We’ve recently become fans of the Story Pirates Podcast.
They are a group that takes stories written and sent in by elementary students, and then retells and dramatizes them. The group always reads the original story first (and it is typically just hilarious on its own), and then they use voice acting, music and sound effects to tell the story.
They embellish details as well and pretty much end up with a radio play. The stories are funny and well done and our whole family enjoys listening to them.
The tall one and I have recently discussed how funny it would be to do our own dramatization of one of our own kids’ stories. While the boy one can write his own stories independently, the girl one would need to dictate to us and have us write it down.
I’ve also just downloaded a speech to text app for the iPad so that the kids can tell stories and have them saved in written form on their device.
In the age of smart phones and tablets, we have so many resources at our fingertips to use creatively to record and keep things. Apps like Garage Band and Take will allow you to voice record and also add layers such as music or sound effects to enhance your story. If that feels overwhelming, you can just straight up use a voice memo to record it.
We have made our kids’ stories into photo illustrated hardcover books before, and they are some of my favourite keepsakes. I love that the girl one’s random Lego block character with an eye name Marco Bits is a well-known name in our household. We read their books often and cackle laugh at them.
Dramatizing your kid’s story is a really fun way to all engage in story telling as a family, and allows for your child’s creativity to reign. I know I too often impose my own ideas and so I appreciate that they plot is left up to them and we just get to come in and make it a funny production.
