WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• ball pit balls (available from Wal-Mart and Amazon)
• chicken wire (3′ x 4′)
• 4 (16″) 2″ x 4″ boards
• 4 (10″) 4″ x 4″ boards
• drill
• screws
• wire cutters
• string or twine
• staple gun and staples
• 30–40 light-weight garden stakes or dowels
• spray paint (optional)

BUILDING THE GAME

  1. Screw the four 16-inch boards together to create a square shape.
  2. Screw the four 10-inch boards to each corner of the square you created to make legs. This should now look like you have a little table with no tabletop.
  3. If you’d like to paint the wood, take your small table to an open space and spray with any color you’d like. Make sure you let it dry before moving on.
  4. Using the chicken wire, create a cylinder shape and tie together using the twine.
  5. Stand the cylinder on top of the dried table and secure using a staple gun.
  6. Slide the garden stakes into the wire cylinder in all different directions.

BEFORE YOU START

Place your game in an open area. With the garden stakes inserted through the wire, pour the ball pit balls into the chicken wire cylinder. If any balls fall through, either add them to the top or try restructuring where the stakes are placed.

TIME TO PLAY!

This game is for the whole family! Explain that everyone will take turns removing one of the stakes and creating a story as you go. For each person’s turn, he must say one story line and then remove a stake. For example, the first person can start with, “Once upon a time …,” the next can say, “… there was a little girl,” and the next could say, “… who loved horses,” and so on. The only rule is that a person cannot pull out a stake until she adds to the story. Continue taking turns and adding to the story until all of the balls fall out. Then replace the stakes and balls, and begin again!

ADD A TWIST FOR OLDER CHILDREN!

If your kids are older, you can add a little twist to this game to make it more exciting for them. Whoever removes the final stake, causing the balls to fall out, must drop out of the game. Continue playing until the game comes down to two people. The person who is left, never having pulled the final stake, wins!

REMEMBER

Telling silly stories is fun, and creating silly stories is even better! As the game ends and your family giggles over the stories you’ve created, remind them that there is an even better and bigger true story we get to be part of. God created each and every one of us with our own unique story. No one’s story is the same as anyone else’s. The most exciting part is that we can use our stories to point people to Jesus! How wonderful is that? It doesn’t stop there either. God has actually invited all of us, no matter who we are, into HIS story—the one true story that has been written since the beginning of time! Encourage your children to remember that they are a part of something bigger than they could ever imagine. They get to be a part of a big and beautiful story created by our Heavenly Father. It doesn’t get better or more amazing than that!