Activity based on The Moon’s Side of the Story, from Little Stories for Tiny People 

 

Write your own story from the perspective of an inanimate object! 

 

Now that you’ve listened to The Moon’s Side of the Story, it’s your turn to write a story (in words or pictures) from the viewpoint of an inanimate object. Focus on developing your main character and being as descriptive as possible. Older children can add more to their story to develop a plot. 

 

Step One: PIck your main character and give them some interesting traits

 

• In the story you heard, the moon is a quiet fellow who likes to read and doesn’t care for gossip. He has reading glasses at the ready, and he also has some tools to dust off his craters. These accessories help give him a personality. Pick your own main character and give them a few personality traits and some accessories. 

 

• For example: If your character is a lonely sofa that’s been left at the curb, perhaps it has a sagging middle and one, worn out gray pillow. It may feel cast aside and wish it could be taken in by a family. If your character is a brand-new sofa being delivered to a new house, perhaps it is bursting at the seams with both stuffing and anticipation, with beautiful, puffy pillows. 

 

• Pick your own character and have fun giving it both personality and accessories! 

 

• DRAW your character! Drawing your character will help you figure out who they are and might give you the idea of what they might wear ⁠— perhaps a hat or red suspenders. 

 

Step Two: Give your main character a story

 

• In The Moon’s Side of the Story, we hear the story of human technology from the perspective of the moon. Now it’s your turn to take your own main character that you’ve created and drawn, and tell a story from their perspective. 

 

• Let’s go back to the sad, lonely sofa. How would that sad sofa, with the one gray pillow, tell the story of the family in the house moving away? What things would the sofa notice from the street? The sofa might see certain pieces of furniture loaded into a truck, he might see the humans in the house have differing reactions to moving. 

 

• Now choose a story for your own character and try to tell it with as much detail as possible. What does your character see, what do they hear, what do they feel as the story goes on? What emotions do they experience, what do they notice about the creatures and objects and people around them? 

 

• Younger children can draw their story in pictures. 

 

Step Three: (For older listeners) Add in an unexpected event that the character must find a way through 

 

• In The Moon’s Side of the Story, the moon has to deal with the fact that the creatures on the blue planet keep getting closer to him. He has many feelings about what he sees and experiences.

 

• In the lonely sofa example, the sofa has been left at the curb. An unexpected event might be that a family comes along and sits on the sofa and decides to take it home. The sofa might be squeezed into a car. How might the sofa handle this new experience? 

 

• Choose an unexpected event for your own story! How does your character respond to its new situation? Does the character go through a change because of this new experience? In The Moon’s Side of the Story, the moon ultimately changes his feelings towards the creatures from the blue planet. He has to admit that he has been lonely, and now he feels like he finally belongs. How does your character grow and change from its experiences?