Family story slam ideas for Halloween
We love a good story slam in our house! When we do this, it’s usually because our preschooler asks a zany question, and then Jonathan and I make up stories on the spot in response. Sometimes, we choose a theme and then the preschooler chooses a winner. Pretty soon, she’ll join the mix, I think! It’s a great dinner time activity and fun for car trips. Consider setting a timer if you have a rambler among you :)
Enjoy these Halloween-themed story slam starters:
Create origin stories for favorite Halloween candy. This could be a multi-night saga, with each family member taking a turn to choose a type of candy.
Task a child to choose a favorite piece of Halloween decoration from your house which storytellers must feature in a story. If you’re like us, our only decorations are pumpkins (though we did grown them in the back yard, which is cool!), 17,000 pieces of preschool art, and dust bunnies that we re-brand as “cobwebs” during October. Homemade decor probably has more personality anyway!
For a dinnertime story slam: storytellers turn the food on their plate into a scene and characters to play out a spooky story
Imagine that you started carving a pumpkin but found something unexpected inside that leads into a tale of adventure.
Imagine a dream someone might have after they eat too much candy on Halloween.
Create stories about the “one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater.” Bonus points if you listen to the song!
Listen to some creepy classical music, like Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” or Mussorgsky’s “The Night on Bald Mountain” and then make up stories that go with the music.
Set up an opening framework for a story with ideas from the whole family, mad-lib style. Create the proper number of blanks for those participating, and then each storyteller plays out the set up in different ways in turn. For example:
It was a dark and [type of weather] night, when a [Halloween creature] named [name] used his/her/their [superpower] to enter the [spooky place]. To his/her/their surprise, they found [a surprising thing]!
