Imagination Story Cards

My three year old daughter has developed a funny little habit in the last two years or so, and it’s apparent to anyone who spends even a short amount of time with her. She talks. All day long. I don’t just mean the talking of the “Hey Mommy, guess what” type, but the kind of constant talking that accompanies her every move and usually involves a large amount of creative storytelling. Whether she’s making up her own song lyrics or scripting dialogue for her playthings, there’s no doubt that she finds great joy in her imaginative creations.

With these observations in mind, I gladly accepted an offer to introduce the Imagination Story Cards to my feisty little storyteller. From their website:

Imagination Story Cards™ is a 32-card deck of colorful abstract story cards conceived as a way to spark story telling, imagination and creative conversation between teacher and student, therapist and patient, parent and child. The cards were designed to encourage users to find their own meaning and tap into their unique perspective.

I have to admit that I was unfamiliar with the concept of story cards, but I can see their value in prompting children to create their own narratives. I imagine that traditional story cards would feature a simple illustration to spark the beginning of a story, with images of people or animals
familiar to a young child. The difference with these cards lies in the abstract illustrations, which invoke varied ideas for different people. The soft palette of colors, heavy on shades of blue, is appealing to the eye and visually calming.

These beautiful cards have found a true fan in our family. With cards spread out on the floor around her, my daughter began her first of several sessions so far, and as soon as she laid eyes on the images, the stories came forth. From a man who has a tummy ache to a little girl with a teddy bear, the images she saw on the cards inspired her creativity, and it was a blessed experience to hear the depth of her language abilities used so beautifully. If you’ve got a little story teller of your own, and I do imagine that my talker has lots of great company, the Imagination Story Cards are a wonderful addition to your collection of creative toys.

Dawn is most likely engaged in a conversation with one of her three kids at this very moment, if she doesn’t have her nose buried in her own book. Her own stories are told on her blog, my thoughts exactly.