Stop the Story
Dream Together Set
A shared space for imagination, where possibilities are explored before judgement arrives. In the Spark stage of practice, we shape possibility together by asking what could happen? Children (4-10) and adults work as creative partners, building confidence through shared exploration and making. There are no right or wrong answers, only infinite ideas to explore. Start with what you have, right where you are.
Practice
Time guide: 5–15 minutes.
As you grow
4-6 years: Imagine playful, surprising, or impossible things that could happen next.
7-10 years: Explore different choices, unexpected twists, and multiple directions a story could take.
Mixed aged children: Everyone imagines their own version, discovering that one moment can lead to many different stories.
Start
Choose a favourite picture book or story.
Decide who will be the reader.
Make
Begin reading together.
At any moment, anyone can say stop the story!
Pause before turning the page.
Build
Choose a possibility question. For example, what could happen next? What else could happen? What if something unexpected happened? What if this character made a different choice? Who else might appear?
Or explore the story through a possibility lens. For example, what's the funniest thing that could happen next? What's something nobody would see coming? What's the kindest thing that could happen? What's the most impossible thing that could happen? What's one small change that would send the story in a different direction?
Everyone shares an idea and every idea is a good one.
No one needs to agree or match what the author imagined.
Play
Listen to everyone's ideas.
Wonder together about how each possibility would change the story.
Then turn the page and discover what the author imagined.
Pause again whenever inspiration strikes.
Variations
Pause before every page turn.
Imagine three completely different possibilities before reading on.
Take turns choosing the possibility question or lens.
Vote for the most surprising, funniest, or wildest idea.
Keep inventing your own story instead of returning to the book.
Notice
Which possibility surprised you most?
Did anyone imagine something nobody else expected?
How many different stories grew from the same moment?
How did it feel knowing there wasn't just one right answer?
Practice Notes
Dream Together Set: Designed around divergent thinking and draws on how creative thinking develops in practice. Spark opens up possibilities by asking what something could become, while Switch builds on what is already there by reframing it into something new.
Practice inspired by: Writers, storytellers, improvisers, and creative thinkers often pause before deciding what happens next. Instead of searching for the right answer, they explore many possible directions, discovering that each new idea opens the door to another. This practice builds the habit of generating possibilities before settling on one, strengthening imagination, flexible thinking, and creative confidence through playful conversation.
Builds
Capabilities (what the practice builds internally): Creative confidence, imagination, flexible thinking, curiosity, and comfort with ambiguity.
Future skills (what the practice develops externally): Creative thinking, adaptability, and innovation (aligned with the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2025).
