During this last camping trip with my family, we brought along Molly's reading flashcards. We wanted to give Molly a jumpstart on the new school year. The cards had the word (bread) on one side, a picture (a loaf of bread) on the other side. Perfect for turning a writing game into a laughter-filled family game!

The writing game is simple: open a dictionary at random and choose five (or more) words to work into a short story.

The family game (we used flash cards, but you could use a dictionary) worked like this:

Everyone picked two cards from the deck, and in round-robin fashion, we each contributed portions of a story, using one card each 'round.'

(See end notes for other ideas on how to play the game!)

Contributed words are underlined and each change in speaker is identified by:

* for Molly # for Matthew % for Dustin + for Eddie = for Jenny

When Sara met George by The Turner Family

*The hat sat on a store shelf. A girl, named Sara, tried the hat on. She thought the hat looked beautiful on her. #Sara bought the hat and went out into the stormy night where she met a boy named George Washington. The boy had a mitten which held all mystical powers. The girls hat blew off and the boy used his powers to get it back for her.

%But, the mitten's magic had a side effect. Every time he uses the magic of the mitten, he creates an evil monkey. George has to catch the monkeys, but he can't do it alone. So he asked Sara, "Could you help get rid of all the monkeys?"

= Sara got so mad, she started to yell until her face turned purple. "You crazy boy. Don't you know there's a storm brewin' here? I can't get my new hat soakin' wet chasin' evil monkeys!"

George said, "I really need your help. So here's what I'll do, but I don't think you'll be happy." He used his mystical mitten to stop the storm, which was such BIG magic, tons of evil monkey's fell from the sky.

+Sara said, "I got a little bit of magic too. So she reached into her purse and pulled out a little purple bag. She pulled out a handful of powder and blew it into the air as she said an incantation.

A thousand ninja squirrels sat on every tree branch. She screamed, "Kill the monkeys!"

*They got in a van and drove away. Sara yelled, "Watch out!" to the squirrels. She ran over monkeys until the windshield was loaded with monkey faces and she couldn't see. Sara pulled out her magic purple bag and used more powder to wish the van clean. Miraculously, it sparkled like new.

#Sara's dress turned to pants and they boy said, "So you can run faster." Then George used his mystical mitten to set all the evil monkey's on fire. The evil monkey's jumped off a cliff and shouted, "Weeee………"

%The ninja squirrels, with nothing to do, turned and stared at Sara and George. They gave big giant smiles, then disappeared. Just as the last squirrel vanished, the monkey's were back. They came up with a big, giant airplane. But they flew it dangerously, doing loopedy-loops, cutting the engine on and off, and Sara and George figured the monkey's would blow themselves up. Until the plane aimed straight for the van.

George looked at Sara and said, "You might want to think about RUNNING!"

=Sara and George barely got away before the van exploded in a red fiery ball. Evil monkey's rained down around them, some were chunky, but many were angry.

+Sara reached into her bag, blew more powder, and a herd of ninja elephants came running out with swords and nunchucks. Evil monkey parts went flying everywhere. It was a massacre and all the evil monkeys were destroyed.

And that is how Sara and George met.

~Finis~

This game could be played in a thousand different ways for as many different occasions. Jot down theme-specific words for a baby or wedding shower, graduation, birthday, or retirement party, holiday dinners, or simple get-togethers with friends. Put them in a 'hat' and have everyone choose a word (two, if the group is small) and then in round-robin fashion, have everyone contribute. When the story is complete, create keepsake copies for everyone!

Our Molly (Ninja Squirrels Nest?)



Our Matthew (Dreaming of Ninja Elephants?)



Our Dustin (We don' need no stinkin' Monkeys!)

© Jennifer Turner, 2005