These stories are written in a format that allows you to edit the story and the characters to your liking. For example, the name of the main character in this story “Arya” can be changed to [Your Child’s Name].

Characters:

• Arya – is a young, curious and brave photographer who has been fascinated by the animals and their lives forever. She has recently got a budget to take some pictures for National Geographic and she is visiting the African jungles for the first time.

Storyline:

SCENE 1

It’s a beautiful morning in Nairobi.
ARYA has a map of the best locations to shoot pictures of the wildlife.
ARYA is sitting at the dining table of her hotel, reviewing her map when a waiter approaches her table:

WAITER

Good morning ma’am, I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful morning

 

ARYA 

Oh, yes yes. I do.

The waiter puts a coffee cup in front of her and starts pouring the coffee in her cup when ARYA asks.

Excuse me, I had a question. Do you know how far is this hotel from this location?

 

WAITER

The waiter leans forward on the map, has a closer look, stands up and says:

It’s about 1 hour away from here ma’am.

 

ARYA

Thank you.

 

WAITER

My pleasure.

Then he turns around and pauses for a second. He wants to go back but then he turns to Arya again.

Ma’am, I hope I’m not disturbing you but beware of that location. There have been many photographers who tried wildlife photography in that location and only a few were successful.

 

ARYA

Responds with hesitation.

What do you mean? “A few were successful”

 

WAITER

Many died, ma’am. It’s been years that no one tries photographing in that location.

 

ARYA

Responds while laughing.

Thank you, and yeah, I’ll be careful.

 

WAITER

I know you’ll be careful.

Then he leans forward as if he wants to tell her a secret

And, next time, don’t drink coffee at the hotel. Kenyan coffee is one of the best in the world, try one from local cafes. They’re way better.

He winks at her and leaves

 ARYA

Now, feeling even more confused she starts drinking her coffee.

What a weirdo. But maybe he’s right, I am new to this place. I should be more careful. Okay, so that’s what we’ll. Being more careful.

But that won’t be ruining the fun – She says with a gist of a victory

 

She folds the map, and puts it into her bag, gets into the car, and starts the engine

NOTE: [ If you have extra time, you can role-play the “hiding in a corner”, “waiting for an animal to come by”, and “trying to capture images from it” in its best possible position – Either parent can play the animal ]

SCENE 2

Arya has been spending all day long, taking photos of the different types of animals.
She drives to a lake to fill out her bottle and takes pictures of animals while drinking water, there.

She goes to the lakeside and as she starts to fill out her bottle, she hears a weird sound around her.
She turns around and sees a giant alligator approaching her.

She runs to the car and jumps on top of the car.
As she jumps, she drops her keys to the ground.
Now, she’s trapped on top of her car, without the car keys to drive away,
Alligator is trying to bite her and is constantly moving around the vehicle.

 

Now, ARYA needs to find a way to get her keys and move back into the car. How is she going to do it?

 

TO BE CONTINUED…