The after-school story-telling and art sessions have evolved into the children writing their own story in weekly installments that I type up and read back to them the following week. They still listen to folk or creation tales from different cultures each week, and these tend to inspire elements of their own story.

Week one, they decided on the characters and a general outline of the story with the  Working title of  ‘Miss Ira and her Army of Hyphrans’. All the children had different ideas, so it was a challenge refining them down into a workable plot.

To help with this, I encouraged them to draw the characters and to write their ideas on ‘scrolls’ that could be put on the wall and referred back to during the term.

Boy transforming into a hyphran monster after being injected with the serum.

Characters from the story: The evil Miss Ira, notes about a hyphran monster, a magic boomerang.  Lily, the magic stone, the twins Larry and Lara, and Jack.

Magic Scroll

This week, two girls created a wonderful map of the places where the story is set, including the school where the evil headmistress plots to steal the children’s souls and turn them into hyphrans, the eco-village where the main characters live, adventure playground with portal to the other world. Some of the boys added characters, pets, a hyphran monster and the shed where the twins Larry and Lara carry out their experiments.