Progressive Stories

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Progressive Stories are a fun and entertaining way to get children interested and excited about story-telling, and therefore, reading. This is a great game for any size group. Whether your children are home playing with their siblings, or playing with one best friend, or having a party, this game can be a lot of fun.

One child begins the story like any other story - they think of something that might happen to someone. They tell one sentence of the story. The next child then needs to continue the story by adding their own sentence. This continues until the child who began the story decides that the story is complete, and states, "The end." That person can end the story after any of the children have completed their sentence. The next child would then start a new story.

Progressive stories are great for children learning to read because it teaches them listening skills. It also helps children express their creative ideas.

Children may also enjoy recording their progressive story so they can write it down and illustrate the story they have created together.

There are a few fun variations of this game. "Fortunately, Unfortunately" is one of these games. This is played in the same way. The first person starts with one sentence of their own story. The next person must start with the word "unfortunately" for their part of the story. Their job is to think up a complication in the story. The next person must start with the word "fortunately," and they must think of a way to solve the problem, but also keep the story going.

Another variation is the alphabet story. Again, one person begins the story with a sentence in which the first word begins with the letter "A." The next person adds their own sentence, the first word beginning with the letter "B." The next child has "C," etc. This can be very fun even if it does get a little difficult at the end of the alphabet.

The trick to any of these progressive stories is to keep the story going! Long pauses tend to make the game a bit tedious. Try to encourage kids to think on their feet and add the next sentence quickly without worrying about what they say. A fast-paced game is just more fun!