15 Writing Tips Which Your Children Need to Know in Order to Develop Their Literacy Skills (Part 1 of 2)

Reading child

When it comes to English and practicing their literary skills, we know that some children struggle, and will try to avoid engaging when they need to put the work in. But given that it’s a core subject, we know there’s no escaping this one. We also know that like with most things, it takes practice to make progress, so we’ve put together 15 tips you can use to set your child on the route to success.

Whether you’re looking to prepare your child for their 11+ creative writing task, or you’re looking to help your child improve in literacy, then keep reading as we’ll be sharing the things you need to know to keep your child on your right lines (no pun intended!)

1. Take an online course:

When it comes to learning we know that face to face works well, but if you’re pressed for time and would like to mix up the type of material you when teaching your child then this FREE Geek School creative writing course is for your child.

2. Copying activities:

It’s no secret that many children learn best by imitation, and when it comes to writing, this rule certainly applies. This can take shape in memorizing a poem or writing out their favorite story word for word, then read it aloud. This helps with their reading and their affinity with writing too.

3. Set writing goals:

Children are gifted with limitless imagination and ideation ability and they (usually) have no trouble creating a scene or role-playing during playtime when on the playground. In taking these principles and applying them to writing, you can encourage your child to practice their brainstorming, structural and project management skills. You can give them a different writing task to focus on for the month, where they will gradually and consistently add more detail and information to their story, for example. This way, your child will learn to associate writing as an enjoyable task that they are used to, rather than the detestable chore they are forced to endure.

4. Making a game out of it:

Even if you’re not the best writer out there, if your child sees you making an effort, they too are more inclined to do the same. This is why we suggest you make a game out of writing with your child. This may be with you giving them 5 words they need to write a paragraph on, and you race to see who finishes first. If they win, you can incentivize them for their efforts, and if you win, you can encourage them to give it another try at any point in time, in hopes that they will win.

Bonus tip: choosing a topic or subject they are interested in is more likely to increase their willingness to engage.

5. Encourage your child to read:

As desirable as having a daily bedtime read might be, we know that this isn’t the case for everyone. This is why we still encourage reading time with your child, even if it’s one evening a week. Getting your child into the habit of reading will naturally help with their writing skills. After all, all great writers are readers too!

6. Keep a journal:

This tool can be used alongside tip no. 3 as they go hand in hand and will help your child to keep to the gradual yet consistent process of writing regularly. This may be a book they have decorated and taken time to craft the cover, which will also help them to build positive associations when thinking about writing. Once your child is used to writing in a journal, you can try using a writing workbook – have a look at our new Writing Prompts Workbook on Amazon or our download-ready writing prompts in the Geek School shop.

7. If nothing else works?

At this stage, you may be wondering what happens if your child doesn’t take to any of the tips suggested here. It is at this point that we suggest 3 things to you. The first is to not give up (it’s not your fault if your child is a little harder to win over). The second is that there is something out there that your child will take to. And third, we will encourage you to take a look at part 2 of this post, with 8 more tips you can try.

If you enjoyed this post, then we hope that you won’t keep it to yourself but share it with a friend, or a friend of a friend.

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