How to turn your child's drawing into a story

1. Ask who it is. Don't guess.

“Who's this?” is the whole first step. The purple blob might be a dog, a dad or a cloud, and whatever they say is right. If it has no name, ask for one, and write it on the back of the drawing.

2. Give it somewhere to be

“Where does it live?” “What is it doing right now?” A character standing in the middle of a blank page becomes someone with a place the moment they answer.

3. Make something go wrong

Every story needs a problem, and small ones work best: someone is stuck on the wrong side of a river, a door has no handle, a lantern goes out halfway down the street. Offer one; they'll usually improve it.

4. Offer two choices, and let them pick

Over the fallen tree, or across the stones? Two is enough. Whichever they choose happens, even the silly one, and the next part of the story starts from there.

5. Ask one question out loud before they choose

The talking is the best part, and it happens before the choosing. A few that work:

• Think“How do you open a door with no handle?”
• Think“Who do you think is making that sound?”
• Tell“What happens next? Tell me in your own words.”
• Imagine“What would happen if it ate the whole vegetable patch?”

6. Bring in a brother's or sister's drawing

Two characters are easier than one: one leads, one helps, and they can disagree. If a sibling drew the second, the story belongs to both of them.

7. Write the ending on the back

One sentence, in their words, with the date. The drawing with its story on the back is worth more than the drawing alone, and it takes a minute.

Where Feltip fits

Feltip does this with the drawing itself. Photograph it and it is lifted off the paper exactly as drawn, never redrawn, so their character can stand in one of six written stories where, at every turn, there is a question for you and a choice for them. Two characters, from any of your children. The one they finish can be kept as a print.

Everything that happens to a photo