A story in a bag activity is great for young kids to develop early literacy skills. It is also a great way to connect with your kiddo and have some Halloween fun by adding a “spooky story” twist.
You can do this with toys and everyday items in your house and simply “ping-pong” a tale back-and-forth with your child and create a fun spooky tale together for as long as they are interested. Some kids, may just want to explore the objects themselves and play- and that’s OK too! There’s no set rules!
Here is how we approached it:
I decorated a trick-or-treat bag from last season using my Cricut machine so it said “spooky stories” but if you want to add another layer to this activity, you could even decorate paper grocery sacks, or a lunch sack together to make your own spooky story bag.
I simply collected some random toys and found objects, a rock, some Halloween scrapbooking paper clippings, our spooky finger family figures, a ball, a block, etc.
Next, sit with your child and let them explore what’s in the bag!
You can talk about the objects, the shapes, colors, and how the items feels to build their descriptive vacabulary bank!
Now, start making up a story and see where it leads. Your child will catch on – for example, I started with “Once upon a time, there was a witch who lived all alone on a haunted pink mountain…” my kiddo was interested in the ice cream toy and one point so we declared that the witch spent her days making magic pink ice cream…she never was brave enough to make friends because she was scared of the evil spider monster who lived nearby so she spend her days perfecting her treat, but wished she could share it with the monsters in town….(not super creative but we tried! LOL).
Let your child go where they want with the story, and for older kids you can even write it down or create a Mad Lib/fill-in-the-blank tale and use the objects to tell that story!
I hope this idea sparks some creativity and Halloween magic for your family this season.
Stay spooky,
Callie Jo
Halloween Head 