That's Good - That's Bad Writing Game

by Lauri Griffin | More from this Blogger

08 Feb 2007 06:29 PM

Do your kids ever tell each other those "that's good - that's bad" jokes? My kids love them.

I found 100 dollars! That's good. It was only Monopoly money. That's bad.

Here is a writing game based on those jokes. You start with a sentence like "I went to the zoo" or "I found an alligator" or "I lost my penguin". Once you give the starter sentence, then you and the kids take turns coming up with either something that is good, or something that is bad. You can use a spinner or dice from a board game to make it random. Odd numbers can be good, and even numbers can be bad. Or you can simply take turns. It's more fun though if everyone gets a chance to come up with "that's good" and "that's bad" things for the story.

You can play this in the car as a travel game and just have everyone speak their part of the story. It moves fast that way, and is fun. But the writing down is good practice for the kids. If you have a young child or slow writer, you should probably do the writing for them. If the writing down takes too long then the story loses its momentum and the children lose their interest.

For older kids this writing game is a great way to teach about story continuity and twists in plot. For little kids making up stories is a great chance to let their imaginations run wild. Even children who think they don't like to write love this game. The stories are usually silly and outrageous and tons of fun. Expect a lot of laughter.

The only trouble I've ever had with this game is that children get very attached to the story and hate to have someone else end it. So if your children are arguing about how the story should end, then let everyone come up with an ending to share. That's good.

More Writing Ideas:

Writing Fun

Insane Writing Prompts

Learn more about Lauri Griffin

Lauri lives in Colorado with her husband and three sons. Amidst all the laundry and packing of lunches, she tries to keep parenting fun.

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Musings (107) 09 Feb 2007 05:12 PM

What a neat idea! I'll definitely be trying that one out. Thanks! :D

Julie Gentry (5915) 11 Feb 2007 06:39 PM

We play a version of this called Fortunately/Unfortunately. "Unfortunately, I didn't eat before we left." "Fortunately there's a Jack in the Box!" "Unfortunately, Mom has no cash." "Fortunately, they take credit cards." "Unfortunately, I didn't bring credit cards either." etc etc :-)

Lauri Griffin (2703) 12 Feb 2007 07:12 PM

That's a neat twist Julie, I may copy that!

And Musings - that's for commenting - and let me know how it works for you!