Writing Prompts, Games, Journals
Creative Writing Activities and Habits Get Students to Love Writing
Mar 11, 2008
For some children, the mechanics of learning to write correctly can hamper a natural ability to express themselves in writing. There are many things parents and teachers can do to help encourage a love of writing in children.
Make a Habit of Writing
Many teachers have been able to draw out the writing muse in children by dedicating time each day to having their students write in journals. Indeed, one of the "Seven Keys of Great Teaching", as described in the History of George Wythe College System, by educational historian Shanon D. Brooks [George Wythe Foundation, 2006] is to “structure time; not content.”
Implementing this philosophy with your budding writers can mean dedicating time each day to writing simply for the sake of writing. Susan Davis Lenski and Jerry Johns, authors of Teaching Writing K-8 [Kendall Hunt Publishers, 2004], caution teachers; “Do not grade the journals.” They later recommend keeping a teacher’s log to track observations and progress in spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Acknowledging the independent writing your child does can be comforting, too. If you child is regularly writing songs, stories, cards, lists, business plans, bedtime stories and poems, then the love of writing is intact and inflicting a journal could likely squash it.
Writing Prompts
The use of writing prompts can take many forms. Some teachers choose to display a universal prompt, like a story-starter or an inspirational quote and require students to write on that topic. Indeed, mandating a topic might seem like a fantastic way to avoid hearing the words “But I don’t know what to write.” A student who isn’t inspired by the prompt of the day, however, could end up frustrated.
To avoid this, try making the prompt optional or offering several prompts to choose from. One inventive method of inspiring kids to enjoy writing prompts is to place them in a jar and allow each child to choose one. Following the random prompt selection, you might want to allow a 1-2 minute swap so that each child ends up with a prompt that they are inspired by.
For older students, you might want to have them keep their writing journal handy throughout the day and whenever they are inspired by something they can add it to their list of “things to write about.”
Writing Games
Mad Libs are great to use with students. If you’re not familiar with Mad Libs, they are pre-written stories with random words missing from strategic places. Children are asked to choose nouns, verbs, adverbs, pronouns and other words to fill in the blanks and create their own silly stories. Writing games can help children experiment with words in a “safe” way that isn’t subject to grading or evaluation.
A popular writing game is a version of the spoken game telephone. As each story needs a beginning, middle and an end, group children in sets of three. Each person in each group begins with a sheet of paper and for a specified amount of time (5 minutes is usually enough) writes out the beginning of a story. At the end of the buzzer (allow 1-2 minutes if necessary for everyone to finish) students pass the page to the child on their left and the process begins again, with each child writing a middle, and then finally, the end. When all of the stories are written, they are read aloud for enjoyment or distributed to different groups for illustration.
Teaching Writing Resources
For more writing and journaling prompts, games and ideas, visit Memaw’s Writing Corner.
