I Recommend Tell Tale

I love an inexpensive resource that has amazing power for people of many ages in a variety of situations.  I just discovered such a game a few months ago.

This game is Tell Tale, and it's from the company Blue Orange Games.  It's a great story telling game that fosters creativity, thinking, and self expression.  It's a deck of 60 2 sided round cards with simple pictures on each side.  It's about $12.

My son, who just turned 4, loves this game.  My 4th graders love this game.  There are many, many ways to play.  For my son, we give him 4 cards, and he makes up a story.  It's so stinking cute, I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

At school I have the whole class stand in a circle, and we just keep adding to a big story.  Sometimes I pass out cards to everyone, and sometimes we just pass the whole deck to one person at a time, who takes the card on top and adds to the story.  (Honestly, at first I could not believe how bad they were at this game, but they quickly improved.)  It's a great oral writing experience.

I'd like to think that in my little corner of the world I'm keeping the art of storytelling alive!