A Fun Writing Game: Carnival Time

Recommended for grades 4 through 12, Carnival Time works on many written language abilities including vocabulary expansion, descriptiveness, specificity, perspective taking, elaboration, and improved syntax use. Players start by choosing one of the provided stories, then, by rolling a die to proceed around the board, players are tasked with developing their story by incorporating adjectives and adverbs, replacing general nouns and verbs with more specific nouns and descriptive verbs, and adding components including times, places, titles, and endings. The more skilled players must additionally attempt to convey their characters’ emotions, relationships, or living conditions through their modifications. For example, if a player wanted to convey his story’s protagonist as angry, he may say, “Sam stomped into the room” in place of “Sam walked into the room.” Carnival Time is a wonderful way to help students improve their writing skills since playing a board game is always an enticing way to learn!
Game Contents:
game board
3 reproducible stories
3 reproducible grammar handouts
6 character standups
1 die (1-2-3 only)
sample completed story
educational notes