Great Ideas for Teaching Kids to Write

What are some prompts that will get kids started with writing?

What are some current helpful resources for young writers?

Scholastic's interactive and fun approach to mood will delight and engage your whole class.

How to build stories from Sydney Story Factory.

I've been gathering my articles about cartoon and comic makers into a Listly list, and also added comic editor websites and apps. These are excellent tools for offering to kids who may be daunted by long writing formats, but keen to tell a story. Read more at The Book Chook.

While many parents build special time for reading into family life, we don't all do the same for writing. I believe we should. Why not call these times "read o'clock" and "write o'clock", the way I do.

Read more at The Book Chook.

The writing process is simple and complex all rolled into one ball. There are a handful of phases and as many ways to execute each step as there are writers on the globe. This truth makes it tricky to balance both the steps of the writing process and individual needs when helping students discover the writing process and what it means for them.

Experiencing success and enjoyment with writing is something we all want for our youngsters. The computer can be a great encourager to start children writing. Here are some websites where you and your kids can make digital books, with links to more information about them. I always advise adult supervision when children use the Internet.

Kids love puns. Okay, they may groan over Dad's puns, but they usually think their own are hilarious. Why not capitalise on this and suggest your kids/students try some activities based around puns? Observing and discussing puns is a great way for children to practise inferring, a vital comprehension skill. Read more at The Book Chook.

If you want your child to enjoy writing, it helps to make writing a natural, observable and shared part of family life. Make writing a regular short daily family activity, not a chore, from before kids start school. Just as we need a daily read aloud time, so we should have a daily writing time. Read more at Fun with Learning.

Kids love sticky notes. They can be a great way to get your children involved in reading and writing. Consider using sticky notes to: Add a special note to your child's lunch box lid, perhaps a joke, a riddle, a reminder about soccer practice, or an "I love you" message. Read more at The Book Chook.

How to Write a News Story by author and journalist Julie Fison A news story gives readers the facts of an event. It is different from narrative writing because the most important information is contained in the first sentence. The details and less important information come later in the story. Read more at The Book Chook.

When we use persuasion in communication, we try to convince readers/viewers of an opinion or belief. We may want them to support a cause we're passionate about, or change their minds about something. Often we use humour to do that, or try to evoke emotion in our audience.

Using a cartoon to persuade is just like any other kind of communication. To be effective, kids must think of their audience, their purpose, and how they intend achieving that purpose. Let's look at some examples of cartoons I made for the purposes of this post, and my own process in creating them. Read more at The Book Chook.

Take advantage of your children's interest in toys and help them make stories involving toys. Alphabet books, caption books and chapter books. Read more at The Book Chook.

Here are valuable tips and a fun writing activity from Australian author, Dee White.

1. Write a lot - It's true that practice makes perfect. The more you write, the better you’ll become.

2. Read a lot - I learn so much from reading books and thinking about how other authors write. How do they start their stories, how do they develop their characters, how do they come up with a compelling ending?

3. Send off your work for publication and enter writing competitions. Read more at The Book Chook.

Teaching writing is one of my favourite things to do. Over the years I’ve found a few interesting activities for children to have some fun with writing activities. Here are some of my favourites to use in a classroom or adapt for home:

• RAFTS - Rafts give the kids choices in what they will write about. You can have them choose the Role, Audience, Format of the writing and the Topic. To make a RAFT easier for younger children, you can have them choose what row they would like to write about. Read more at The Book Chook.

Writing challenges can be one way to switch kids onto writing. Adult writing classes do this too. They ask you to "write a story with no letter 'f' in it" or "tell a story in six words". I believe this kind of prompt can work for some people, some of the time. Find sample writing challenges for kids at The Book Chook.

One of the many wonderful things about fiction reading is that it isn't a passive entertainment. It encourages children to visualise settings, characters and plot. Read more at The Book Chook.

How can we encourage our kids to write? Writing is one way to communicate with others. So is speaking. While speaking is a natural part of family life, how many of us write with our kids, and in front of our kids? Introducing write o'clock! Read more at The Book Chook.

Australian author, Deborah Abela, shares some great tips for young writers in: Lucky You! You Want To Be A Writer! Read more at The Book Chook.

Letter writing with your kids is an excellent way to promote some valuable one-on-one learning. It gives you an opportunity to share reasons for communicating via letters, as well as areas of discussion about a range of letter features. Read more at The Book Chook.

We all love to do it. Sharing something we know how to do is as natural to humans as breathing. From recipe books to E-how, from Instructables to D-I-Y manuals, humankind is involved with imparting knowledge. Kids are no different. Read more at The Book Chook.

Encouraging kids to become story detectives is a great way to get them focussed on writing. Here are some fantastic ideas from Australian author, Sandy Fussell, that will help your kids turn into story detectives and look beyond the obvious in a picture prompt.Read more at The Book Chook.

Series of creative prompts that may lead children to write or create in some other way.