What to do with this activity?
Encourage your child to write longer pieces of writing. Examples of what your child might like to write about are:
- A letter or longer email, for instance to a friend who has moved, a grandparent or a parent who is away. They could tell them what they have been doing recently and how they are.
- Trips or outings (football matches, outdoor walks) to help them remember what they saw. They might like to keep a journal about interests or outings.
- Stories about things that happened and made-up stories; sometimes children like to make a long story with their own illustrations.
- A sample newspaper with articles in different sections, or a comic using drawings and design to present an idea or story.
- A review of a TV programme or film they have seen.
Encourage your child to do a first draft, then to look it over and make improvements (revise and rewrite it). Let them know many experienced writers write a first draft, revise and rewrite.
Writing is for everyone. Watch this inspirational video about the Dublin-based creative writing centre Fighting Words where children are encouraged to express themselves in writing.
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Why am I doing this?
Writing is like a muscle – the more your child practices it the stronger their writing ability will become. You child is also more likely to write about things they like or are interested in – writing is a way to express yourself and using writing in this way can be more meaningful to a child.
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How can I do more?
Decide on a writing project you could work on either together or with you standing by to help. This could be writing or sending an email to a family member or friend living away or your child writing about one of their interests. List key messages you want to write about, who else might read it and then begin work on the piece. Have a dictionary at the ready and use the spell checker if working on a computer.
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