Story starters

Unicorn and mermaid story starters

Magic stories work best when the magic causes a problem. Draw a unicorn or a mermaid, then pick a starter and see what goes wrong.

12 story starters to pick from

  1. A unicorn’s horn stops working on the day of the big race.
  2. A mermaid finds a phone at the bottom of the sea.
  3. A unicorn and a narwhal argue about who has the better horn.
  4. A mermaid wants to see snow.
  5. A unicorn moves into a city apartment.
  6. A mermaid opens a hair salon for sea creatures.
  7. A unicorn sneezes rainbows and can’t turn them off.
  8. A seahorse wants to race a dolphin.
  9. A unicorn loses its sparkle.
  10. A mermaid’s tail turns into legs for one day.
  11. A unicorn is invited to a birthday party but the party is for a dragon.
  12. A mermaid finds a message in a bottle.

Stuck in the middle? Add one of these:

  • Suddenly, the rainbow starts to fade.
  • Suddenly, the sea turns to lemonade.
  • Suddenly, all the magic in the land stops working.
  • Suddenly, a storm blows in.
  • Suddenly, the bottle starts to talk.
  • Suddenly, everybody it touches turns sparkly.
Printable Unicorns and mermaids story starter cards Print the starter cards (PDF)

Two pages: 12 cut-apart cards and a three-panel comic with the first starter already filled in.

Make it a comic

Turn a starter into a comic

Your comic story

1 · Beginning

A unicorn’s horn stops working on the day of the big race.

“Uh-oh.”Draw it here!
2 · Middle

Suddenly, the rainbow starts to fade.

TA-DA!Draw it here!
3 · Twist ending

How does it end? You decide!

The big finish
Print a blank template

Draw in the boxes with a finger, a stylus or a mouse, or print the comic and draw on paper. The speech bubble and sound effect are just ideas: use them, change them or make up your own.

Draw it first

Draw the characters with a free lesson

More free lessons like these

Then write it

Story sheets that go with it

Fold-Up Mini-Book story sheet

Make a bookAll ages

Fold-Up Mini-Book

One sheet of paper becomes an 8-page book: a cover, six story pages and an “about the author” page on the back.

The books

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