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It is fun and creative. There are numerous ways of using this creative technique.

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Story telling: the language teacher's oldest technique

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In this article Mario Rinvolucri explores a range of story telling techniques that he uses in the classroom and gives some insights into why these techniques are effective.

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this game activity is fascinating.

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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.
Table of Contents Finish the Story Game Prompts & Ideas
Finish the Story Game: How To Play
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:

1. Gather your players into a circle on the floor or around a table.

2. Person one (this could be the teacher), starts off the story.

3. Person two continues the story by saying the next sentence.

4. Person three carries the story on and so on.

5. Depending on the size of the group each player may have between 2 to 5 goes each.

6. 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 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:

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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:

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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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Finish The Story Game: How To Play + 15 Story Prompts | Imagine Forest

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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.

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Students adore fun games.

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by Claudia Pesce 232,829 views

Our students can always use some extra speaking practice, after all, it's most likely the main reason they signed up for the course: they need to speak English in real life situations. But what they enjoy the most is playing games. So, let's kill the proverbial two birds with one stone, and let's play some games for speaking practice!

Have Fun with 7 Fabulous Games for Speaking Practice

1. Crazy Cubes

When students give instructions, they often struggle to recall the right preposition. Play Crazy Cubes for some preposition practice! First, print two blank cube templates. Let's say you want to practice prepositions of place. On one of the cubes, write down different locations or places in the classroom: the floor, the teacher's desk, a chair, a table, a backpack, etc... On the second cube, write down different instructions: put your book, put your pen, put a piece of paper, put a ruler, etc...

Divide the class into two teams. Each team takes turns rolling both cubes. Students must correctly give someone on the other team an instruction based on the prompts given in the cubes: Put your pen on the teacher's desk. If the student uses the correct preposition, the team gets a point.

2. Spot the Differences

Here's another option to practice prepositions of place, this time, by providing descriptions. Print this worksheet. Divide the class into two teams and give each team one set of photos. Team members take turns saying the differences out loud. Team A goes first, then B, then A again. Give each team one point not only for spotting the difference, but also for each correct answer.

3. Perfect Possessions

This is a great way to practice possessive pronouns. Cut out images of people from magazines. Make sure you have men and women, but also pairs and groups. Cut out pictures of:

Cats

Houses

Dogs

Bedrooms

Offices

1. Put the people in one bag and the possessions in another. Students take turns pulling one picture from each and talking about the items. Let's say a student takes a picture of a man and a picture of a house: This is John. This is his house. His house is very big and has a swimming pool. There are three bedrooms in his house. Etc... Challenge students to say as much as they can!

2. Tell Me a Story

Here's a fun way to get students to tell you a story. You can use this fairy tale boardgame or design your own. Students roll the dice and tell their story by using the character they land on.

Variation: Make your own boardgame by pasting pictures you've cut out from magazines or even celebrity photos. You can use people, objects, places, and make the game as long or as short as you want their stories to be.

4. What a Life!

This game is guaranteed to spark conversations. Print a copy of the What a Life worksheet and cut out the different slips of paper that contain information on major life events. Students take turns taking a slip of paper out of a bag. They read their life-altering event out loud, and the rest of the class asks questions about it. As students take their turns, keep a tally on the board of how many questions each student asks. The student who asks the most questions in total wins.

Variation: Students stand in front of the class and reveal a major event in their lives; it could be a memorable vacation or party, or an important milestone, like a graduation or their first job.

5. The Doctor is IN!

Try this game to practice giving suggestions/recommendations or using should for advice. Write short messages on slips of paper; each message should describe a problem or a symptom: I have a fever and a stuffy nose. I feel chills, and I'm too tired to get out of bed. Students take turns taking a piece of paper. They must read the problem out loud and then proceed to give their recommendation: This person should stay in bed and get plenty of rest. They should also drink lots of water and take aspirin for the fever.

Variation: Write other types of problems your students could solve, perhaps difficulties related to studying English, financial troubles or any kind they might share advice on.

6. It's Movie Time!

This worksheet also provides a great example of how to turn a speaking activity into a game. In this case, the topics revolve around types of movies and the kind your students enjoy the most. They take turns rolling the dice to see what to talk about.

Variation: Edit this very same worksheet, or create your own with any topic you want them to talk about - health, the world of work, the environment - anything and everything you've covered in class.

To make some of these activities more of a competitive game and less of a simple speaking activity, simply introduce game elements. My favorites include a basic Tic Tac Toe grid, and a boardgame type of path that students move along with the roll of a pair of dice. They can take their turns after they roll their number, for example, but in order to be able to move that number of steps, they must give a correct answer. You might also want to give more advanced students a time limit, and say, for example, they must speak for a full minute. Or make it a competition to see who can speak the longest!

You can turn any speaking activity into a game if you use the right game elements.

Students of all ages will find speaking more enjoyable and will be more motivated to participate.

* This question was sent in from a real ESL teacher, just like you! If you need any advice on a particular topic, share your question in the comments below. Or tweet your question to @busyteacher_org with the hashtag #ESLTeachersAsk. Your question might get picked and featured in an article!

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by Claudia Pesce 232,829 views Our students can always use some extra speaking practice, after all, it's most likely the main reason they signed up for the course: they need to speak English in real life situations. But what they enjoy the most is playing games.