Kids Corner: A Game of Telephone for creative writing

What’s a game of Telephone? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Telephone is like the game “Chinese Whispers”. The idea is that someone has a message, they pass this message on to the next player in secret, then the next player passes the message on to the next player, and so on. At the end the players compare the first and last messages to see how much they have changed. How does this work with creative writing? Let’s have a look:

1.       Get a group of players and organise an order that the story will be passed on in.

2.       The first player writes a short story (Under 3 minutes) and records themselves reading it out loud.

3.       Player one sends the story to player 2.

4.       Player 2 listens to, or watches a video of, the story from player 1. No notes are taken, and player 2 can only watch or listen once!

5.       Player 2 records a video or audio of themselves telling what they can remember of the story they just heard to player 3.

6.       This continues until the last person in the chain.

7.       Everyone gets together with the last person in the chain, and they watch the video recorded by the first and last players.

8.       You can also watch all the videos together to see how much the story changed as it got passed along the chain.

How much of the original story remains? This is usually quite a funny process, as people will forget a lot, and often make things up!

How can this help you improve your story writing? The better the story, the more impactful the writing. The more impactful the writing, the more people will remember of your story. Sharing your stories with friends gives you opportunities for good feedback! You can also practice writing in different styles. Each time you start a new game, try setting a specific theme that player one has to write in.

As a bonus, this is a totally safe and an easy game to play with friends during lockdown. Give it a go! Dress up or put on a funny accent!