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Reading is a good activity during this “stay at home” period, but if you want to bump that up a bit and try something creative, take the prompts below and encourage your kids to write and illustrate a story of their own.

You can try your hand at it, too. And then share with each other. Let the creativity delight you. There is no right or wrong. Fairies can fight dinosaurs. Sunny days can rain. The moon can wink goodnight.

Just go for it!

Prompt # 1 (beginner)

There was a mountain. And on the mountain were the regular things like trees, grass and a small creek. But inside the mountain...

Prompt # 2 (intermediate)

It all started with a group of friends who couldn’t think of what to do on a dull summer day. Until the storm blew in and the skies opened and the streets filled with water...

Prompt # 3 (advanced)

It’s 2020 not the 15th century. When I found it after the recent earthquake and cracks in the desert walls of Red Rock Canyon, I felt like I was drawn into some fantasy book.

I only went hiking there out of curiosity. Not because of any speculation of a news story. I work for a small town paper for goodness sake. Not a major publication and not a rag magazine!

And I’m not a great hiker, so I didn’t walk far from the road. I just wanted to take a few pictures of the cracks. They were rumored quite large.

The earthquake had been a magnitude 6.7 a few days before, substantial but not huge, with a normal amount of aftershocks. I couldn’t see a problem just driving out and taking a few photos. But after clicking some great shots, I saw it. Wedged but barely, in a huge crack in the wall hardly taller than my own head. I only had to reach up. It was shaped like an egg...

*The tradition of oral storytelling works well in a family setting. Though these prompts were created to write a story, they can just as easily be used to tell the stories aloud, and both young and old can be the storytellers.

Encourage family members to try their hand at moving the prompts forward. You can even take turns in the telling and see where the stories end up. Happy? Sad? Crazy? The imagination is an unlimited and useful tool.