If you’re in the same boat I’m in, you have a child home for summer break right about now. And, this child of yours is in need of some engaging activities to keep the writing side of the brain in active mode during the school hiatus.
What to do? WHAT TO DO?!
Well, here’s what you’re not going to do. You’re not going to panic, because I’m here to ease some of your anxiety about the writing particulars and give you a few ideas to get words on pages for your young writer over the summer. And let me just say that all of them have some unique, out-of-the-ordinary, writing element that might have your child enjoying the notion of “writing while downtiming.”
F-U-N is what I’m aiming for in the following writing activities. Fun, I say!
Yes, you have to make the writing activities fun for your child. So, the more creative you can get with the assignments you divvy out, the more likely your child will accept the writing challenge with open arms.
And, I truly want you to think out-of-the-box when coming up with your ideas of writing activities for your child. That’s YOUR writing assignment, my friend. I want you to start writing down those ideas — those fun ideas. And write them down with the goal of implementing them this summer. Three months is a long time to keep the young’un occupied, so I need you to get after it.
Oh, and while you’re brainstorming viable writing options to choose from, let me go ahead and introduce you to my list of 5 fun-filled writing activities you can add to the list you’re working on.
1. Writing Letters
Buy some fun-themed stationery and envelopes that you know your child will like visually. And have him or her practice mailing letters to friends and/or family. This idea will be a great summer activity for your child, especially when he or she may want to keep in touch with school friends or relatives who live far away.
Of course, today, it’s so easy to simply communicate to someone by a phone call, text message, or email; but there’s something incredibly special in receiving a handwritten letter or card in the mail from someone. The extra effort put into such an activity is a rarity these days and usually appreciated by the receiver as something uniquely out of the norm.
Activities, such as writing out a handwritten message in a card or a letter, obviously help to get the writing juices flowing in a real-life application setting. Furthermore, it’s important for younger children to physically write out (not type up) the message because this writing practice forces him or her to use handwriting motor skills, which are critical to perfecting letter (as in the ABCs kind of letter, not the mailing kind of letter) formation at a young age.
And once your child is comfortable with the foundational skill of writing upper-case and lower-case manuscript and/or D’Nealian lettering in their correct forms, then you can feel free to have him or her develop keyboarding skills by typing out (instead of handwriting) correspondence sent by mail.
2. Writing Recipes
Have your child write up the most fun, unique, wackiest, craziest edible recipe that his or her huge imagination can drum up.
The recipe should pattern off of something that would be found in a cookbook, complete with a list of ingredients, the measurements for all the ingredients, and the step-by-step instructions for making the recipe.
Then, you and your child can follow the recipe (as long as it doesn’t create any health and safety hazards to your home or everyone in it). Ha. Ha.
I’ll leave it up to you and your child to decide whether or not you’re brave enough to actually taste the final outcome from your labors in the kitchen.
3. Writing Ads
Have your child write up a print advertisement or commercial for his or her favorite toy, board game, video game, recreational activity or entertainment venue, etc.
Your child should be prepared to present the advertisement or commercial to a live audience (with you included, of course) to see if he or she can win you over to either buying or taking him or her to the item or attraction in question.
This particular activity will help your child develop persuasive writing skills and practice delivering that persuasive advertisement to others.
And as a way to incentivize your child to make a creatively full-blown marketing piece, tell him or her that you intend to spend money on whatever is presented (if within reason) or reward your child in some other way for a job well done.
4. Writing Book Reports
Book reports on books read for enjoyment are always a classic way to get your child to
write. You could have him or her write content covering the characters, setting, plot, main idea, and moral of the story.
Or, you could go so far as to discard the whole “book report” method and have your child write about absolutely any topic, regarding a book he or she enjoyed reading.
And even though you’re not calling it a “book report” per se, you should ask your child to cover items such as what did he or she learn from the book, what did he or she enjoy most about the book, or any old thing that will test your child’s knowledge of what was read (reading comprehension).
Make sure you’re familiar with the actual book so you can decipher whether or not your child has some sort of understanding of what was read. You might even want to make this idea a two-part activity, where you and your child orally read the book together, and then you can provide some kind of writing assignment about the book or let your child have free rein to write anything he or she wants to about the book. Or, do a combination of both.
Hey, I feel the need to spruce up this section a bit, so it doesn’t seem too schoolish. You know what I mean? So, instead of making this particular activity seem like a “school work” assignment, use some of the colorful “Book Report Helpers” I have in my Etsy shop to accompany your child with this writing activity.
Remember: anything you can do to make the activity more FUN is worth the extra effort, don’t you think?
You can check out the 6 theme-based “Book Report Helpers” by clicking on the image below.
(They come in black and white, too.)
5. Writing Stories from Audio
If getting words written on a page (when it comes to storytelling) is difficult for your child, try having your child tell a story out loud; and while your child is doing so, record his or her words on some type of a recording device such as a hand-held recorder or phone.
Then, have your child transcribe what was recorded from the recording device to a piece of paper. This method of getting the writing juices flowing is especially helpful for children who have a block when it comes to initially putting pen or pencil to paper or fingers to keyboard.
This activity highlights the idea that talking ideas out verbally may be a more natural way for your child to come up with stories. (You can always add the writing element later.)
Final Thoughts
Writing is a great filler activity to keep your child mentally active this summer, so get creative with the writing ideas. Don’t make this worthwhile activity some dismally dry endeavor destined to crash and burn because it lacks the pizazz to make it fun-worthy.
So, what do you think? Which activity or activities will you try out with your child? Or better yet, which activity or activities will you try that aren’t included in this list? An inquiring writer mom wants to know.
degreesofmaternity.com 