by Linda Haver

Created on: July 02, 2010

Children who are inspired and encouraged to write discover a new avenue for expression and communication.  There are steps adults can take to motivate a child’s desire to write.  The ability to write is a developmental process so consider the age of the child when using the following ideas to inspire a child.

Build a foundation of appreciation for all genres of writing.  Expose the child to varied books, magazines, and newspapers.  After reading, ask questions that help the child think about the intention and style of the author’s words.  Read the cereal boxes at breakfast and discuss the purpose of the text.    

Play games to increase the child’s vocabulary.  Challenge them to think of synonyms for overused words.  Teach them to use adverbs and adjectives in their verbal stories.  

Show them how to keep a writer’s notebook.  When the child sees or hears something funny, amazing or unusual they can jot it down in their notebook.  It could range from something as simple as a bird sitting on a fence to something out of the ordinary like a blimp passing overhead. 

Encourage them to use some of the ideas in their writer’s notebooks as a foundation for a story.  Seeing a blimp could be the inspiration for a fictional story about a blimp that is trying to find its way home after getting lost in a storm.  The bird on the fence might lead to research and a story involving a bird caring for her young.  Help them to see the potential stories in situations by sometimes verbally telling tales when you spot a unique event.

Buy the child a journal and encourage them to write about things that are important to them.  If they choose to share the contents of their journal be careful not to criticize incorrect spelling, punctuation and sentence structure, instead focus praise on the ideas.    Journaling is an excellent way to inspire a child to write.

Build on the child’s interests to inspire them to write.  If they love learning about history they can write a letter to a famous person in history.  Or they could write the script for a talk show where the host is interviewing a historical figure.  A child who loves sports could write a play by play account of a game.  Or they might want to try to pretend they are a player on their favorite team and write about their adventures.

Children will be inspired when they learn that their writing can lead to unknown worlds and adventures that can be controlled and manipulated through their words.  One of the greatest gifts an adult can give a child is to encourage and promote the child’s writing.

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