The Future
What happens when you press a magic watch and teleport to the future—only to lose the one thing that can bring you home?
In this episode, Chanan and her friend Fatima wake up one early morning ready for adventure. Armed with magic watches that teleport them anywhere they want, they decide to investigate the future. What they find is unsettling: a world where everyone stands like robots, where technology and electronics have transformed humanity into something mechanical and still.
Then disaster strikes. Chanan's watch disappears. Panic sets in. Without it, she's trapped in a future she doesn't belong to. But Chanan has an idea—if she uses Fatima's watch to travel back in time ten minutes, she can find her lost watch before it vanished. The plan works. She finds it. But now she's ten minutes in the past with no way forward.
The solution? Twist the watch hands ten minutes forward. WHOOSH. They make it back, relieved and slightly traumatized, not quite sure they'll take another trip anytime soon.
Fast-paced, clever, and built on the brilliant logic of time-travel problem-solving, this is a story about curiosity, quick thinking under pressure, and the relief of making it home in one piece.
This story proves what one Year 6 student told us: "The only superpower you need is imagination."
About the Story
Story Type: Time-travel adventure with problem-solving twist
Themes: Curiosity and consequence, quick thinking, friendship, technology's impact on humanity, home as something you don't appreciate until it's gone
Setting: Present day, the distant future (a world of robots and frozen humanity), ten minutes in the past
Key Elements:
- Magic watches that teleport you anywhere you want
- A future where everyone "stood like robots" (chilling social commentary)
- The panic of losing your only way home
- Time-travel logic: going back ten minutes to find the lost watch
- The secondary problem: now trapped in the past
- The solution: twisting the watch hands forward
- The relief of making it back
- The wonderfully honest conclusion: "Not quite sure we'll take another trip anytime soon"
Why This Story Matters
Chanan has created something remarkably sophisticated: a time-travel story with layered problem-solving. Notice the structure: problem (lost watch) → solution (go back in time) → NEW problem (now stuck in the past) → solution (twist watch forward).
This is cause-and-effect thinking. This is understanding that every solution creates new conditions. And that observation about the future—"Everyone stood like robots"—is quietly profound social commentary from a child who sees technology's potential to strip away what makes us human.
When children are given complete creative autonomy, they don't just write adventure stories. They write stories with moral weight, with problem-solving that requires multiple steps, and with endings that are honest rather than triumphant. That final line—"Not quite sure we'll take another trip anytime soon"—is perfect. They made it home, but the experience changed them. They're more cautious now. That's character development.
About StoryQuest™
StoryQuest is a validated methodology that achieves 100% engagement across all learners, including reluctant writers, boys, and students with SEND. The approach is simple but profound: give children complete creative autonomy over something that truly matters to them.
Resources & Links
Bring StoryQuest to Your School:
Visit my-storyquest.com to download the curriculum guide and discover how your students can become published authors.
Start Friday Night Storytelling at Home:
Download Gabriel's StoryQuest Family Kit at theadventuresofgabriel.com
Read Gabriel's Adventures:
The international #1 bestselling series that started it all, co-authored by Kate Markland and her son Gabriel Khan. Available at theadventuresofgabriel.com
Connect with Kate:
Website: katemarkland.com
Share This Episode
Know a teacher struggling with reluctant writers? A parent whose child says "writing is boring"? A school leader looking for proven literacy solutions? Share this episode with them.
Because every child has a story. And when we give them the freedom to tell it, extraordinary things happen.
Keywords
Child authors, creative writing for children, literacy education, reluctant writers, StoryQuest, student engagement, children's storytelling, authentic writing, educational innovation, child-led learning, time travel stories, future worlds, magic watches, problem-solving stories, friendship adventures, UK education
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Production: StoryQuest