Reading together
Making room for different ideas at storytime
One person wants strawberry jam. Another chooses honey. Someone else would like a sandwich the size of a door. An imaginary picnic is a lovely place to discover that different ideas can sit on the same blanket.
Begin with something small
Find a piece of paper and a pencil each. Invite everyone to draw one thing they would bring to a pretend picnic. It can be a favourite food, an unusual cup or something wonderfully impossible. There is no need to prepare real food or agree on a sensible menu.
Take a turn yourself. A grown-up choosing a tiny teapot for an enormous elephant gives the activity somewhere playful to begin. You are joining in, rather than setting a question with a correct answer.
Ask about the choice
When each person is ready, ask: ‘What do you like about your idea?’ Listen to the answer before offering your own. A drawing can be an answer too. If someone would rather point, describe or watch, leave room for that.
Try naming a difference without deciding which choice is better: ‘You chose something crunchy. I chose something warm.’ Then see whether the two can belong in the same picture. You do not have to persuade anybody to change their favourite.
Make one shared picture
Draw a large picnic blanket on another sheet. Let each person add their choice, or place the separate drawings around it. What needs a little more room? Where could a newcomer sit? Perhaps the elephant needs its own corner.
If two people want the same space, try two versions of the picture. You might move a cup, make the blanket bigger or draw a second blanket alongside it. The point is to explore possibilities together, not produce a perfect arrangement.
Carry the question into a story
In Everyone Must Agree Day, Rosie meets a village celebration with an unusual rule about opinions. The free opening introduces the Hartwells over breakfast, where their different favourites already sit together at the table.
After reading the opening, ask one question: ‘Which breakfast would you choose?’ A second question can wait. Leave time to enjoy the rhyme, notice Pickle or return to a favourite picture. A short conversation is enough.
An easy way to finish
Give your picnic a name and put the pencils down whenever you have had enough. You can keep the drawing, tell someone about it or simply enjoy the moment. Nothing needs to be photographed or shared online.
The free listening-picnic sheet offers the same little sequence in a printable format. Use it with a family, a small classroom group or a library story session. Paper and your own ideas work just as well.