A Door to Somewhere · Connected Through Play

🔥

A Door to Somewhere

Imagine you're a toddler exploring a brand new world as you learn to walk or perhaps you're a pre-teen ready to embark on new adventures, or maybe, a teen walking between childhood and adulthood. Each brings a unique set of challenges and sometimes, as one of the adults in their lives, it's hard to communicate with them. That's why this week's story lab focuses on world building and idea sharing. You can use the concepts to open doors and have conversations you might now have dreamed of in the regular day to day.

Each activity can be done in as few as 15 minutes but if the kids are enjoying it, you may find they fill up an hour or more. For the complete activity with variations by age go to #A Door to Somewhere. When you complete the activity, click the checkmark in the upper right corner to mark it as finished, you can always revisit but it may help you track your progress.

Here's today's story lab.

Every door leads somewhere. But what if an ordinary door in your home could suddenly open into a place that has never existed before?

Gather Your Gear:

A door in your home
Paper
Pencil, crayons, or markers
Optional: household objects to use as props
My Story Planner (optional)

Steps:

Choose your door. Pick any door in your home. Don't open it yet.
Imagine what's on the other side. Everyone takes a turn adding one detail. Maybe it opens onto a floating city, a jungle where the plants whisper, an underwater library, or someplace completely different.
Build the world together. Decide what you might see, hear, smell, or feel when you step through. What makes this place different from your everyday world?
Add something unexpected. What is happening when you arrive? Perhaps everyone is hiding. Something enormous just flew overhead. A tiny creature is waiting for you. There are footprints leading away from the door.
Open the door. Pretend you've crossed into your new world. Explore it together through conversation, movement, drawing, or acting.
Capture your world. Draw what you discovered, make a quick map, write or tell a few sentences about your visit, or simply keep playing.