Children typically have fantastic imaginations, so why not channel that into an activity that will teach them a variety of other skills at the same time?
Creative writing projects are great for helping your child expand their vocabulary and improve their spelling and grammar, plus it’s also a wonderful way to spend some quality time together. If you’re unsure where to start, here’s some advice from an independent girls’ school in Surrey.
It’s unlikely that your child will be particularly great at writing their own stories if they haven’t read many (although there will be some exceptions). Regardless, reading regularly with your child will help them become familiar with the various genres and the key elements of each, as well as different writing styles and sentence structures. It will also help them learn new words, which they can then use in their own stories.
Starting their own story from scratch will be quite challenging, so it might be worth starting with something simpler. For instance, your child could write a book review of their favourite novel, or they could maybe even re-write the ending of one of their favourite stories.
Alternatively, they could write a little spin-off about one of the main characters. These are all easier than starting from scratch because the characters and plot have already been developed by a professional author.
If your child does feel ready to write their own story, encourage them to use a mind-map to plan it out before they start. Having the patience to prepare for something rather than rushing into it is a fantastic skill for young people to learn and one that will serve them well throughout their academic journey and eventually when they start a career.
Mind-maps are great because they will allow your child to think about the nouns, verbs and adjectives associated with a particular genre. For instance, if they are writing a story about space, their mind-map should include words like planets, stars, gravity, astronauts, spaceships. You can help them get started with their story by writing the first sentence for them.
Don’t be afraid to get some inspiration from one of the stories on your bookshelf!
Leave a Reply