Collaborative Storytelling with Wikki Stix

Wikki Stix are pieces of colored yarn dipped in wax.  They are pliable and sticky - great for making all sorts of creative things.  L and E (3) were very excited to discover Wikki Stix in one of their Preschool Activity Boxes yesterday, and set to work right away making all sorts of creations.  We ended up playing with them all morning, working together to make up stories and scenes that go along with them..

At first, L was interested in making letters, while E announced that she wanted to make "The World", and proceeded to make this map of the world:

She tried to make it round, like the earth, and added 'rivers' and 'rocks'.  With the amount of interest that E has shown lately in maps and geography, I should probably get her a globe soon.

Then, when L tried to make a circle and decided that it looks like a balloon, she added a string to it, and a new story started taking shape:

We worked on the scene together, as I asked L questions to elaborate on the story:  Where is the girl going with all those balloons?  How does she feel?  What will happen next?  etc.. etc..  The final story ended up being pretty creative - I wish I had written it down, because I don't remember all the details.

Then all three of us made an underwater scene:

It was a story about an octopus who was lonely because all the fish were scared of him so he had nobody to play with.  It was so much fun for all of us to work together on creating the scenes and making up stories.  My girls' don't need a lot of encouragement to use their imaginations and make up all sorts of interesting tales, but I really enjoyed collaborating with them on this.  The combination of creating artwork and telling a story at the same time is a wonderful dramatic play experience..