At Wyldwood Arts, we often work with storytellers in schools and care homes to help people build new friendships through sharing stories. Some of the very best stories are true life stories - they are based on things that really happened to us and events that changed us in some way.

But sharing stories can be hard. We can sit next to someone every day for a year, talking about the weather or what's on the news, and still not have even scraped the surface of the amazing life they have had!

So to help you get those wonderful stories flowing, here is a fun activity that can be done in classrooms, care home and living rooms.

How it works:

• Gather some friends and family together, online or in person.

• Click on the teapot picture below, watch it shake and see what story idea it gives you.

• The activity leader reads out the story prompt from the teapot and asks if it inspires anyone to tell a story from their life.

• After a story has been told it’s nice to see if anyone else has a story that’s bubbled up for them, if so, make time for all the stories to be heard.

• Continue with the prompts until everyone has told a story, or there are none left or you’re all gasping for a cuppa.

Storytelling Tips

Take your time with the story, it can be long or short, sad or happy, serious or amusing. Don’t worry if you think the story that comes to mind isn’t interesting enough, tell it anyway and you’ll be surprised at how many other people can relate to it.

by Adam Blake