Where, What Went Wrong, How It Ended1. Say the three parts of a short story aloud: where it was, what went wrong, how it ended.2. Each person thinks of a true small mishap that ended well, such as a missed train or a cake that sank.3. In pairs, tell it in exactly three sentences, one for each part.4. Change partners twice and tell it again each time. Then ask who found a better word for the middle sentence by the third telling.Players: 4 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
A Fable in Three Sentences, and the Room Guesses the Moral1. Trios pick two animals and one small problem, such as a snail and a crow who both want the same puddle. 2. Each trio plans a fable of exactly three sentences, a sentence a person, and agrees on its moral in secret. 3. Trios tell their fables in turn. After each one, the listeners call out what they think the moral is. 4. The trio then gives the moral it had in mind. If the room found a better one, the trio may take it. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Five, Four, Three, Two, One: The Story Runs Out of Sentences1. Groups of five number off from one to five. The leader gives every group the same first line, such as "The lighthouse lamp went out at noon." 2. Number five goes first and gets five sentences. Number four follows with four, then number three with three, then number two with two. 3. Number one has to end the whole story in a single sentence. 4. Shift the numbers along by one and tell a second story, so that someone new has the last word. Players: 5 to 30. Time: 7 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Fortunately, Unfortunately: Your Partner's Trip Here Today1. Pair up. Each partner gives the other one true sentence about how they got here today, such as "I came on the early bus." 2. Partner A retells B's trip as an invented adventure. Every sentence A says must begin with "Fortunately". 3. B cuts in after each one with a sentence that begins "Unfortunately", and A has to rescue the trip again. 4. After two minutes, swap. Then each pair tells the room only the true sentence it started from. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: loud.
Show all 24 openers (21 more)
Build one story together, continued
One Word Each, With Our Own Names in It1. Sit in a circle and go round once with first names. The story will be told one word at a time, and its people are the people in this circle. 2. The leader starts with "Once". Each person adds exactly one word, going round. 3. Whenever the story needs a character, the speaker says the first name of someone else in the circle, and that person waves. 4. A sentence ends when somebody says "period" as their word. Stop after five sentences and ask who can list every name the story used. Players: 5 to 14. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Roll First: Even Helps the Hero, Odd Gets in the Way1. Tables of four to six share one die. Each table names a hero and something the hero wants, such as a mail carrier with one last letter to deliver. 2. Before adding a sentence to the story, the speaker rolls. An even number means the sentence must help the hero. 3. An odd number means the sentence must put something in the hero's way. 4. After two laps of the table, the next person to roll tells the ending: a happy one on an even number, and a surprising one on an odd number. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: one die for each table. Noise: medium.
Three Sounds With Eyes Closed, Then What Happened1. Everyone closes their eyes. The leader makes three sounds a few seconds apart: keys dropped on a table, a door shut, a sheet of paper torn. 2. Eyes open. In threes, decide what happened: who was there, and why the three sounds came in that order. 3. Each trio tells its version in three sentences, one sound to a sentence. 4. Play it again with three new sounds, chosen and made by one of the trios. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: keys and a sheet of paper. Noise: medium.
Yes if It Ends in a Vowel: The Story Nobody Wrote1. Two volunteers step outside. Tell them the group will invent a story while they are gone, and that they must uncover it with yes-or-no questions. 2. The group invents nothing. It agrees on one rule: a question whose last word ends in a, e, i, o or u gets a yes, and any other question gets a no. 3. The volunteers come back and ask in turn, starting with "Is it about a dog?" The whole group answers together. 4. After three minutes the volunteers tell the story they have uncovered. Then the group explains the rule, and everyone sees who really wrote it. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Tell a short true story 6
An X on the Map: Something That Happened Near Here1. On the board, draw a quick plan of this building and the streets around it. 2. Each person marks an X where something small once happened to them: a fall, a find, a chance meeting. Newcomers mark the door they came in by today. 3. In groups of three, each person tells the story of their X in under a minute. 4. The listeners ask for one detail the teller left out: the weather, the time of day, who else was there. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a board and markers. Noise: medium.
First Lines on the Wall: Which Story Do We Want?1. Everyone writes the first line of a true story of their own on a sticky note, and nothing more, such as "The ladder was shorter than it looked." 2. Stick the notes on the wall. Everyone reads them all and draws a star on the two they most want to hear the rest of. 3. The three lines with the most stars are told by their writers, in one minute each. A writer may pass, and the next line down is told. 4. Leave the wall up. At the break, anyone may ask a writer for the rest of a line. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: sticky notes and pens. Noise: medium.
Line Up by How Old You Were in the Story1. Everyone thinks of a true story from their own life that they would be glad to tell, and how old they were in it. 2. Without telling the story, line up from the youngest age to the oldest. Stories from this year stand at the far end. 3. Turn to the person beside you and trade stories, a minute each. 4. The leader walks the line and asks five people which age they just heard about and one thing that happened at it. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
The Smallest Thing That Happened This Week, Told as Big News1. Everyone thinks of the smallest true thing that happened to them this week: a lost sock turned up, the toast burned. 2. In pairs, tell it as if it were the biggest news of the year. Nothing is invented except the excitement. 3. The listener asks one reporter's question, such as "How did the neighbors take it?", and the teller answers truthfully. 4. Each listener gives the room their partner's news as a headline of six words or fewer. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 7 min. Props: none. Noise: loud.
Stand on the Day It Happened1. Lay seven sheets of paper in a row on the floor, labelled Monday to Sunday. 2. Everyone thinks of one small true thing from the last seven days and stands by the day it happened. 3. People on the same day tell each other what happened, in thirty seconds each. Anyone alone on a day joins the nearest day. 4. Each day gives the room one of its stories in a single sentence, said by someone other than the person it happened to. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: seven sheets of paper. Noise: medium.
Where, What Went Wrong, How It Ended1. Say the three parts of a short story aloud: where it was, what went wrong, how it ended. 2. Each person thinks of a true small mishap that ended well, such as a missed train or a cake that sank. 3. In pairs, tell it in exactly three sentences, one for each part. 4. Change partners twice and tell it again each time. Then ask who found a better word for the middle sentence by the third telling. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Start from an object or a picture 5
Draw an Island Together, Then Say What Happened There1. Tape a large sheet of paper to the table and draw the outline of an island on it. 2. In turn, each person draws one place on the island and names it aloud, such as Whistling Rock or the Bridge of Two Goats. 3. On a second lap, each person says in one sentence what once happened at the place drawn by the person before them. 4. Together, trace a traveler's route through three of the places and tell the journey, a sentence each. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a large sheet of paper and markers. Noise: medium.
One Mug, Many Owners: Who Had It Before You?1. Hold up one plain object, such as a chipped mug, and hand it to the first person in the circle. 2. That person says who they are in the story and how the mug came to them, such as "I am a ship's cook, and I found it in a market." 3. They pass it on. Each new holder is the owner before the last one, so the story travels back in time. 4. The last person in the circle is the one who made the mug, and says who it was made for. Players: 5 to 14. Time: 7 min. Props: one plain object, such as a chipped mug. Noise: medium.
This Room, a Hundred Years From Now1. In threes, choose one ordinary thing in this room: the clock, a chair with a wobble, the window that sticks. 2. Imagine it is still being kept a hundred years from now. Decide who kept it all that time, and why. 3. Each trio leads the room to its thing and tells the story of how it was kept, a sentence a person. 4. The room votes with a show of hands for the thing it would now least like to throw away. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
What Happened One Minute Before This Picture?1. Cut pictures with people in them from old magazines or calendars, one for each pair, and deal them out face down. 2. Pairs turn their picture over and agree on what happened one minute before it was taken. 3. They also agree on what happens one minute after. 4. Each pair holds up its picture and tells the before and the after in two sentences, one each. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a picture for each pair. Noise: medium.
Your Key, My Story: The Invented One First1. Pair up and swap one small thing each from a pocket or a bag: a key, a pencil, a library card. 2. A looks at B's thing and invents its story in three sentences: where it came from, what it has been through, and why B still has it. 3. B then tells the thing's true story, and says which invented detail came closest. 4. Swap roles. Pairs tell the room one invented detail that turned out to be true. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Listen, then retell 6
Give Your Partner's Story a Title1. In pairs, A tells a true story of about one minute: a first day, a journey, a small mistake. 2. B listens without a word, then gives the story a title of five words or fewer. 3. A may accept the title or ask for another. Then swap roles. 4. Go round the room. Each person says only the title of the story they heard, and its teller raises a hand. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Half the Room Hears It, the Other Half Tells It Back1. Half the group steps outside. The leader tells the other half a short tale of about ten sentences, with a name, a place and a number in it. 2. The others return, and each pairs up with a listener, who tells them the tale once. No notes. 3. The half that was outside now tells the tale back to the leader together, a sentence a person. 4. The first listeners say what was dropped, added or changed along the way. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
The Same Morning, Told Twice: Plain, Then With Three Senses1. In pairs, A tells a true thing that happened this morning in two plain sentences. 2. B asks three questions about it: one about something seen, one about something heard and one about something smelled or felt. 3. A tells it again and works the three answers in. 4. Swap roles. Two or three pairs who are willing then let the room hear a first telling and a second. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Tell It Back With One Thing Changed1. In pairs, A tells a true story of five or six sentences about something that happened this month. 2. B tells it back as closely as possible, but changes exactly one detail on purpose: a color, a day, a number. 3. A listens for the change and names it. 4. Swap roles. Then ask the room which changes slipped past, and what made them hard to hear. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Three Listeners, Three Jobs: People, Places, Feelings1. In fours, one person tells a true story of about one minute. 2. Each of the three listeners has one job. The first listens for people, the second for places and the third for feelings. 3. After the story, each listener reports what they caught, and the teller adds anything they missed. 4. Rotate until everyone has told a story and done all three jobs. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
The Wolf's Side: An Old Tale Told by Someone Else in It1. Agree on a folk tale the whole group knows, such as The Three Little Pigs or The Tortoise and the Hare. 2. In threes, each person picks a different character or thing in the tale: the wolf, the third pig, the house of bricks. 3. Each tells what happened in four sentences from where they stood, beginning with "I". 4. Trios tell the room which teller made them feel sorry for somebody new. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
How this list was compiled: Written on 2026-10-14 for a teacher, a librarian, a camp or club leader or a workshop host who wants a new group telling stories in the first ten minutes. The openers and their steps are our own wording; the one-word story, the fortunately and unfortunately story and the yes-or-no story are well-known games that are not ours, told here as they run with a group that has just met. True stories are small and everyday (a trip, a mishap, a find), each teller chooses their own, and anyone may pass. Stories are told to a partner or a small group; what reaches the whole room is told by a pair or a group together, or is a title, a headline or a sentence, except where a teller chooses to be heard and may pass. Nobody is out and nobody is touched. "Props: none" means the leader brings nothing; things people already carry do not count as props. Two folk tales are named as examples and were read on 2026-10-14 at Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Little_Pigs (a wolf blows down the houses of straw and sticks and cannot destroy the third pig's house of bricks) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare (one of Aesop's Fables). Player ranges and minutes are planning estimates. Licence: own work
How it works
Each storytelling icebreaker here fits the first ten minutes with a group that just met. True stories are small and everyday, each teller picks their own, and anyone may pass.
Read the full guide
A storytelling icebreaker game for a group that just met
One Word Each, With Our Own Names in It makes the circle the cast: whenever the story needs a character, the speaker says someone else's first name. In Fortunately, Unfortunately, a partner's real trip here today turns into an adventure.
An object storytelling icebreaker
In Your Key, My Story, partners swap something from a pocket: one invents its story in three sentences, then the owner tells the true one. One Mug, Many Owners passes a single thing around the circle, and each holder is the owner before the last.
Questions and answers
What is a quick storytelling icebreaker with nothing to bring?
Where, What Went Wrong, How It Ended. Pairs tell a true small mishap in exactly three sentences, then tell it again to two new partners. Allow about six minutes. 16 of the 24 openers need nothing.
Which icebreakers for storytelling suit a workshop or a class of tellers?
The six under Listen, then retell. Three Listeners, Three Jobs splits listening into people, places and feelings, and The Same Morning, Told Twice adds three senses to a plain account.
Which storytelling icebreakers work for a large class?
21 of the 24 run with 13 to 30 people, because the stories are told in pairs, threes or fours. Stand on the Day It Happened and Line Up by How Old You Were in the Story move the whole room.
Does anyone have to tell a story alone to the whole room?
Only by choice. Stories are told to a partner or a small group, and groups report to the room together or in one sentence. In First Lines on the Wall, a chosen writer may pass.