Healing Fairytales: Continue the story

On the bookmark you can find the following elements, referring to:

• Location = brown: forest (1), mushroom (2), village (3), castle (4), mountains (5), cave (6), haunted house (7), palace (8), desert (9), tower (10), gravestone (11), ? (12).
• Hero = green: puss in boots (1), lumberjack (2), knight (3), pirate (4), farm girl and boy (5), Tom Thumb (6), frog (7), princess (8), sultan (9), mermaid (10), Little Red Riding Hood (11), ? (12).
• Friend = blue: gingerbread cookie (1), unicorn (2), fairy (3), grandmother (4), swan (5), hodja (6), lackey (7), camel (8), dwarfs (9), genie (10), dog (11), ? (12).
• Talent = red: running shoes (1), spinning wheel (2), swords (3), bricks and trowel (4), blow-dryer and comb (5), bow and arrow (6), axe (7), microphone (8), climbing gear (9), fishing rod (10), flute (11), ? (12).
• Obstacle/enemy = yellow: fire-breathing dragon (1), wizard (2), giant (3), goblin (4), vampire (5), tornado (6), wolf (7), angry stepsisters (8), lightening (9), witch (10), angry queen (11), ? (12).
• Magical tools = orange: cape (1), ring (2), magic spell book (3), wand (4), potion (5), flying carpet (6), magical lamp (7), kettle (8), rose (9), key (10), mirror (11), ? (12).
• Ending = purple: crown (1), party table (2), rainbow (3), magical transformation (4), hot air balloon (5), medal (6), gift (7), leaving for adventure (8), love (9), treasure chest (10), group hug (11), ? (12).

This game is part of the Trauma-Informed Youth Work toolkit, which is designed to create a safe, supportive environment for all participants by acknowledging the impact of trauma on young people and fostering trust and empowerment. By incorporating activities that use indirect methods to explore emotions and behaviours, the toolkit makes sensitive topics more accessible and less intimidating, especially for younger audiences. The teamwork aspects of these activities foster collaboration and support, aligning with trauma-informed principles. This approach promotes healing, resilience, and positive development in every youth engaged, while emphasizing emotional awareness and understanding.

• After the group chose the elements, you could create a roleplay and perform your story.
• The players can draw the story, create a comic, or even create a little fairy book writing the story and drawing relatable pictures.
• If you play with a big group, you can play the game in pairs, so each pair can decide an element every time or you can add more than one element from some categories (ex. More than one friend, or/and villains, or/and talents, etc.).
• In a big group, you could also decide the elements together, without already narrating the story. Once the elements are picked, create smaller groups. Now each group must come up with a story based on the chosen elements. Afterwards, each group shares their story with the others.
• Give each player a number. Throw the die/dice and let this decide which player has to narrate which part/element of the story.

Healing through storytelling