This is a fun writing activity to do with a group of students to help get their creative juices flowing. You provide them with part of the first line of a story, and the students take it from there!

Here’s what you do:

1. Have each student take out a piece of notebook paper. 

2. Fold the paper in half vertically. 

3. Fold it in half vertically again. Unfold the paper. The paper will be evenly divided into four rectangles. 

4. Choose a story starter for the students to use. It could be something like:

Once upon a time, there was an evil queen who…

One day, a farmer decided to buy….

The little boy wondered if…

The fox crept into the hen house and…

5. Have the students write the sentence starter in the first rectangle. Give them a minute or two to finish the sentence. 

6. Students then pass their paper to the person on the right. The students then write the next sentence of the story in the second rectangle. They’ll need a little more time, as they have to read the first sentence and go from there. 

7. Pass the papers again. Students write the third sentence of the story in the third rectangle. Continue in the same way for the fourth rectangle. Each time they will need a little more time, as they have to read the story before they can write their sentence. 

8. If you have enough time, flip the paper over. Continue for rectangles 5-7. 

9. In the last rectangle, the students must think of a way to end the story. 

10. Collect the stories and read them out loud. 🙂 

My class used the starter: A man walked into a bank, and…

Here are some of the stories they came up with:

A man walked into a bank and…he got money…out of the bank and someone ran into him and…landed in a hug. 

A man walked into a bank and…pulled out a gun and yelled…”Where’s the chicken?” …They said, “We have no chickens.” 

A man walked into a bank and…put a check in the bank, turned around, and…ran into the closed door….Bam! He hit the floor.