If you’re looking for tips and advice on how to help your child with creative writing, look no further. My eldest daughter absolutely loves creative writing. As a writer myself, I’m extremely proud that she seems to love writing so much. However, early on in homeschooling, I realised that we have vastly different writing styles and ideas, and we could quite quickly clash over topics, ideas and wording.

Whilst I prefer writing about things that are happening in my life and offering tips and advice, she prefers writing travel reviews or stories with a worryingly dark element to them – who knows, she may be the next Stephen King! Whatever happens, her love of writing is something I hope to encourage. I thought it would be a good idea to offer advice on how to help your child with creative writing.

This is a guest post offering tips on how to help your child with creative writing, followed by a conclusion from myself with more ideas to help your child with creative writing from my personal experience.

how to help your child with creative writing

Exploring Creative Writing With Your Child

Encouraging your child to practise certain skills at home is an important task for parents. Exploring creative writing, in particular, is great for helping children develop a range of physical, emotional, and intellectual skills. It’s an opportunity for them to express their thoughts and emotions in a creative and structured way. It’s an opportunity for younger children to develop their fine motor skills when holding bolt action pens and pencils, strengthening muscles that are vital for everyday tasks. What’s more, it will help them learn new vocabulary, ultimately making them better communicators.  

Children generally love to be creative and explore their imaginations, which is something that parents should try to encourage where possible. I have teamed up with an independent prep school in Hampshire to offer some tips on how you can explore creative writing with your child. 

How To Encourage Your Child With Creative Writing

Writing and reading go hand in hand, so to help your child with their writing, it would be wise to encourage them to read too. Reading together will be a great opportunity for the two of you to spend some quality time together. It will help them develop their general knowledge and become familiar with various writing styles and genres. They will start to figure out which types of books they enjoy, which may inspire them to write a similar story. Additionally, you can use templates for google slides to create engaging reading and writing-related materials to enhance their learning experience.

One activity you could try with your child is writing a book review. Once they have finished a story, ask them to pretend to be a journalist or a blogger and analyse it, using plenty of adjectives. Ask them to describe how the story made them feel; did they laugh? Did they cry? Would they recommend the book to someone else? This will help them develop critical thinking skills and encourage them to use their imaginations.

Another activity you could try is rewriting the ending of a book. This will be far easier than starting a story from scratch because the characters and plot have already been developed. Talk to them about how simple narrative changes can affect the bigger picture!

More Persona Tips From Me on How To Help Your Child with Creative Writing

Last year, my daughter’s school helped her and her classmates enter the Young Writers competition. Her work was published in their book ‘The Adventure Zone’. To say that we were proud parents is a massive understatement. The Young Writers organisation runs regular competitions, and I genuinely believe that her being published in their book, being recognised by an independent body, helped to encourage her love of creative writing. You can find out more about them on their page: Young Writers UK.

My daughter is 9 years old now and really loves writing (no idea where she gets it from). I encourage her to try out different writing types to nurture her love of creative writing. Creative writing for kids doesn’t have to be traditional pen and paper writing, either. My daughter loves to create ‘travel logs’ where she does a diary-style post of what we’ve been up to, whether that’s a trip to Dubai or even just a lockdown diary. *Note to self: I must maybe publish her account of our travels, rather than procrastinating and never getting them actually written into this blog!*

Different Types of Creative Writing For Kids

My point here is that creative writing doesn’t have to be a non-fiction story written in pencil on a piece of paper. Writing is writing. Most of my daughter’s creative writing is done on Word or PowerPoint where she can easily add pictures to go with her story. Here are different types of creative writing for kids to help inspire their creativity and encourage a love for creative writing for kids:

  • Keeping a journal
  • Writing about their travel experience
  • Write a restaurant review
  • Write a recipe
  • Enter a writing competition
  • Write a review of a book they’ve just finished.
  • Rewrite the end of a popular story
  • Write a presentation on their favourite subject (cats, fairies, lego, unicorns, fortnight, Roblox); whatever gets them excited, that’s what they should write about.

Here are some resources where children can learn or practice the skill of creative writing:

  • Online writing courses and workshops: Many online writing courses and workshops are available for children of all ages and skill levels. Some popular options include:
    • Young Writers Project: The Young Writers Project offers a variety of online writing courses and workshops for children ages 8-18. Courses cover topics such as fiction writing, poetry writing, and creative nonfiction writing.
    • Write the World: Write the World offers online creative writing workshops for children ages 7-18. Workshops are taught by professional writers and cover a variety of topics, such as character development, plot structure, and world-building.
    • Squirl: Squirl is an online writing platform for children ages 5-12. Squirl offers a variety of interactive writing activities and challenges, as well as weekly writing prompts.
  • Creative writing apps: There are also a number of creative writing apps available for children. Some popular options include:
    • Storybird: Storybird is a creative writing app that allows children to create their own stories using illustrations and text.
    • WriteAbout: WriteAbout is a creative writing app that provides children with daily writing prompts and challenges.
    • Write Your Own Adventure: Write Your Own Adventure is a series of interactive writing apps that allow children to create their own choose-your-own-adventure stories.
  • Creative writing books: Many creative writing books are available for children of all ages and skill levels. Some popular options include:
    • How to Write a Story Ever! by Christopher Edge: This book provides children with a step-by-step guide to writing stories, including how to develop characters, plot, and setting.
    • The Magic Tree House Writing Workshop by Mary Pope Osborne: This book provides children with a variety of creative writing exercises and activities, as well as advice from successful authors.
    • The Writer’s Way for Kids: A Creative Writing Guide by Julia Cameron: This book provides children with various creative writing prompts and exercises and advice on overcoming writer’s block.
  • Creative writing communities: There are also a number of online and offline creative writing communities for children. These communities can provide children with a supportive space to share their writing, get feedback from other writers, and learn from professional writers. Some popular options include:
    • NaNoWriMo Young Writers: NaNoWriMo Young Writers is a program that encourages children to write a novel in the month of November.
    • Kidlit411: Kidlit411 is a website that provides resources and information for children’s writers, including a list of online and offline creative writing communities for children.
    • Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI): SCBWI is a professional organization for children’s book authors and illustrators. SCBWI offers a variety of resources and support for children’s writers, including a list of local chapters that offer writing groups and workshops for children.

I hope this list is helpful!

I’d love to hear your tips and advice on how to get your child interested in creative writing and what their favourite genre of writing is.

 ‘This post was featured by Twinkl in their Creativity in Children blog‘ .