Regardless of age, we all love stories. Hearing them, telling them, being part of them. So, if your child is showing off a stellar imagination and enjoys hearing and telling stories, why not encourage them to write them down? Not only is it hugely beneficial for their learning and development, but it’s a way to show that ‘school’ subjects are far more fun than they seem in the classroom.If your little one isn’t thrilled about the idea, you’ll need to make it extra fun – fun enough to rival whatever is on the TV or how nice the weather is outside! Luckily there are plenty of ways to help children write more – and here’s some of the best. If you’ve got any other strategies, do leave them in a comment below.
Create a writer’s toolkit
This could be your most valuable asset. Put a box together and fill it with all sorts of exciting things: new pens, pencils and notebooks. New toys. Stickers. A child-friendly dictionary – like this one from… . Put new books in – try to aim for non-fiction books about topics that your children are interested in. If you want to really ramp up the ‘special-ness’ about writing time, you could even get your children their own personalised notebook each, like these ones from Giftsin24.com. That way, you won’t have any arguments about which book belongs to which child!
Introduce writing time
Start with an hour, or slightly more or less depending on your children’s attention spans. Pick a time when they’re going to concentrate a bit more, and when they’re going to be relaxed and open to creativity. Here’s an old post about creating a fun playschool environment – you could take some tips for setting up your writing area. Show your children the toolkit, and explain what each is for.
Start telling stories
Take the toys or the new books from the kit, and ask your children to think up one sentence about either something they learnt from the book, or about the ‘characters’ (that is, the toys). Then use the combination of ‘fortunately’ and ‘unfortunately’ to develop the story. The more you tell stories together, the more your children will understand the format and how to develop them.
Read every single day
There’s an old piece of advice that all writers live by: you can’t write if you don’t read. So, make sure that your kids are reading, or being read to, every day. This definitive list from BookTrust.org has the best books for children of all ages. Find your local library – or search online for secondhand copies – and start exploring a whole host of new worlds.
Use writing prompts
Coming up with an idea can often be the end point for writing. You and your children might spend so long thinking of an idea, that by the time you get around to writing, they’ve stopped paying attention. So, use writing prompts. You could try exploring one a day, or a couple per writing session – it all depends how into it you get! SquareheadTeachers.com has some awesome ideas to get your children started. You could even look at making your own writing prompts – your kids will love seeing how silly they can be!
