Keeping a writing journal is a great way to keep your child´s mind active while they are out of school this summer. But unless you have a budding novelist in your family who is passionate about writing, your child may tire quickly of keeping a daily journal. Here are some fun, outside-of-the-box writing activities for kids that will keep your child writing all summer long!
The Never-Ending Story
Work together with your child to write a never-ending story that is sure to get you giggling! Start by giving your child a short, generic prompt, such as “Long ago and far away…” or “This morning I woke up and…”. Don’t be afraid to get creative and come up with a few of your own prompts! Then, invite your child to write a small portion of the story, and take turns adding more. If your child is younger, you may want to limit each turn to just a few words. While you can also set the limit to a few words for older children, you will probably have better results if you each write a few sentences before trading. This is one of the fun writing activities that you can enjoy time and time again by starting with a new prompt.
Design a Children’s Book
Take a trip to the library to check out several children’s story books. After you read the books together, talk about what you both liked about the books and what made it a good story. Then, make one of your summer writing activities to help your child write and illustrate their very own story book! For best results, you may need to guide your child through every step of the process – choosing a story idea, writing the story, and adding the illustrations. Once the story and illustrations are complete, have your child sign their work, and bind the pages to create a book. This can be as simple as putting the pages in a folder with brads or as elaborate as some of the creative ideas that you can find on Pinterest. Place the book on your child’s bookshelf alongside their other books. Be sure to read this book together sometimes as a bedtime story!
Write a Vacation Memoir
Your summer vacation is the perfect time for your child to practice their writing! The new location and experiences are great topics to get your child’s imagination going. Every night of your trip, help your child reflect back on what they did that day and write about it in a travel journal. When you return home, you can combine these writing selections with photos, brochures, and other memorabilia to create a scrapbook about your vacation. There is something special about reflecting back on the fun times you all had together and seeing it through the eyes of your child!
Don’t have a summer vacation planned this year? No problem – encourage your child to document some of the memorable activities that you do together this summer, such as going for a hike in the woods, celebrating the 4th of July, cooking special meals together, and so on. If you want, you can even extend this activity to include memories you have made together for the entire year.
Funny Writing Prompts
For this activity, you will need three small containers, such as boxes or bags, as well as several small scraps of paper or index cards. Start by labeling the containers with “Setting”, “Character”, and “Plot”. Then make a list of different settings that could be used for a story, such as “the moon”, “the beach”, or “school”. Write each of your ideas on a separate piece of paper, fold it, and place it inside the container labeled “Setting”. Then list different characters that could be the focus of a story, such as “an astronaut”, “a ballerina”, or “Grandma” to place in the “Character” container. Finally, list different conflicts that could be the basis for the plot of a story, such as “is a spy on a secret mission to save the world” or “is training to join the circus” and put them in the “Plot” container. Have your child draw one slip from each container and combine these silly ideas into a story.
With these out-of-the-box writing activities, you can keep your child’s mind active this summer. By showing your child the joy of writing, you can create a lifelong passion in them that will help them be successful in school and their future career.
Photo by S@veOurSm:)e
Suzy S.