I've been enjoying a book called, "The Trickster's Hat"
by Nick Bantock. It's miscellaneous art and writing projects
that just get your creativity going.
Most of them I do on my own just for fun, but every once in awhile one
appeals to me to work on with the kids.
The most recent writing one screamed for us to do together. It started with a phrase, "The horse
felt obligated to express itself by..."
The instructions were to complete the phrase and then write a sentence
to go before it and one to go after.
Following this, we had two more phrases with the same instructions: "She could not help herself, the date
was waiting..." and "Elvira looked at her brother's
fast-growing..." The final
instruction was to string the three paragraphs together to make a story.
We did these independently and then one night, we read them one
after another. It was amazing how all
three of us not only came up with stories that worked and were creative, but
entirely different. Here they are:
---
William's Story
One time Elvira was riding her horse then the horse felt
obligated to express itself by trying to speak to her, but she tried to get the
horse to move instead of neying.
The horse wouldn't move.
She was going to a date and the date waiting for her but the horse
couldn't help her get there.
So Elvira walked back home and noticed how fast her brother grew
compared to yesterday.
---
Signa's Story
One day, Edward and Elvira were taking their morning walk,
when they saw a horse on the hiking trail. Edward wanted to try riding it, but
Elvira didn’t want to be late to dinner with her boyfriend. Eventually, Edward
convinced her to let him ride, but Edward had no formal horse riding training
so when he got on the horse, the horse felt obligated to express itself by
kicking Edward off its back! Elvira looked at her brother’s fast-growing
bruises but she could not help herself, the date was waiting and she didn’t
want to be late. So she rudely left Edward there in the dirt to meet her date.
---
Debbie's Story
The smell of bacon wafted through the air, entering Elvira's room
and drawing her out. She could not help
herself, the date was waiting with the candied bacon wrapped around it and the
crunchy almond within. She popped it in
her mouth and continued toward the barn.
She wasn't sure why she wanted to go there, as the barn was never
her favorite spot-- that distinction was saved for the chicken house. Once inside the barn, though, Elvira looked
at her brother's fast growing cold and shivered with a hint of fear. While she had never really be afraid of
horses, she also had never really been alone with one before.
She nervously moved closer, coaxing him to do the same with the
promise of a sugar cube, but he wanted only power. The horse felt obligated to express itself by
strongly placing his foot on top of Elvira's.
It wasn't crushing, but she could tell that if she moved even a little,
he would increase the pressure.