[Long time, no post, right? Well, finishing a PhD has a way of taking up a lot of free time - not that having three young kids really affords any. The good news is that I successfully finished my PhD. However, I still have papers to write (long story), so I'm back in the SAHD gig until we can afford otherwise. Anyhow, I'm giving blogging another try. So, without further ado...]
For Christmas our kids received Rory’s Story Cubes. They’re dice with pictures on them that “players” use to prompt the creation on imaginative stories. Here’s the official blurb describing them:
“Originally developed as a creative problem solving tool, Rory’s Story Cubes uses story metaphor to draw out insights. It works because the brain thinks in pictures and will make lateral connections between the images and the question you are working on.
“Roll all 9 Cubes. Begin with ‘Once Upon a Time’ and tell a story that links together all 9 face-up images. Start with the first symbol to grab your attention. There is no wrong answer, the goal is to let the images spark your imagination.
“The non-competitive nature of the game has made it popular with all ages and great for playing between generations. Also popular with Trainers, Therapists, Life Coaches, Teachers, Illustrators, Drama Students and more.
Tonight we played with them the first time.I thought folks might be amused by the results. 
For those who need a reminder, Alex is 5, Joel is 4, and Lily is very nearly 3. Here are the transcripts of the stories my kids told. My wife recorded them as faithfully as possible, grammar mistakes and all. I retained most of the full stops as such, but I changed a few to commas for ease of reading.
Round 1
Alex: “There once was a man. And he always has eyeballs. And he said, “Guess what!”. And he saw a flower. And then he looked for some more.”
Lily: “He looked for the apple, and then he wanted to talk on the phone, and it was ringing the door. And then the sheep wanted to get the phone and “No!”, because the sheep wanted the moon. The end.”
Round 2
Alex: “There once was a man who turned on the light and had a flashlight, but he did not use it because it was not dark. And he wanted to talk on the phone, but he wasn’t allowed to because nobody was at home. And it was spooky. And there was a monster behind him. And there was a sheep that walked in the middle of the night.”
Joel: “There was an old man that wanted to drink some water, but his parents said, “No!”. And there he just did something wrong with the lightswitch, and he turned it off and on and off and on. He went into a castle where a giant was, and a beanstalk, and a castle was on top of it. And he hid in a fireplace, and he went out of the castle, and got an awe, and it hit the beanstalk. The end.”
Round 3
Alex: “There was an old man who looked at the time, and it was eight o’clock. And he was in a wheelchair. And then the earth started to rumble. And there was a monster behind him. And he had a cane, and walked in the middle of the night. The end.”
Round 4
Joel: “A sleeping head and two guys that are babies – they just fighted, and the big dad said “Stop fighting!”. And then a ball came and shooted out of the bridge, and then bonked him on the nose. And then a tree started falling down and breaking the bridge and ball from falling over. The End”
Round 5
Alex: “There was once a turtle who had a cane. And there was an arrow who shot his shell. And then he saw a tree. And then he saw a flower. The end.”
Round 6
Alex: “The was once a sad man, who couldn’t do magic. Inside he saw a sheep. And he had a dice at home. And he had a cane. And he turned off the light in the theater. He saw a tree inside. And he saw a fish. And he saw an airplane inside. The end.”
Round 7
Alex: “Once upon a time, there was a giant that lived in a castlend, and there was some lightning outside the castle, and there was a fountain next to the castle. To the door of the castle there was a magic keyhole, and inside he had some sheep, and there was only two. And the giant ate an apple. And he can do magic. And he lived in a type of house. And there was a turtle walking in the night. The end.”
