How to encourage your child to write creatively

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How to EncourageHow to Encourage
your Child to Writeyour Child to Write
CreativelyCreatively

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Children have no limits on their imagination which can help them develop, learn and
communicate, and creative writing can be used to harness this imagination, but also
can develop important literacy skills that can be used in a variety of careers later on
in life. There are concerns that children do not like writing, and that many do not
write regularly outside the classroom. The National Literacy Trust recently published
a report (2015) which showed that only around 50% of children actually enjoy
writing. So the challenge is to try and get more children interested in writing,
however children need input from parents as well as teachers to access and express
their ideas and to make the most of their creative potential.

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As with anything relating to children there is no definitive way as children are all
individuals and develop in different ways, however , this article gives some basic
ideas on how you can encourage your child to put their ideas onto paper.
Encourage your child to talk through their experiences. Talking is extremely
important in getting children to develop their understanding of the world and
the use of language and communication. Children learn to talk before they learn
to write.

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Encourage your child to read. Getting children to read is also important for
children to develop an understanding of how written communication works.
It has been widely shown that reading and writing have been linked.
Create a suitable environment. Children need to have an environment that is
comfortable and without any distractions in order for them to be able to
focus. Encourage them to sit down somewhere quiet to think about what
they want to write.

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Give your child themes to use. It is sometimes difficult for adults, let alone
children to start writing from a completely blank canvas. Think of themes you
can prompt them with. They can be anything for example colour themes (can
you write me a story about a blue balloon) or problem based themes (losing
and finding a toy, fighting a criminal).
Use characters that the children already know. Get your child to write about
what happens to characters after the end of a story that they have read or a
programme they have watched. Start a story off and get them to discuss and
write what happens next.

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Get them to brainstorm. Encourage children to write down ideas first, not
to try to come up with a complete story from the start but to write down
notes and ideas as they come to them. Afterwards they can arrange them
in a more structured pattern (beginning, middle, and end).
Try using different materials. If they are fairly young it may be helpful to use
different materials to help them put their ideas down. Use paper cut into
different shapes or one large piece of paper for them to create a story
board with pictures.

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To summarise, there are many ways you can stimulate the
imagination of a child into writing creatively, but it is
important you do it in a calm environment free of distractions.
Make sure you continue to keep them talking and reading as
much as possible as this keeps them developing their
understanding of communication and language.

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Bibliography
1. Trust, N. L., 2015. Children's and Young People's Writing in 2014. [Online]
Available at:
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/research/nlt_research/6849_childrens_an
d_young_peoples_writing_in_2014
[Accessed 3 March 2016].
2. Brownhill, S., 2013. Getting Children Writing : Story Ideas for Children
Aged 3 to 11. s.l.:Sage Publications.
3. Genlott, A., 2013. Improving literacy skills through learning reading by
writing: The iWTR method presented and tested. Computers and
Education, 67(September 2013), pp. 98-104.

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For more useful writing tips -For more useful writing tips -
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How to encourage your child to write creatively

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