Share your children's made-up worlds and stories to win a gorgeous red ukulele, signed picture book and limited edition print

[SorchaMumsnet]

Children are natural storytellers. To celebrate the publication of fantastical picture book Also an Octopus, we're asking you to share the stories your children create.

Also an Octopus is a story about... how to build a story! Every story needs a character, so why not a ukulele-playing octopus who wants to build a spaceship out of glitter and waffles? From award-winning illustrator Benji Davies and author Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Also an Octopus is a funny, warm-hearted tale all about storytelling; the perfect picture book for imaginative readers.

Walker Books have teamed up with Octopus Ukulele to offer Mumsnetters the chance to win a tentacle-tastic prize that will set imaginations soaring! Octopus Ukulele create the best beginner instruments around, perfect for creative play. Their ukuleles come in lots of different colours and we’ve got a gorgeous red one to give away.

For a chance to win a signed copy of Also an Octopus, a limited edition print AND an Octopus Ukulele just tell us: what imaginative worlds do your children dream up? Five runners-up will win a copy of Also an Octopus and a limited edition print.

This discussion is sponsored by Walker Books and will close end of day, Wednesday 1 March

Books T&Cs apply

THEY HAVE SECRET FRIENDS WHO THEY TALK TO

my daughter created a horrific castle where really spoy things live and an ogre lived there called fran, so it was loosely based on her uncle , my brother

My daughter loves having pretend sleep overs with her friends Kitty, Isabelle and Bunny. She used to say they were princesses trapped in the castle and the floor was the sea and they couldn't fall in as they would drown?? She was only 2 yrs old then, she did also have a terrible nightmare once that the police were going to take her sister away, she woke up crying her eyes out. Strange as I am a police officer and obviously that would never happened.

My 6 yr old DD is very imaginative and creative in things she does. She is a cheer leader and will use her shopkins to create routines ( i have to take photos) or she has done the nativity play with them too. I'm quite looking forward to the next scene she creates.

our little Chap likes to hide our things in the laundry basket so that they have gone into Space forever on a mission with Batman and Nanny! we have to check and re-check the laundry before shoving it into the washing machine, we have had a few near misses, the most recent being a calculator hiding in a pillow case!

My 2 year old does the bedtime routine with her baby, puts her on the toilet, baths her and puts her to bed, even acts out her being naughty afterwards!

My DDs (6 and 4) usually set up their imaginative play in which they recreate scenarios from school - they play the teachers and they friends usually crop up as being very naughty and getting into trouble. My DDs, are always the 'good' ones though!

My son was big into his trains a few years back and we have a collection of them to rival Hamleys probably, he would sit for hours with track all over the floor and talking to the trains and telling them where they were to go and on which track and why.

My daughter loves coming up with creative worlds especially when it involves her shopkins or barbies. It always involves having a picnic or going to the beach. however when the mummy barbie tells her children off she always makes it sound like me haha

My lo loves pretending that she is a mermaid and is fighting against evil pirates

We used to pretend that one of my dd's was a random stranger and we invited her along to wherever we were going. We used to enjoy getting to know where she was from and how she came to be alone in the big wide world. it was a game we played together especially whilst walking to places to make the walk more fun. Now we have a car we dom't have the time to play like that.... Or perhaps they have just grown out of it.

My DD has an imaginary friend who lives in China but visits the UK. They sometimes go into space too. It's been going on for years!

My little one certainly has a very vivid and active imagination! although sometimes it causes him fear, i.e he calls some of his toys 'bad guys', and we have to hide them or he wont go in the room, bless him! since he was very young he has talked about going to his big red house, we still, to this day, have never got to the bottom of that!

My daughters word was boofy, with regards to her school bag, she knocked into someone because her bag was too boofy.

My 6 year old loves making up songs & singing them, directing her sister to join in & getting very cross when her sister can't remember what comes next. They do a double act when we are in suitable locations like the huge Barn in Buckland Abbey & other visitors are amazed!

At 2.5 my son is only just starting to create imaginary worlds about sparkly dinosaurs, chocolate grapes, and naughty construction vehicles. Those games are sweet and I understand where they're coming from. But he's been playing games where he has to do made-up 'jobs' for about 6 months now -- I've no idea what 'logging the bushes' is although it keeps him busy in the garden for AGES. He also is often found 'raising the signs', which seems to involve pretending to screw things into the carpet. I like these games because they're completely his own and because he's always really purposeful and in his flow when he's playing them. I don't understand them, but I feel like he's being really creative when he's playing them.

My daughter had her own puppy world. All had names. She sorted them in walking groups,play groups,naughty groups,she can still line them up and name them all!!

Everything particularly my daughter says is imaginative. At the moment she is talking about a giant time travelling tardis like pink teddy & is writing stories about her adventures in it

My middle son seems to inhabit some planet that no one else goes to. To the point his brothers tell him to be a dalek in the corner while they are playing Star Wars. When I asked him why he wasn't joining in with them he said he was in the wrong space/time zone and he was navigating his way to them. He was about six feet from them at the time while they played something totally different. They were happy and I left them to it.

My son's stories would often entail meeting dinosaurs, travelling back in time and then getting back to our time either through a portal or by building a time machine. My daughter often meets animals on her adventures like a friendly shark, a reindeer and a parrot. She often takes on the role of pirate with a very loud and realistic aharggh!

My 4 year old has a lovely imagination. She loves making up stories with her Paw Patrol characters or her farm animals. After a recent party she spend the evening singing happy birthday to each one of her teddies in turn.

My 5 year old is often found talking to herself in her room whilst she plays make believe schools, or she plays mums and dads with her sister and recently she's become very scared of the dark because of 'what might be there'

My sons have developed their own parallel universe to Harry Potter. Their bears are all members of the Potter family and rather than Voldemort they have 2 evil characters called Joldemort and Doldemort. Son2 is writing it all up as a film script on behalf of one of his bears

Our little ones make-up a whole range of imaginary worlds, ones that metamorphosize (is that a word?) to fit the occasion.

A popular one is the spaceship commanders navigating through asteroid fields in the deep reaches of Space. Another is the Formula 1 drivers racing at Silverstone (or another equally famous Grand Prix circuit) in the championship decider. But nothing can beat when they are in their Star Wars costumes and the living room becomes the Death Star, the stage for a lightsaber duel to end all duels.

My little grandson lives in the land of dinosaurs - we have to watch out for them hiding behind parked cars and in driveways on our walk to and from school