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Today is National Tell a Story Day. To mark the occasion, Room to Grow asked several bloggers to take part in their Storytelling Challenge. Each of us were asked to come up with a story theme, including a character, setting and object, which would be passed to the blogger we had been paired with. Likewise, we would receive from them their chosen theme, which we should use as the basis for our children’s story. The premise of the challenge was that the story should be written in collaboration with a child. Needless to say, I and Little I had lots of fun working on ours together.

For our story, we were sent the following theme:

Character: A fluffy guinea pig called Elsa; Setting: a farm where Elsa lives; Object: a pair of magic socks

Here’s the story we came up with, which we hope you enjoy…

 

The Magic Socks

by Wendy McAuliffe and Little I (aged 5)

Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Lily who lived in the countryside, on a farm.

Lily was a bit of a daydreamer, and when she got home from school each day she would very often imagine herself setting off on an adventure with one of the animals who lived on her farm. These adventures weren’t real as they existed purely within her imagination. But her daydreams were so vivid that sometimes it felt like they had really happened.

Lily owned a fluffy guinea pig called Elsa, who was her favourite pet of all. She had chickens and cats and dogs on her farm, as well as cows and sheep, but Elsa was the one she would rush home to each afternoon, and retell stories of her day to.

She wasn’t meant to, but sometimes Lily would sneak Elsa up into her bedroom, where they would play with her doll’s house together. Elsa loved to run from one room to the next, and Lily would play out stories in which Elsa always took the starring role.

One day, Lily got home from school a little upset. She needed cheering up so she scooped Elsa out of her hutch, snuggled her under her coat, and ran upstairs to her bedroom. She threw open her bedroom door, but stopped with a start when she saw what was lying on her bed…a pair of colourful wholly socks. Lily had never seen these socks before. They certainly weren’t hers, and they seemed far too big for her. But nevertheless, she couldn’t resist trying them on.

All of a sudden, Lily began to feel very odd. The room began to spin and she felt a bit lightheaded. For a moment she blacked out, and when her eyes opened, the world around her looked very different to before. Her bedroom furniture was towering above her and Elsa’s dark brown eyes were staring into her own. Taking a deep breath she took in the reality of what had just happened. She was now the same size as her guinea pig Elsa! Thankfully she didn’t have fur, but Lily had shrunk to the size of her treasured pet.

Elsa seemed very confused by events. She scuttled into the doll’s house and took refuge inside a wardrobe. Tentatively, Lily followed her inside. Walking into her dolls house was something she had often imagined doing, but doing it for real was incredibly odd. She could now see everything from a completely different angle. No longer was the furniture within her dol’s house miniature and doll size, but it was now the perfect size for Lily.

All the excitement had taken its toll and Lily realised she was incredibly tired. With a big yawn she made her way to the doll’s house bed, and snuggled up underneath the blanket. Within seconds she was fast asleep.

A couple of hours later, Lily woke with a start. The phone was ringing downstairs, and her tummy rumbled with hunger. As she opened her eyes she saw Elsa looking down at her, studying her with interest. As the reality of what had happened dawned on her, Lily began to panic a little. What should she do? She didn’t want to stay the size of Elsa forever! What would her Mummy think when she found out?

As Lily crawled out of bed, she noticed some unfamiliar socks that she was wearing. She had no recollection of putting them on. Where on earth had they come from? Elsa began to sniff them, and tug at them with her little yellow teeth. Lily was confused. What was Elsa trying to tell her? Elsa tried to pull at them again. It seemed that her guinea pig was trying to take them off her. Lily reached down and pulled one of the wholly socks off. She began to feel a little dizzy. With an almighty tug Elsa pulled the remaining sock off, and Lily began to feel a very queasy.

Lily stepped out of the doll’s house just in the nick of time. As the magic of the socks began to wear off, Lily quickly started to grow back to her normal size. It was a very odd sensation, as the furniture around her became smaller, and she became bigger. Within a couple of minutes Lily was thankfully back to her normal size.

Lily looked at the pair of wholly socks lying on the floor, and suddenly it all made sense. They were magic socks! Where on earth had they come from? She would never know. She picked up the socks and hid them away at the bottom of her draw. One day she might be brave enough to put them on again, but for now she was happy being the size of a normal school girl!

The End

Here are links to the other stories which have been published by participating bloggers. I will add to the list as new stories go live…

Grandma’s Cake, by Cardiff Mummy

The Gruffalo Adventures, by New Mum Online

Chia the Healthy Troll, by Laura’s Lovely Blog