You Add to It
Dreamer Deck
A space for imagination, divergent thinking, and exploring possibilities before judgement. This sits in the Spark section, where every practice begins with the question: What could this become? Children aged 4-10 and parents or caregivers explore together as creative partners. There are no right or wrong answers, only infinite ideas to explore.
Practice
Time guide: 5-30 minutes.
As you grow
4-6 years
Enjoy adding simple ideas, characters, and surprises to a shared story.7-10 years
Experiment with building richer stories, introducing unexpected twists, and connecting ideas in imaginative ways.Mixed aged children
Everyone contributes in their own way, discovering how stories grow through shared imagination.
Start
Choose who will begin. This practice works beautifully on journeys, walks, or while waiting together.
Start with a simple sentence, character, place, or idea. It could be as simple as, "Once upon a time..." If you're travelling, let the world outside the window become part of the story.
Keep it open enough for someone else to build on.
Build
The next person adds something new.
Accept every idea and build from it.
Ask yourself, What could this become?
Keep taking turns as the story grows in unexpected directions.
Play
Create funny, mysterious, adventurous, or completely impossible stories.
Add a rule that every new idea must surprise the next person.
Play anywhere (on a walk, in the car, or while waiting).
Decide how it ends, or leave it unfinished for another day. Stories can keep growing over time, just like chapters in a book or episodes in a television series.
Variations
Start with an unusual or absurd prompt, for example: "One day, the moon disappeared..."
Pass the story around a larger group.
Draw one part of the story before continuing.
Notice
Which idea changed the story the most?
What surprised you?
Where did the story go that nobody planned?
What might happen next?
Practice Notes
Inspired by: Improvisation and collaborative storytelling practices that build ideas through acceptance, addition, and shared imagination. Each new idea becomes the starting point for the next, allowing stories to grow in unexpected directions.
Builds
Capabilities (what the practice builds internally): Collaboration, listening, imaginative thinking, storytelling, creative confidence, and comfort with uncertainty.
Future skills (what the practice develops externally): Creative thinking, collaboration, adaptability, communication, and innovation (aligned with the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2025).
