Creative Writing

We do! And my kids love it! They love drawing from our Creative Writing Jar every Thursday and finding out what they get to write about. I prepare a list of topics at the beginning of each school year, print them out on slips of paper, and put them in a jar. They take turns drawing the topic. Our topics are everything from writing totally make-believe stories to making lists of favorite foods, books, or movies to explaining to someone how to make a PBJ from start to finish. Sometimes the topics are silly, and sometimes I give them something deep to think about. “What was one thing that bothered you this week?” was one topic that brought an issue to the surface that was between our children, and we were able to have a good conversation about it. “What makes you angry?”, “Tell about the oldest person you know.”, and “What makes you sad?” are others that require them to really think.

We do some fun and silly topics in the mix too. Often, there are open-ended sentences that they must finish and write the rest of the story. “If cows gave root beer instead of milk….” is one example.

You can google creative writing topics and find a wealth of ideas. Or you can just come up with them on your own. I do a combination of both. This is our third year to have weekly creative writing, and I can honestly say it’s one of their favorite parts of the week. Oh, they write in the Mead Composition Notebooks that have lines on the bottom half of the page and blank space on the top half. They aren’t required to illustrate their stories, but often they choose to.

Even when my children were still not strong spellers, we still did creative writing. They would often ask me how to spell words, and actually, they still do–though far less frequent. Like most other aspects of CM, their skills have naturally grown over time, probably due to age, maturity, and more exposure to good books. They also write more now than they did when we first began, but some days their “stories” are just a couple of sentences, and that’s it. I think what and how much is written will vary depending on your topics. Not all our topics are story material. As I mentioned, I also have them make lists. I’ve even had them do a meal plan for a week of dinners. (I must admit, this was my sneaky way of getting meal ideas during a time when I was experiencing meal planner’s block. )

I love the Kid Blog idea, jmac17! Ds is finally gaining strength in his typing abilities, and I think this would be perfect for him!

I’m using Connect The Thoughts Creative Writing with my 7 year old. They are very short, simple lessons right now which includes drawing. She enjoys it so far. I love how the guide continually gives reminders not to correct spelling or grammar and not to change or suggest changes. Because it can hinder the creative process and cause them to shy away from it as well. I have commissioned an artist friend of mine to paint various pictures on smooth stones and they will be called story stones. So, I will start her out by having her choose 3-4 stones and telling me a story inspired by the stones. As she progresses in independent writing then I will have her write her stories. You can search “story stones” on Etsy for ideas.

What is a good age for this?