Show Me a Story

Hands-On Language Arts Activities

Emily Neuburger’s Show Me a Story may change the way you look at storytelling and teaching writing skills.

This unique approach showcases forty hands-on activities that are fun, creative, and doable. Using simple materials, Emily Neuburger shows parents and teachers how things like rocks, panels cut from cereal boxes, catalogs and magazines, pine cones, shells, bits of string, and old maps can become materials for storytelling, prewriting, and writing.

The ideas in the book are varied, and they are easily adaptable for younger and older kids. Even curious adults will enjoy using the prompts to spark creativity in their journaling or writing.

My boys all love the art of crafting a story, but not so much the act of writing it down. The activities in this book gave me some new ideas for shaking things up in our language arts “classroom” at home.

The goal is for kids to learn how to structure a story, how to organize their ideas, and to gain confidence in their abilities.

Through the activities in this book, my kids learn the parts of a story: setting, characters, plot, conflict, and theme. They learn how to structure a story with a beginning, middle, and end. They also learn how to create maps, timelines, discover writing prompts, increase their vocabularies, build a story, and journal, along with countless other skills necessary for success in language arts.

Show Me a Story is perfect for hands-on learners and kids who would rather move, explore, and venture outside than spend time sitting quietly at a desk (yep! — my kids to a T.)

The book even includes templates, supplies lists, and punch out puppet theater backgrounds.

It is so fun to incorporate hands-on learning into our language arts curriculum, and Show Me a Story is a valuable asset in my teaching toolbox.