Teachers (4)

I produce a selection of fluffy toys, usually including a gorilla, a teddy bear, a lion and an octopus.

"I'll start the story."

"Teddy is going for a walk in the woods, and he falls down and hurts himself" (Teddy, walking on my knee, falls on his face)

"What happens next?"

From the volley of suggestions I usually take "Someone comes and finds him"

"Who?"

"The Gorilla"

"Teddy's really quite ill, so what does Gorilla do?"

"Takes him to hospital"
Gorilla picks up Teddy and goes to the hospital.

"What happens when he gets there?"

"The nurse puts him to bed"

"Who is the nurse?"

"The Lion"
Lion now tucks Teddy up in bed.

"What now?"

"The doctor comes"

"Who is the doctor?"

"The Octopus"

"What does the doctor do?"

"Feels his pulse, sounds his chest, looks at his eyes, looks in his mouth, etc"
Octopus manages to do all of these things at once, and Teddy gets thrown about rather a lot.

"What does the doctor ask the nurse to do?"

Someone always says "Give him an injection"
A pencil is produced, and nurse takes a run at teddy and stabs him with it.

The effect is miraculous, with Teddy leaping out of bed and running frantically backwards and forwards, dancing and turning somersaults. The children fall about with laughter (sometimes teachers too).

"Now get into your groups. Choose four fluffy toys, and make up a story"

If there are enough toys for each group to have some I share them out and let the children play with them for a couple of minutes.

Stories begin to emerge without the need for any more prompting.

If there aren't enough toys, they must pretend.

Released from the constraints of writing, the children often produce exciting stories. At first these are derivative, copies of tales they know or which I've told them, but soon they begin to revel in the fact that there are no rules or limits.

© Bob Wilkins 1998