Future Folktales
Future Folktales unlocks creative foresight by guiding participants to reimagine familiar stories in future contexts, fostering innovative solutions and inspiring visions for a regenerative world. This method encourages participants to explore desirable futures through narrative, connecting personal experiences with imaginative scenarios.
Use this method when you need to inspire creative thinking about the future, develop shared visions, and engage participants in storytelling to explore potential solutions to complex challenges.
Solves: Lack of creative ideas, difficulty envisioning the future, disconnection from personal values in strategic planning.
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Step 1: Folktales that Shaped us (60 min). Instruct participants to individually reflect on a folktale that significantly impacted them in childhood.
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Step 2: In small groups, have each participant share their chosen folktale and discuss its impact, guided by questions like: 'How did the folktale make you feel?' and 'What lens did you adopt from the folktale to understand the world?'
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Step 3: Visions of Desirable Futures (150 min). Ask participants to choose their favorite character from their folktale.
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Step 4: Instruct them to imagine a future scenario (10, 50, or 100 years from now) where a significant change has occurred (e.g., no waste, virtual wars).
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Step 5: Have them write or draw a scene depicting their character in this future situation, focusing on sensory details.
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Step 6: Crafting a Story (240 min). Guide participants to create a journey outline, starting with their future vision as the endpoint.
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Step 7: Have them map out the character's journey from the present to the future, including pivotal moments, locations, and challenges.
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Step 8: Instruct them to develop the outline into a folktale narrative.
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Step 9: Developing a Format (240 min). Facilitate a discussion on different formats for presenting the folktales (written, oral, comic book, animation, VR).
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Step 10: Have participants choose a format and develop their folktale accordingly.
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Step 11: Sharing Future Folktales (30 min). Invite participants to share their completed folktales with the group.
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Step 12: After each presentation, have peers provide constructive feedback using a peer-reflection assessment.
- Encourage participants to embrace creativity and think outside the box.
- Provide examples of future scenarios to spark their imagination.
- Remind participants to focus on the emotional impact of their stories.
- Collaborative Future Making: Involve local communities in co-creating future visions.
- Focus on specific themes: Direct the storytelling towards specific challenges or opportunities (e.g., climate change, social justice).