Words & stories
Once upon a time
- Builds: Telling stories in order
- 15 min
- Ages 4–6
- Calm
- No mess
From the house
- A favorite toy to be the hero (optional)
How to play
- Choose a hero together: a toy, an animal or a made-up creature with a name.
- You start each part and they finish it: “Once upon a time there was…”, then “Every day, they…”
- Then say, “Until one day…” and let them decide what surprising or tricky thing happened.
- Finish with “Because of that…” and “Until finally…”, then tell the whole story back from the start.
Fit it to your child
- Easier: Tell most of it yourself and pause for them to fill in one thing, like who the hero is or what went wrong.
- Harder: Take turns line by line, then they draw the story in four boxes on a sheet of paper.
Words to use
- once upon a time
- every day
- until one day
- because of that
- until finally
Why it helps
A simple story shape gives them a beginning, middle and end, and telling it in order is the same skill they’ll use to retell and later write stories.