Story Games For Kids and Families

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Stories influence and shape us, they also help us make sense of our lives and the world in which we live.

Most of the time we think of story as something that we read or hear. But, it’s important to remember that story is also something that we create and say out loud.

Building the storytelling muscles in our kids provides a meaningful way for children to build literacy skills, stretch their imaginations, and make sense out of their realities.

Storytelling games provide prompts to get kids started with this. Whether or not you write down the stories you invent, any storytelling practice is great. What’s more, you don’t have to read or write to make up a story. (So, younger kids and English language learners can participate.)

Story Games

Story Box: Create Your Own Fairy Tales

This 8-foot long fairytale puzzle gives young storytellers interchangeable ideas for a fantasy story. There are 20 double sided cards illustrated with characters like a princess, a witch, gnomes, and a king. Plot ideas include a picnic, a scooter ride in the forest, riding on a broomstick, the king falling in love with the witch, and lots more.

Story Box Puzzle for Kids

My kids enjoyed building a story using the Story Box puzzle — even arguing about what should happen. (I loved watching their story building decision making!)

Although it’s limited in plot and characters, the Story Box provides a fun way for kids to get interested in storytelling, particularly if they want to create fairy tales.

Story Box- Create Your Own Fairy Tales Puzzle Game

And, if you love your story, write it DOWN after it’s built! Use sticky notes under the puzzle pieces. Or, write it in a homemade book.

storytelling puzzle Story Box

Story Dice

Story Dice are (portable) dice prompts and games for storytelling. Each box includes nine illustrated wooden dice around three themes: space travel, pirates, and fairy tales.

Roll the dice and use the illustrations to invent your own tale.

To play the storytelling game, add the red die for special powers or talents.

Make the game harder by requiring that you tell the story in the order of the rolled dice. Make the game sillier by passing the story from one player to the next.

Roll a story with a Story Dice Game

These reminded us of other illustrated dice, most notably the Rory’s Story Cubes which we also own and the Story Time Dice which we own, too.

DIFFERENCES:
Materials: These are made of wood. Rory’s and Story Time are plastic.

Content: These dice have specific subject themes (space, fairy tale, pirates).

Rory’s also has themes but mostly as expansion sets but does have “Actions” and “Voyages” which are each 9 dice. Specific expansion themes such as “Intergalactic” and “Crime” cubes can be added to other sets or used as a smaller (only 3 in a set) game. However, the basic Rory’s set and the basic Story Time are generalized topics.

Story Time Dice include 12 heroes, 10 villains, 6 setting, 20 tools and 8 vehicles.

Illustrations: The illustrations are all basic — because what else would fit on a die? I like how the drawings are easy to recognize — you don’t have to look up what the symbol is in the booklet which I had to do with Rory’s. The least appealing illustrations to me are the Story Time illustrations because they seemed more blurry.

Space Travel 

Space Travel Dice

Roll a tale with space-themed ideas such as: robot, rocket, alien, time travel, eclipse, clones, flying saucers, cyborgs, and more.

story dice game for kids and families


Pirate Adventure 

Pirate Adventure Dice

Roll an adventure that has sea monsters, mermaids, parrots, messages in bottles, maps, or a buried treasure!


Magic and Fairy-Tale 

Magic and Fairy Tale Dice

Once upon a time there was a pumpkin, knight, magic potion, black cat, or . . . ? Will your story be happily ever after?

story dice fairy tale and magic game

The best part about the dice is that they’re SO easy to use on the go — the car, trips, restaurants, anywhere.

I’m all for anything that inspires kids to use their imaginations. These games will do that.

Help your child build vocabulary and understanding of story elements (beginning, middle, end, conflict, details) as you support them by modeling how YOU make up a narrative.

Happy storytelling!

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