Tell Tale---Review of a Fun Story-Telling Game

Heidi Kay over at PediaStaff asked me to review a couple of games by Blue Orange Games.  Of course, I said yes---if you look at my therapy room, it looks like the game aisle in a toy store.  I love games, and my kids do too!  Even with the current iPad craze, most of my students will choose a game in a box to play when the time is right.


The game we played today was Tell Tale--the game comes with 60 double-sided cards. Kids pick several cards and tell their best stories using the pictures.  Some of the stories can get a little funny since the cards lend to humor!  Check out the video at the end of this post for specific directions but it's not complicated.


From the website: Discover the art of storytelling with Tell Tale. Be guided through your own unique tale with cards illustrated with a variety of characters, settings, objects and emotions. If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine the possibilities with 120 inspiring images! Create your own storyboard or improvise a tale together; there are four ways to play! In this creative storytelling game, everybody is a winner.

  The ages suggested were 5 to adult, with 1-8 players playing for 20 minutes. 

I used this game with two types of students.  One was a first grade boy with a fluency disorder.  His language skills were great, and he was easily able to create stories using a set of cards.  This was a very nice way to work on fluency in connected speech.

The second group were five 4th graders in a special education classroom.  These students needed more structure to create stories.  In addition, their goals were to create stories with characters, a setting, and a plot, so they used a graphic organizer when telling their stories.  I created a simple one which you can see in the picture, but there are many types out there.  Here is the link to the organizer in the picture.  For the top space, I asked the kids to think of a title to their story.

Overall, the students enjoyed the game.  The students with more limited language skills needed more structure such as using a graphic organizer. This was a nice way to motivate students to tell stories, and we never played this in a competitive manner.  Thank you, Heidi, for letting me try it out.