Whether your child can write or just getting started, there are a lot of things you can do to get them more inspired to write for fun, and not because they have to.
Children that write will not just get better at spelling, it develops their entire language and makes it easier to express themselves both orally and in text. Writing trains us to reason and find a good way to communicate.
By reading a lot, either read by one self, or being read to, creates a good vocabulary, the possibility of seeing pictures in the mind, but it also gives inspiration to writing yourself.
- Involve the children in grocery lists / wish lists / to-do lists, etc.
- Encourage the kid to write letters to a friend or relative. What is more fun than finding a letter in the mailbox?
- Make sure there is space and material to actually write, it should not be difficult to get started.
Reasons why it is good to write, for children as well as for adults
- It increase their social ability
- It helps developing empathy and to reason about problems
- Writing reduces stress
- The memory gets better
Tips on two fun writing games
Story bag
Take a bag and put:
- one or preferably several characters (like the child likes, maybe an action figure or an animal)
- different things (props). Maybe a vehicle, a fruit, a tool, or something else exciting.
The next step is to pull one thing at a time out of the bag and tell a coherent story based on what you pick up. This is a fun game to do with the child, and initially you may be the one who writes down the story that the child comes up with. This is to create a desire and joy in the storytelling.
Build sentences
Write down your words or sentences on plain paper and cut them out. Create together with the child and create small poems or stories from the cut outs.