PARENTING - Exploring Creative Writing With Your Child

Creative writing is a great skill and can benefit children on a personal as well academic level. Not to mention, it’s also quite a fun hobby. As a parent, you can help your child explore their creative writing ability using lots of fun techniques. Here are some ideas from an independent school in Surrey to get you started.

One of the best ways to help your child develop their imagination and their writing skills is to encourage them to read. Ask them to pick out some of their favourite books and explore the similarities and differences between each of them. Discuss what elements of a story are common in each genre. If your child has a preferred genre or author, this might help them develop their own style of writing. Ask your child to write their own ending to their favourite story and see what they come up with.

Mind maps are a great way to get your child thinking outside the box. Once your child has chosen a topic for their creative writing piece, encourage them to use a mind map to come up with lots of different words that relate to that particular topic. This doesn’t have to be just adjectives; it can also be names, places and even senses. Your child might be able to use their mind map to come up with some characters and settings for their story.

When writing a story, the hardest part is often getting started. Help your child by giving them a great opening sentence that they can then expand upon. Don’t be afraid to consult some existing novels to give you some inspiration.

Always praise your child when they have written something, even if you don’t think it’s very good. This will help them with their confidence and encourage them to continue writing. Alternatively, if you criticise their work then they won’t want to do it again.