Exploring Creative Writing with your child

Creative writing is an enjoyable way for children to explore their imagination and develop a range of important academic skills. Children have marvellous imaginations, which parents can help to cultivate using these fantastic creative writing tips from an independent girls’ school in Buckinghamshire

Try to read with your child as regularly as you can. Frequent reading will improve your child’s spelling and grammar skills, teach them lots of new words and present them with a variety of literary genres. Your child might discover a favourite book or author, which is great because it can help to characterise their own preferred style of writing. 

Creative Writing Challenge

Your child’s first creative writing challenge could be to write an alternative ending to their favourite story. Give them some suggestions and together you can explore how changes to the storyline, could lead to a completely different ending. For instance, what if the villain wins the battle instead of the hero? This will be far easier for them than starting a whole new story from scratch, as the characters and storyline have already been established by a professional. 

When your child is ready to write their own short story, make sure they choose a topic that truly interests them, or they will not find the motivation to see the project through to finality. Encourage them to plan out a beginning, middle and end and use a mind-map to come up with some relevant words and phrases. For instance, if the story is going to be about a young witch or wizard, the mind-map should include words like magic, spells, potions, and broomsticks.

How to Help your child get started

If your child is struggling to get started, perhaps you could write the first sentence, or even the first paragraph, on their behalf, so that they have a sense of direction. Alternatively, you could think of a problem for the characters that your child will then have to solve through their writing. If you’re lacking inspiration, just grab a relevant book from your bookshelf and read the blurb, tweaking it slightly so that your child can add their own spin. 

As well as teaching your child several key skills, helping them with their creative writing is a great way for you to spend some fun quality time together in a productive and educational manner. 

Thanks for reading xxx