Unexpected deliveries

Although we can’t be together at the moment, that hasn’t stopped us from helping to fire up our young writers’ imaginations remotely…

During these turbulent times, Ministry of Stories is continuing to support young writers in our community by conducting writing labs online and via our innovative digital platform The Story Engine  with the help of our team of amazing volunteer mentors.

Get offline with ‘Letterbox Surprises’

However, with virtually all teaching and activities now happening in the digital space we thought that our young people might be in need of some time away from a screen and a little treat. We commissioned four of our writing programme facilitators to create ‘Letterbox Surprises’: offline activities delivered unexpectedly through the post designed to use objects in and around the home to inspire creative writing. Because, who doesn’t love a surprise?

A poetry scavenger hunt at home

The first task, devised by Dr Keith Jarrett, invited our young writers to become detectives on a poetry scavenger hunt, all without leaving their own front door. The mission: searching for the most magical, mysterious, monstrous and microscopic items they could find, then using heaps of imagination to turn them into a poem or story.

If, like us, you’re suffering from more than a little Zoom fatigue, we’ve decided to invite you to join us on this mission in the hope that it inspires you to step away from your screen and interrogate your home a little more closely. If you choose to accept download this resource – everyone in your household can take part in our scavenger hunt and investigate their creative side!

To inspire you, we’re sharing one of the poems by one of our young writers Matthew, aged 9, with help from his brother Bryan, aged 15.

Make sure you share your writing with us by emailing writing@ministryofstories.org – we can’t wait to read it.