Today, right after finishing lunch, the four of us were still sitting around the dining table. Our younger son was sitting in his high chair, happily taking his time finishing his meal.
With lunch done, my daughter leaned over and asked if we could 倾计 (have a chat).
“Daddy, you pick a topic!” she said, looking at me with a big smile.
I didn’t want to just ask boring questions about school, and none of us wanted to turn on the TV. So I had an idea: why don’t we make up a story together? My wife thought that sounded fun and wanted to join in too. Right there at the dining table, with our empty plates pushed aside, we came up with a simple storytelling game.
The rules were very easy:
- Before starting, we decide how many rounds to play, and try to finish the story in the final round (though we didn’t follow this too strictly).
- We pick who starts first, using rock-paper-scissors or whoever has an idea first.
- The first person says the opening line, and the next person has to continue the story based on what was just said. We keep taking turns around the table until the end.
Once we agreed on the rules, the three of us jumped right in. We took turns in rotation around the table, and the story moved fast because each of us tried to make the next twist even funnier:
The Story We Created
My daughter started the story right away:
Daughter: “Once upon a time, there was an airplane flying high up in the sky.”
Me: “Suddenly, someone jumped out of the plane!”
My Wife: “Don’t worry, he was wearing a parachute!”
Daughter: “Out of nowhere, a flock of birds flew over and bit big holes in the parachute!”
Me: “Oh no! He started falling straight down toward the sea!”
My Wife: “And right below him, a giant shark opened its mouth wide!”
Daughter: “Chomp! The shark ate the person whole!”
Me: “Seeing that, the flock of birds flew down and attacked the shark! The shark spit the person out, and he flew far away into a secret lab!”
My Wife: “Inside the lab, a lion suddenly appeared!”
Daughter: “A group of lab workers ran in, caught the flying person, and locked him in a cage!”
Me: “Then the lion stepped up and helped everyone escape from the cages!”
My Wife: “While running away, the person found a bomb in the lab and blew the whole building up!”
Daughter: “BOOM! The blast sent both the person and the lion flying into the sky!”
Me (The Ending): “The explosion threw the person and the lion all the way across the sea, landing right next to the shark and the birds. It turned out all these animals could actually talk! They looked at the man and said: ‘The people in that lab locked up our friend the lion to do experiments on him. That’s why we helped you get there, so you could save him!’”
Making Up Stories Together
By the time we reached the ending, all three of us were laughing so hard across the table. Meanwhile, our little son looked at us laughing, smiled with crumbs around his mouth, and kept happily eating his lunch.
What started as a simple story about an airplane turned into a funny adventure with birds, sharks, a friendly lion, and a secret lab. None of us planned it out. Each of us just reacted to whatever the last person said.
I really enjoyed playing this game. Kids have so much imagination. They don’t worry about whether a story makes complete sense—they just enjoy the fun of creating something new. Playing along also helped my wife and me let go of serious thinking and just be silly with our kids.
We didn’t need any toys or screens. Just sitting at the dining table together after lunch and sharing funny ideas made our afternoon really special.