Finish The Story Game: Game Tips & Story Prompts
The Finish the story Game is a great way to encourage reluctant writers. Whether it’s down to laziness or just the lack of inspiration, these finish the story game prompts are a great source of inspiration. You can even take this fun activity one step further, by turning it into a multiplayer game for your students. When used in the classroom, this is a great writing game to improve your student’s creativity, teamwork, communication and writing skills. This makes it a fun activity for students in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade.
Looking for more fun game ideas? Check out or would you rather questions game.
Finish the Story Game: How To Play
The Finish the story game is a fun group activity which develops each player’s storytelling skills. This game is best played between 2 to 8 players. The aim of the game is to create a complete story as a team. Going around in a circle each player will contribute one sentence to the story.
Here are some step-by-step instructions on how to play the game:
- Gather your players into a circle on the floor or around a table.
- Person one (this could be the teacher), starts off the story.
- Person two continues the story by saying the next sentence.
- Person three carries the story on and so on.
- Depending on the size of the group each player may have between 2 to 5 goes each.
- When the story is coming to an end, the last player says the ending sentence.
Finish the Story Game Rules & Tips
There are not many rules in this game, as the goal of this game is to expand your child’s imagination. However, there are some tips to make sure the game goes smoothly:
- You need at least two players in the game
- Players must finish the previous sentence off and then start off a new sentence.
- The game can be as long as you like or as short as you like.
- Make sure you go around the circle, so each player has equal turns.
- You can appoint someone has the game moderator (i.e. the teacher). Their job could be to write the story down as the players are speaking to keep a record of it.
- The game moderator could also start the story off, as younger players may struggle to start.
- To make the game more challenging for older players, you might want to set a time limit or a limit on how many turns each player has.
- You could also make the game more challenging by introducing ‘special words’ that the players must use in their sentences.
- If players are a little shy or if you’re looking to improve writing skills, you can use a paper and pen in this game instead of saying the sentences out loud.
Feel free to experiment and customise the game in any way you like to suit your player’s abilities and writing level.
Finish the Story Example Game
Here’s an example of the finish the story game in practice, played between three players:
Player 1: As the rain poured, I walked to…
Player 2: School. Here I saw…
Player 3: An alien. He was…
Player 1: Dancing. So I asked him…
Player 2: What are you doing here? He replied…
Player 3: I’m here to eat you all! I ran…
Player 1: To my mom’s house. And shouted…
Player 2: Mom, where’s my lunch? She said…
Player 3: Your lunch is at school. So I walked…
Player 1: To school. And found…
Player 2: The alien had my lunch. However…
Player 3: That alien was my dad. And then…
Player 1: We laughed. My dad called me a…
Player 2: Silly snail. And he…
Player 3: hugged me. The end.
In this example game, each player had 5 turns and then finished their game. Remember you can finish your story in any amount of turns you like!
Finish the Story Game Prompts & Ideas
Need inspiration for your story? Here are some story starters and first-line prompts that you can use in the finish the story game or as stand-alone activities.
Finish the story: 3rd Grade Ideas
Finish the story ideas for 3rd-grade students:
- You hear a knock on the door and…
- You find a monster hiding in your cupboard and…
- Walking down the street, you find something…
- You receive a letter from…
- It’s your mom’s birthday today and you…
Prompts for 4th Grade
Finish the story ideas for 4th-grade students:
- On your way to school, something strange happens…
- You find one million dollars and…
- After getting stuck in the basement, you notice…
- You grow 10 inches every day and…
- You break the world record for…
Prompts for 5th Grade
Finish the story ideas for 5th-grade students:
- You time-travel to the year 3000 and…
- As you walk around town, you notice something strange…
- You invent something new and…
- After a bad day, you mistakenly create a cure for…
- While reading a book, you realise…
Looking for more story starters for the finish the story game? We recommend 101 story starters for little kids book (Amazon Affiliate link). This book contains a range of quick and easy story starters, which are great fun for the whole family:
For older children, you might be interested in the 101 story starters for kids book (Amazon Affiliate link). This book contains a brilliant range of quick and easy prompts to start your story. A great way to inspire the most reluctant storyteller out there:
Finish the story is a great game to play indoors or outdoors with family and friends. If you enjoyed playing this game, then why not try playing telephone Pictionary? Another great writing game to improve your child’s creativity and storytelling skills.
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