How to motivate children to write
Teachers will work on teaching children the structures of writing. This does not have to be your job. However, there are some great ideas to stimulate your child to enjoy writing, These simple strategies can be applied at home and in an enjoyable way together. We want writing to simply flow from talking and reading.
Consider:
Have fun making up sentences. For example. Start with: ‘Yesterday I learnt that……’ Let your child finish the sentence.
Play the ‘And’ game.‘I opened my wardrobe and……’ ‘I walked to the park and….’
Have an ideas book. Encourage them to write in it when they get an idea for a story. At the end of the week read out the ideas and have a chat together.
Find a special writing space in your house. Make it creative with plenty of light and encourage children to use it when they get ideas for a story.
Always have the writing materials available and ready to be used.
Have fun in the car. ‘There I see a sad man on the corner. He looks…….’ Let them finish the sentence.
When your child does write a story you can turn it into a book quite easily.
Some children especially boys are more practical and like writing about real items. Suggest they write about their bike, ball games, sports activities, Lego sets etc. It does not have to be about fantasy all the time. Excellent writers can be practical writers who enjoy writing for a purpose.
Encouraging drawing can lead to writing and this is helpful, especially for the reluctant young writer. Let them talk to you about their drawings and hear the story behind them.
Be the model and write a lot. Keep all your lists available to be read. Together write messages that need to be remembered and used.
Write a letter to someone together.
When reading to your child invite them to make up a different ending to the story or perhaps change the beginning or introduce new characters. Read together and talk about the progress of the story.
Message boards with notes to each other is a great visual tool to encourage writing.
Encourage writing a journal. This can be their special words just for their eyes alone.
Finally, writing for many children takes time to evolve. Encourage them to write freely and without reserve. Accept their ideas and let them think through their sentences. The more they feel in control the less they rely on you and their ideas start to take shape. Here it is not about making or correcting their mistakes. No author would ever put punctuation and grammar ahead of good ideas.
‘You can make anything by writing.’ -C.S.Lewis