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6 Engaging Writing Activities for Kids

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Written by Sara Dennis of Classically Homeschooling.

Writing is one of those subjects that can be fun and engaging or dull and dry, boring your kids to tears. The secret to making writing engaging is using exciting writing activities to inspire your children.

Keep a Journal

A journal is simply a written record of personal thoughts, feelings, news, or events. It can be about a specific event, trip, or hobby. Kids can keep a journal to write about anything they’re interested in.

For instance, encourage your kids to keep a travel journal about a trip to Disney Land or fun hikes they’ve taken. They may want to keep a natural journal of birds they spot in your backyard or their favorite kinds of dogs.

They can keep a journal about the various types of Pokémon, books they’ve enjoyed, or their favorite cars. Journals can also be about medicine, engineering, or science topics – or a little bit of everything.

The world is your oyster when it comes to types of journals kids can keep! Your kids might want to illustrate their journals or add travel brochures, photos, or pictures they’ve found in magazines.

Encourage them to be creative and enjoy creating a specialized journal just for them.

Find a Pen Pal

Everyone loves to receive letters in the mail, especially in today’s world of email and instant messaging. Writing letters to children all over the world isn’t just a fantastic way of learning geography it’s also a fantastic way to encourage your kids to write!

The trick is finding a pen pal. Ask friends, family, and acquaintances if they’d like to be pen pals. Keep in mind that pen pals don’t have to live far away from each other. You may find friends in town who’d love to exchange letters.

Encourage your child to respond promptly when a letter arrives from his pen pal. Remind him that the notes don’t have to be lengthy. A couple of paragraphs may be just right. The regular exchange is important, not the length of the letter. So keep the correspondence flowing!

If your child is stuck on what to write, suggest writing about local activities, events, or their favorite thing to do.

WriteShop

Write and Illustrate a Picture Book

Nothing is as exciting as seeing your words in print no matter how old you are! So let your child write and illustrate a picture book.

First, sit down with your student and hash out the characters and plot. Remember that a plot is essentially a problem. What is the problem your character has, and what needs to happen to resolve it?

Now your child can write the short story.  Once your student completes his story, don’t let him forget to illustrate it!

My kids enjoy writing their stories on regular copy paper. The writing goes on the bottom. The picture on top. If the book is short enough, we staple it together with a construction paper cover.

You can make homemade books, or you may want to purchase blank hardcover books.

Leave Hidden Messages

Create excitement for writing with hidden messages! You can leave little notes in the fridge to be found at lunchtime or a short letter under your child’s pillow or on top of their toy box.

Challenge your children to leave hidden messages for other members of the family. They can leave notes in the car, in a parent’s briefcase or a sibling’s backpack, and under pillows. Make it a game to see who can find the most creative hiding spot!

You can even create an in-home mailbox for the messages to be ‘mailed’ and ‘delivered.’

Have fun leaving surprise messages around the house. Your kids will quickly become skilled at writing short notes for family and friends!

Write a Play

My kids worked together to create a play about Plymouth Colony one year. They collaborated to come up with the characters, the plot, and the setting, laughing their way through the what-ifs of the story.

After hashing out the details, they wrote and performed the play.

Nothing will encourage your kids to write like the joy of creating and producing a play! Give them plenty of time to complete the assignment. After all, it takes time to write, cast, rehearse, and perform a play.

I give my kids four weeks. The first week is for coming up with the idea, plot, and a rough outline. The second week is for writing the play. Week 3 is all about editing and beginning to rehearse the play. The fourth week is for rehearsal, setting, and costumes, with the grand finale – the performance – at the end of the week.

And performing the play is even more fun when you invite friends and extended family!

Write a Comic Strip

If your kids love comics, prompt them to write their own comic strip.

They can use themselves as inspiration or create silly characters. Be prepared. You may find your kids running all sorts of bad jokes by you to see how funny they actually are!

Other kids may prefer to write an entire comic book like Superman or Archie. Let them go for it! By writing the comic book, your kids are learning about character, backstory, plot, and foreshadowing.

Comic books are a fabulous way to get kids to write without stress.

The next time you have kids complaining about how dull and boring writing is, use one of these exciting writing activities to add some spice to your homeschool. Your kids will enjoy the change of pace, and you’ll love the enthusiasm!

What fun and exciting writing activities do your kids enjoy?

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