Advice on helping DS engage with creative writing

[Elsalvador]

DS is Y3 and struggles with creative writing as he doesn't see the point of it. He sees writing as purely functional when he is writing. He does enjoy reading and reads a lot but it doesn't translate to his writing.

There is more creative writing required of him at school now and he will need to improve this if he is to sit the 9+ or 11+. Does anyone have any advice on how we can encourage him to better engage with this? We have done things like write a sentence and expand it with one adjective but he says it's hard (though I suspect it's more he cannot be bothered as even when I say he could always think about colour or size to describe something, he says he "can't").

He has no SEN though he does find it hard to focus on anything that doesn't interest him or if it requires effort.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I am expecting him to become JK Rowling but i would like to get him to a point where he can be more confident in his writing and not find it such a chore!

Writewild.weebly.com has some lovely materials to spark inspiration. My SEN boys have developed so much generally by using it and they definitely weren’t spontaneous writers before.

You could firstly try a creative writing class. This is another idea, invent or make up a list of topics too. For example you could help him write a short article on foxes. He could also write a story based on a famous book like Little Women as well. Get him to make notes in addition, it will help.

And you could support him in writing by using cue cards in order to help him develop his writing skills further. Other fun ideas include the use of pictures to facilitate creative writing skills. Have him write the alternative ending to a novel (be creative though). I hope this is useful to you as a starting point.

We used to use the five senses as props. So what can you see, what can you smell, how do things feel if you touch them, what can you hear and if relevant, what does food taste like?

Also we used a timeline, so I went somewhere, something happened, I reacted like this, I did something, it resolved this way, I learnt this from it. So a mixture of actions and thoughts.

Sorry for the slow response. I've not had a chance to log in until now. Thanks for the ideas. We have creative writing books and we've tried cue cards and many of the things suggested above. We've even gone back to basics e.g. I'll write a sentence and ask him to expand with one adjective. I struggle to even get him to do that. We read a lot (and I make sure we discuss and also check he understood the vocab) so I think the vocab is there. I have spoken to teachers and other parents about it and the response is usually "it's a boy thing". But I am keen to do what I can to help him find strategies to get on with it as it's not something he can avoid either at school or for the 11+!

Thanks again for the tips. We'll keep trying.

@Velvetbee this is very encouraging to hear that your boys did develop their writing. Haven't come across this website and will check it out now.