5 easy ways to make writing fun
I want to talk about writing because it wasn’t always my favorite subject to teach. Writing is an important, yet sometimes difficult, skill that every child learns. We can make writing a fun, hands-on and exciting experience!
I loved writing as a child. I would dream up stories and write them down almost daily and my girls are the same way! Writing is a breeze and their imaginations fill pages with creativity, but writing didn’t come as easy for my son. He was frustrated and began to dislike writing activities, so I had to change how we approached writing.
Writing can be fun and you have the power to do it!
Below, I list some strategies, tips and resources that I used to turn writing from a stressful and frustrating experience to something kids looked forward to daily! I also included some freebies! A checklist to help you make writing fun again and the resource that completely changed my sons view on writing and made him excited to write!
Why is writing important?
First, explain why they should write. What is the importance of writing? Sometimes children need to see the importance and power of writing before they can begin writing.
Why is writing important? How can writing be a tool?
- to communicate with others.
- express our opinions.
- change minds and inspire growth.
- tell a story.
- begin, grow, and navigate relationships.
- be creative and be themselves.
Through writing, they can have a voice! Writing is a powerful tool!
1. Creative Presentation
Kids live in a fast-paced, growing, and changing world. Writing activities can be boring for kids. They don’t want to look at a board with a writing prompt and sit and write. A creative presentation makes a fun writing activity even better! So here are a few things to think about…
- How can you WOW them?
- What are they interested in and how can you incorporate that?
- Add their favorite character to the presentation.
- Change their seating or seating arrangement.
- Transform the room to set the tone for the writing.
- Add props to the environment.
- Do a dress-up day.
On the flip side, what is a creative way to present their writing?
- short play.
- puppet show.
- display.
- craftivity.
- at a school event.
All of these will change the atmosphere and mood before the writing begins!
2. Use Visuals
A picture is worth a thousand words. And a good visual will spark creativity and imagination on the blankest pages. Visuals are key to making writing fun. There are several free resources to accommodate any topic!
- Nasa has a captivating Picture of The Day. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
- National Geographic Kids has amazing photos and facts about animals! https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/
- Caption this! You can search caption this on Google and get several results. (Preview without kids, you never know what you will see!) Choose a picture, display and watch the little imaginative minds go to work!
- Magazine stories. First, kids cut out a picture from a magazine and put them on the board or in a bag. Then, send them up 1 at a time to pick a picture they will write about. (Similar to caption this.) Last, they write a silly sentence, paragraph or story. It’s up to you.
- Brainstorm party! Write who, what, when, where on the board. Write down any responses the children give. This method benefits the child by building creativity and confidence. It also allows the child to see the story pieces come together. Children build upon each other’s ideas and get inspired.
My son was never a hand-raiser. He didn’t offer ideas, so I had a brainstorm party! After his sisters threw out a few ideas, he built upon them and became more involved in the process. Brainstorming was one of the best methods I used to help him see that he had plenty of creativity and could write amazing stories!
3. Add Mystery
Children are curious by nature. They love to solve problems and mysteries. Spark their interests and imagination by bringing mystery into the lesson or assignment.
- Mystery envelope. Put the writing prompt or a silly subject in an envelope on their desk. When they open it, tell them not to share what they are writing about. (It will be giggles and mystery!) These were always a hit!
- Invisible ink. This takes a bit more time on your part but is worth the work! (Perfect for student teachers or parent helpers) Write a prompt or silly subject on each piece of paper. Turn off the lights and use black lights to reveal the secret message! Turn the lights back on to write. You can also use color changing marker with out the black light.
- Story line reveal. Label bins or bags who, what, where, and when or subject and conflict/problem. Make a few examples for each or have the children do some. Next, the children go up 1 at a time to pull out a piece from each bag and write it down. Then, they use the details and write their version of the rest. The same pieces of paper can generate multiple stories!
- Decode. Like I said, children love to solve problems and mysteries! Give the children the writing prompts in secret code form. Display the decoder key and watch as they all eagerly decode their writing prompt. A kid favorite by far! You can find the decodable writing prompts here. Try it out with my summer decodable writing prompts FREEBIE .
Just like Ralphie from a Christmas Story, my sons loves a good secret message! He was the first at his seat ready to write when he saw the decoder! This was the game changer for us! He was excited to write!
Read more about how I use this resource here.
4. GET CRAFTY
Crafts go along with visuals and creative presentation, BUT the student is more involved! Kids like to be involved in each step of the process and they generally like doing art and crafts! Adding crafts allows the child to choose something else to focus on when they are frustrated.
Crafts and drawing cultivate creativity as the kids create and see what they are writing about. These may be last on the list, but they had the biggest impact on my hesitant writer!
- Sticker Stories. Create a story with stickers! Use a comic strip or story board layout and give them some of their favorite character stickers. Kids can put stickers in each box and write at least 1 sentence. These help them become characters, develop dialogue and work on sequencing a story. It is also a great way to assess areas they need the most work in story writing. Try it yourself!
Comics were the only text my son would read, so I started with what he liked! I bought a pack of his favorite superhero stickers and gave him a paper with a comic strip layout. He created a masterpiece! It had a beginning, conflict, resolution and end! There were only a few sentences, but it was perfect! This began his journey to loving writing!
A photo Story. A photo story is another way to create and tell a story using photos. Have children cut pictures out of magazines and arrange them in order. They can write captions like a comic strip. Children can also take photos with a digital camera and do the same thing.
A craftivity! A craftivity is a craft and activity, usually a writing activity, and one of my favorite activities for bringing a reluctant writer out of their shell! There are several writing crafts out there and you can create your own! These give the child flexibility to work on different parts and creativity to be distinctive. Craftivities are a fun way to bring writing into any lesson!
Here are some fun fall writing activities for kids that focus on WOW words and story development! You can find the Fall Writing Activity and craftivity here.
A craftivity! A craftivity is a craft and activity, usually a writing activity, and one of my favorite activities for bringing a reluctant writer out of their shell! There are several writing crafts out there and you can create your own! These give the child flexibility to work on different parts and creativity to be distinctive. Craftivities are a fun way to bring writing into any lesson!
I created some writing craftivities that focus on adjective use and story development. You can check out the Fall writing activity HERE.
5. READ. READ. READ.
Read, read, read! I cannot emphasize this enough! Children connect to what they are reading and to the author. The more they read the more they develop their writing and writing style. Providing diverse books in a variety of genres from multiple authors is a great way to encourage writing. When we read to a child, we model the importance of reading and writing. How did we get this awesome book? A writer wrote it. When children see their favorite characters come to life in a good book, they want to write too! When children are interested and curious about writing, then writing becomes fun!
A few tips
As they begin to write, let their imagination run wild!
Avoid adding your style, words or opinion and keep it positive.
Writing activities should never be dull, writing is fun and exciting!
Always celebrate every step forward, no matter how little!
MAKE WRITING FUN CHECKLIST
These are great ideas to get the creative juices flowing. I can’t wait to try them with my students.
Thank you! I am happy you found this helpful! Let the creativity begin!!
I love these ideas! I enjoy writing so much, but being a special education teacher, it is difficult to get my students excited about writing because it can be such a daunting task. I love how you have found ways to make writing fun. I will definitely be implementing these things in my small groups.
I’m so glad these helped you! Writing can be fun for all learning levels!
I love all of your great ideas! I can’t wait to use why you should write with my kindergarten kids!
Thank you so much! I am glad you found this useful! Your kinders will love any of the methods you try out!
This post was so helpful for me! In each school I have taught in I have found writing to be the area where I had the least resources provided for me and had to come up with my own plans and ideas for writing. These strategies are so great. I couldn’t agree more about the important of writing!
Peyton, I am so happy you found these strategies helpful! You will be able to inspire creativity and a love for writing with any of these strategies!
I love love love these ways to make writing fun! It’s so important to get kids interested in writing since it’s so connected with their reading skills too. Some of your ideas are completely new to me and I can’t wait to try them out!
Nicole,
I’m glad you found new ideas to try out! I know they will get the creativity flowing in your kids!
You have so many creative ideas for making writing fun! Just like reading, it’s so important to foster a love of writing from a young age. I can’t wait to try out your sticker stories!
Yes, it is important to foster a love of writing from a young age and trying new ways to engage your students! Thank you!
These are great tips for making writing fun, especially to get crafty! I always enjoyed writing more when I could incorporate visuals as well – something I’m trying to do more now as a blogger 🙂
Yes, exactly! Some kids do tremendously better with visuals and this helps them connect to the content and think about how fun the theme is, rather than how difficult or boring the work is! I have found that themes are the Midas touch with my kids. Anything with a theme they will focus and engage more!
Thank you for so many amazing ideas for teaching writing! I can’t wait to try sticker stories in my classroom! My students love stickers, and that will definitely motivate them.
Thank you! I am so glad you like the content! The sticker stories are a game changer!