You and your kids can make your own set of playing cards. Instead of the typical face cards you can make up your own ideas. Clip pictures from magazines, use inexpensive boxed sets of greeting cards for different holidays (just cut the covers off and use them), try some clip art, or use family photos as face cards for a personalized deck. Another way to make your cards really different is to make great big oversized cards or really tiny cards.
If you’re using assorted images, you can also play other games with the cards, besides your standard card games or instead of building houses of cards. For one thing, you can play Storyteller.
How do you play Storyteller? It’s easy. Shuffle well and then deal out all the cards. The first player will flip over a card and begin the story by incorporating the image (or number if also using numbers) into the first line of a story. The second player will flip a card and do the same. Continue going around flipping cards and adding lines to the story. Smaller children may need a bit of help, so you might want to sit near younger players so you coach them a little.
Be sure to record the story as it is being created, so you can play back the entire story when it’s finished. If everyone is having a good time, shuffle the cards, begin recording again, and start on chapter two or begin telling a brand new story!
Stories may end up being totally silly and great for a laugh, but you never know what might happen. You and your kids might just create a story that will be a family bedtime favorite for many years to come.
*Check out some of these other ideas for making your own cards and creating stories: