We all know that good writing skills are important for effective communication. In general, children who have good writing skills have an easier time in school and get better grades.
While our children may not aspire to become professional writers, everyone can benefit from learning to write well.
Here are some ideas to help encourage your child to develop their writing skills:
Reading
Exposure to good writing can help children develop their own writing skills. Check with your school or librarian to find a list of books recommended for your child’s age. Here are a few books that we enjoyed:
- The Cat in The Hat (for preschoolers)
- Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm (for early readers)
- Henry and Ribsy (for elementary age)
- Redwall (Tale of Redwall) (for late elementary and early junior high age)
Diaries or Journals.
Children love to keep these kinds of records. Encourage them to keep a diary and watch their writing skills improve. For inspiration you can point to popular diary series books like:
- The Princess Diaries, The Royal Diaries (try Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, France, 1553)
- The Dear America Series (try Dreams In The Golden Country)
- Older children may find inspiration in The Diary of Anne Frank
Trip Log
Are you taking a vacation? Why not have your children create a trip log of the experience? With notebooks and expensive cameras children can create memorable vacation logs that will also improve their writing skills.
Newspaper
Do you do a family newspaper? Many people do this at Christmastime, but there’s no reason that there can’t be more frequent editions. Why not schedule a mid-year edition featuring your child as the reporter?
Reviews
Book reports are not just for school. Encourage your child to read book reviews and then to create their own book review for their favorite book. They can also write reviews of their favorite movies and music. If you have a family website, you could even start a review column to publish their reviews.
Blogs
Children who create blogs should be supervised to ensure that they do not provide any personally identifiable information. However, some schools encourage children to create and update their own blogs.
These are just a few of my ideas for encouraging children to read. What are your ideas? I’d love to hear from you.
Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.Â
13 responses so far ↓
1 Mihaela Lica // Jun 20, 2007 at
What about your kids? Do they have blogs? Or are they too young for such an activity? If they do, give us a link. 🙂
2 Debbie // Jun 20, 2007 at
I agree with exposing children to books early – before TV and videogames become a way of life.
3 Laura // Jun 20, 2007 at
Mihaela, I actually do have a kid with a blog. Rae’s Random Rambles (raesrandomrambles.blogspot.com) is from one of my teens.
Debbie, People used to ask us why we were reading books to our children before they were two years old. However, because books were always around when they were little they learned to love to read.
4 Matt Keegan // Jun 20, 2007 at
Our first graders enjoy Amelia Bedelia, but they have been expanding their reading capabilities through reading Sonic books. Even though school is closed for the summer, the library is open on Wednesdays and that is the day my wife and kids head over for the next batch of books.
If you start reading to your children when they are still babies, then they’ll likely have a lifelong interest in reading.
5 Homemom3 // Jun 20, 2007 at
Love your list, my two oldest (10 yob & 6yog) both have blogs and are really excited to be able to write in it for the summer. So much that their faces are in books and learning how to research their subjects online. Yes I’m with them. Late last night my 6 year old came up to me with a sheet of paper, on it was entirely filled front and back. What for? She was asking if I could do another blog for her listing her other ideas and boy did she focus on it. I think I may have sparked the writer bug in her. Hehehehe!
6 Laura // Jun 20, 2007 at
Hi Matt! What are the Sonic books? I’m not familiar with those. Anyway, it sounds like you’ve got them reading and that’s a good thing.
Homemom3–Wouldn’t that be awesome if she turned out to be a writer?
7 Robin // Jun 20, 2007 at
If you’re looking for a book that will help you celebrate and inspire writing at home, then NURTURING THE WRITE RELATIONSHIP is a must have!
8 Melissa R. Garrett // Jun 20, 2007 at
I really like this list. In fact, I have an almost eight-year-old daughter who loves to write stories, and I’ve actually been mulling over the idea of letting her have a blog of her own. I know I would have appreciated it at such a young age.
9 Laura // Jun 20, 2007 at
Hi Robin! Thanks for your input. I’ll investigate the book you suggest.
Hi Melissa! Congratulations on your success with your daughter!
Hi Yvonne! You must be a mindreader!! I had thought about the penpal idea last night when I was thinking about this post and then I forgot about it this morning. I especially love your suggestion of writing to grandparents–that serves two purposes. It helps the grandparents feel remembered AND encourages the child to write.
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11 Mihaela Lica // Jun 21, 2007 at
She’s got a nice style for the start. I’ll be watching her development. 🙂
12 Laura // Jun 21, 2007 at
Thanks Mihaela,
Unfortunately, I think that she may have fizzled out. I’m letting it be her project, so we’ll see what happens.
13 -jeane michelle culp // Jun 21, 2007 at
What a great idea Laura Spencer– “Let’s Encourage Our Children to Writeâ€! Recently, via MyBlogLog, I became aquatinted with Carla Jo Masterson. Author of “What’s On The Other Side Of The Rainbow? (The Secret Of The Golden Mirror)“. A book not only to nurture children – also a book that is certain to encourage and inspire all children to write. In addition; a company ‘for the children’ in our World!
The Slogan Of our Company Harmony Soup Inc. is, “EVERY CHILD DESERVES A TASTE OF HARMONY SOUP”. “We at Harmony Soup INC feel that we have a responsibility to consciously participate in helping to create a safe and harmonious world for all children, and all mankind. We hope to do our part by planting a seed with a book written by Carla Jo Masterson.â€
Amazon.com Book Description:
As I sat down to write this, my thoughts were of how I could speak to the world, picturing the entire world as being one child. Although our situations may be different, we all feel from the same place, from within our heart and emotions. Therefore, it is important for our children to understand that the feelings and emotions they experience are always meant for constructive reasons, instead of the destructive ones we sometimes feel.
With love and understanding, and with all of us working together, hand in hand, we can create a safe and harmonious place on our beautiful home we call Earth.
My deepest wish is that someday all violence will end with one great big “HUSH!”