Easy Games to Teach Writing Skills
Tips for Teaching Kids Creative Composition Without Handwriting
5 fun ideas to teach children to think like writers, but without pencils! Students may say they hate writing when penmanship, grammar, and spelling are the real problems.
Reaching Students Who Dislike Writing
Students may be stalled by other language arts skills, such as vocabulary, penmanship, spelling, or grammar. Sometimes holding a pencil is difficult or actually hurts. These types of skills often get confused with learning to write fiction, non-fiction reports, and creative writing. All the other lessons are important to learn as well, but perhaps at a different time. Kids may learn to like story telling, character development, and inventing plots with a little encouragement.
Here are 5 easy games to teach non-writers to think like writers. Try them with potential writers and get the ideas flowing.
Play a Story-Go-Round Game to Learn Language Plot Skills
Play this little game with two or more players.
One player starts a story with one sentence. The next adds another sentence. The story keeps building until everyone is laughing hysterically or the story comes to an end.
For example:
(1st Person) "Once upon a time a lion was walking along and saw a banana."
(2nd Person) "A monkey was about to leap to grab it, but the lion decided he wanted it more."
(3rd Person) "All at once, they both jumped and conked heads" and so on.
What happens next? Anything!
Improvisation and Skits for Theater Arts Fun to Teach Dialog, Plot, and Characters
Putting on impromptu skits encourages creative thinking in a fun way. This is a common theater arts game.
Pick two characters and an item or situation (for instance, a clown, a grumpy man, and a bucket). The kids make up the (imaginary) setting and the dialog and act out a scene. More characters may be added for more students.
Read an Unfamiliar Book Aloud to teach Storytelling Skills
Stop at some point and see what the student(s) think might happen next. Encourage thinking up logical and crazy ideas, alike.
Make Cool Journals or Blank Books to Encourage Writing
Offer lots of types of paper, stickers, glue, or whatever there is at hand.
Having a special book made all on their own may encourage a child to write, draw, or use their imagination in their another creative way.
Play a Character Inventing Game To Learn Character Skills
This will work with any number of students.
The first person gives the person a trait ("He's a boy.") and each student or turn adds another description ("He has purple hair.") ("He rarely talks to anyone.")... Keep going for a while until a character develops. For extra fun, have each child draw what he or she thinks the character looks like.
For more ideas, see Synonyms for the Word "Said", Teach Writing Without Handwriting and Getting Kids Writing Published.
For Homeschool writing information, see aabc_homeschooling.
There are many ways to use writing ideas with no writing to help jog story ideas, invent characters for stories, and make up settings where wonderful imaginary things can happen. One just needs to set down the pencil for a few moments and let the mind go free.
