek pebbles with two coats of chalkboard paint and left them to dry.

Next you draw on some simple images that will act as prompts for stories. You could also paint the images on with acryllic paints, draw them on with pencils or even glue on pictures from magazines, but we like changing our pictures up so we use chalk. You can sharpen your chalk with a pallet knife to make it easier for the kids to draw.

Ideas for story stone images include:

• Weather – sun, rain, wind, clouds, snow
• People – mother, father, girl, boy, a baby, a cowboy hat, a crown, a stethoscope, a shoe
• Animals – pets, farm animals, zoo animals, wild animals, sea animals
• Transport – cars, buses, trucks, airplanes, construction vehicles
• Everyday items – a kite, a party hat, a cake, a clock, a knife and fork,  a comb, a book
• Nature – water, trees, mountains, river, flowers
• Emotions – happy face, sad face, angry eyes, puzzled frown, anxious face

Sure, depending on your or your kids’ level of artistic ability the kids might be have to guess what some of the pictures are, but surely that only adds to their creative education?

How to use story stones

If you have littles… Smaller kids will love drawing their own pictures on the stones using chalk and rubbing the design out to start again (probably with their tongue… look out!).

Littles might also like to use the story stones as a sorting game. Ask your child to sort the stones according to different things – by colour; putting people in one box, things in another; finding all the animals, etc.

If you have middles… Put the stones into a drawstring bag, a bucket, a box or a cup and take turns pulling out a stone. The image on the stone is your child’s prompt to tell a short story. Your child can select more than one stone to make the story more complicated.

Middles might also like to use the stones in their everyday play. Drawing lots of faces to play with in the dolls’ house or animals to join them on the farm. They could also draw groceries or money to play shops with or draw a domino design to play dominoes or matching pairs to play Memory.

If you have bigger kids… All of the above, plus your bigs can also tell a story as a team, with the first stone drawn by the first person being the prompt for the first sentence of the story and then the next stone being the prompt for the second sentence and so on. This gets quite funny and complicated!

Do your kids like to tell stories and do you set time aside to listen?Join in here:
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