With a Little Imagination
A gentle story about a rainy afternoon, a plain cardboard box, and the quiet magic of making your own adventure. When the day is grey and there is nothing to do, imagination opens a door. The book runs about six minutes read aloud and shows its meaning through play, not instruction.
Themes
Imagination and creativity, resourcefulness, independent play, and finding wonder in simple things.
Before reading
- Ask the children what they could make from an empty box. Where might it take them?
- Look at the cover together. What do they think the adventure will be?
While reading
- Pause when the box becomes something new. Ask what they can picture that is not really there.
- Predict where the imagination will travel next.
After reading
- What did the child make from the box? What would you make?
- Talk about a time they turned something ordinary into a game.
Three gentle activities
- Box of anything. Give small groups a plain box and let them decide together what it becomes, then act out one quiet moment of the adventure.
- Close your eyes and picture. A short calm visualisation, imagine a place you would like to go, then draw one thing you saw there.
- Loose parts play. Offer everyday objects, blocks, fabric, cups, and invite open ended building with no set outcome.
Curriculum mapping
| EYLF V2.0, Outcome 4 | Children are confident and involved learners. Curiosity, imagination, problem solving and the disposition to play and explore. |
|---|---|
| EYLF V2.0, Outcome 5 | Children are effective communicators. Using language and symbols to represent ideas, and narrating their own play. |
| EYLF V2.0, Outcome 3 | Children have a strong sense of wellbeing. The calm pacing supports self directed, unhurried play. |
| Australian Curriculum v9.0, Foundation English | Literature and Literacy. Responding to a narrative, retelling events, and creating short imaginative texts through drawing and talk. |
A note on calm
With a Little Imagination was written to settle rather than excite. It works well as a quiet invitation to open ended play, in a corner or at a small table, rather than as a high energy activity.
One More Story® is a registered Australian trade mark, number 2586962. This guide is free to print and share for classroom and centre use.
