Story Telling - Loch Ness and other places

Instead of reading books today during story time, I invited the Saul and Giacomo to help me tell our own story.  I had chosen a photo of Loch Ness in Scotland and a book from MOMA in NYC titled, Places.  We had images to help spark our imagination for our characters and what they might do in these locations.  

Loch Ness was chosen based on previous conversations and interest about the Loch Ness monster and other creatures.  I did not tell them it was Loch Ness until later in the call.  

 What do you notice about it?
“It looks kind of like the Loch Ness Lake because Loch Ness lake is big and wide.” - Giacomo, 4.2 years
Who do you think would live in this lake? - Elyse
“The Loch Ness monster of course.” - Giacomo, 4.2 years
Saully, who else could live in this lake?  - Elyse
“With the monsters?” - Saul. 3.6 years
“Some more monsters like a whale monster.  That could be the monster world.” -Giacomo
So, if we told a story that took place in this lake, it would be the monster world lake? [...] and one of our characters could be Nessie [Giacomo had just referred to the monster by this name], the Loch Ness monster who lives in the lake.

Who would live in the castle? 
“A king and queen of course.” - Giacomo
“My characters will be a big piece of pie that will go to get you trucks by the old trucks.” - Saul
“No, it can’t be like that. Wait, what did he say?” - Giacomo
Do you see this bridge? Could this be a road for the trucks? 
“No.” - Saul
“If that’s the Loch Ness world, there has to be some monsters in that castle because only monsters live in the loch ness world.  All of the people are monsters.  That’s the point.” - Giacomo
One of the important part of telling a story is knowing who our characters are: who the people, or animals, or creatures in the story are.

I know that you both have great imaginations.  What if we told our own story about the Loch Ness monster or any monsters that could live in this castle. - Elyse
“And that huge lake.” - Giacomo
What would they do if they lived in this photograph?  What would they do all day? - Elyse
“What if they live with the cows?” - Saul 
Oh, maybe there are cows here.  We can’t see them, but we can pretend that they’re there. - Elyse
“No, there can’t be cows because if that’s the monster world, then the cows are monsters.” - Giacomo
Because we’re making up the story, our monster world can have anything we want it to have. - Elyse

Sometimes we start fairy tales with “Once upon a time”.  What if we start with, “Once upon a time there was the Loch Ness Monster, some other monsters, and some cows, and they lived in a castle near the lake.  What would we say next?  What is the next part of our story? 
“The truck will come pick them up and bring them down.” - Saul 
“Broke down the other monsters and cows.” - Saul 
Why would he do that? - Elyse
“Because he did’t want the monsters and cows to eat the truck so he broke them down.” - Saul 
“Basically, they couldn’t have been cows because they weren’t invented then.” _ Giacomo
We can create any story we want to tell. It does’t have to be real.  We can use our imaginations. 
“At least my thinking is that cows shouldn’t be there.  Cows are usually in farms, and they can’t be out in the nature because they don’t put them in things and stuff.  You don’t just capture them at once. You just say to the cow to come, but they only say to come at farms.  Because if they were there in the Loch Ness world, they couldn’t be real.  THe Loch Ness world lived before the human world, and there was only cows who were actually monsters.The whole earth, all the people on their earth were monsters.” - Giacomo

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Have you ever seen a farm like that? 
“Yeah.” - Saul 
Giacomo said that cows live on a farm, but I don’t see any cows. 
“Well, basically the cows are in the barn. The barn is in the back and that’s why we can’t see them.” - Giacomo
We have to imagine the cows because we can’t see them. 

Which boys are playing and which boys are watching? Can you tell where they are? Is he [pointing] watching or playing? 
“He’s watching.” - Saul 
“Um no, he’s playing.” - Giacomo
We each see something different.  Where do you think they’re playing?
“There.” - Saul 
Are they on a farm?
“No.” - Saul 
Why not? 
“Because they don’t need a farm.” - Saul 
If they’re not on a farm, where could they be? 
“There because there is where they’re playing.” - Saul 

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Is this a city? 
“No.” - Saul
Why not? 
“Because there’s not so many plants.” - Giacomo
“Because it’s a farm.” - Saul 
What makes it a farm? 
“Trees.” - Saul 
“No, but it’s not a farm.  It’s a forrest.” - Giacomo
 You both noticed the plants and trees. What are these back here? What could they be?
“Places we’ve already seen.” - Giacomo
It seems like even when we look at the same image, we see different things.  Or we can imagine different things? 

Can you imagine being inside of this room? 
“No.” - Saul 
What would you do if you were inside that room? 
“I would go outside and find some shells and the beach, but we must stay there because that’s where they live.” - Saul 
Do you think this painting is maybe at the beach? 
“No, it’s already at the beach.” - Saul 
Maybe it’s a painting of a room at the beach. 
“No.” - Saul

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Here is a very different kind of room.  Can you describe it?  What do we notice about it? 
“There’s one light side and one dark side.” - Giacomo
“There’s nobody in there.” - Saul
“No, there’s somebody in there.” - Giacomo
Are you looking at this figure and this? Saul, what do you think? Could this be a person? 
“No, it’s not a person.” - Saul 
“Mostly it’s a ghost.” - Giacomo
“Yeah, it’s a ghost.” - Saul
What is this the ghost has with it? 
“I think that’s his face because ghosts heads can come off.” - Giacomo
“I see a television.” - Saul 
That’s the interesting thing about artwork is that we might see something different. 

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“A town. Even two houses. How could that be?” - Saul

“Yeah, what is he doing?” - Saul 
“I\t must be a traffic light.” - Giacomo​