Mumsnet users share their top tips for encouraging their children to write, with Premier League

[EllieMumsnet]

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Writing, be it in a diary, a poem, a short story or even a letter can be a great way to help children explore their creativity whilst inspiring them to write more. With that being said the Premier League would like to know your top tips for encouraging you DC to write more and explore their creative side.

Here’s what the Premier League have to say: “Our Premier League Primary Stars education programme uses the appeal of football to inspire kids to learn, be active and develop important life skills. More than 15,000 primary schools use the free teaching resources for maths, English, PSHE and PE and take advantage of incentives and competitions available for their school. However, sometimes young writers need a little extra boost and that’s why we are proud to bring back our Writing Stars poetry competition, which last year inspired more than 25,000 children to write a poem. This year’s competition theme is diversity and, with the support of a fantastic judging panel including singer Olly Murs, former footballer Rio Ferdinand, Children’s Laureate Lauren Child and poet Joseph Coelho, we are encouraging children to pick up a pen and explore what it means to be beautifully different and wonderfully the same. To read some of the poems already submitted by celebrities, please click here.”

Do you find that reading to your children frequently helps develop their imagination and also inspires them to write stories too? How about encouraging your children to keep a diary to write their everyday experiences in? Do you make sure that your DC write thank you letters after their birthday and Christmas in order to help them practice writing? Do you go on days out that will help them explore the things around them and develop their imagination?

Whatever your top tips are, share them on the thread below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

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We play a game where everyone builds the story. You start with a place, then a character(s), then a surprise/mystery/event, then a solution and it always ends with a party. We usually play it in the car and end up with some very random plots especially when the 3 year old gets involved

Playing word games, storytelling games, collaborating on stories as a family and storyboarding with each family member drawing/writing a different section of a comic strip are things we did when our boys were younger.

Meeting them where they are in terms of their imaginations - much as i yearned to share Enid Blyton and Noel Streatfeild with them, we made up stories about Mario and Sonic and acted out scenarios from Harry Potter and Diary of a Wimpy Kid with them, because that was what THEY were interested in, and it led onto a more general love of story and confidence in themselves as storytellers and imaginative people.

Making time to read, enjoy and compliment their writing - resisting the urge to be critical or correct spelling and grammar. This is more difficult than it sounds, but really important if you want children to see writing as something one does for pleasure rather than as a chore.

I used to offer to illustrate ds1' stories!

We have reluctant writers here.

We read a lot of books with them, both fiction and non fiction, and go to the library lots, so they’ve been exposed to lots of stories and different writing styles.
We’ve also got story cubes (a few different sets), which encourages them to use their imagination and verbally make up stories around the pictures on the cubes.

So the bit we’re trying to work on is getting them to practice the physical writing, as at the minute they’re finding that bit hard work and it’s putting them off getting their ideas down on paper.

Mine have plenty of notepads and pens round the house - they love writing diary entries and stories. We also have a love of books and love to read and encourage them to read.
We find days out where they can explore and make up games help to.

My son is in reception, so is practicing writing more, but he doesn't really want to do it at home and has never wanted to draw much, preferring to ask me to draw a picture or word of his choice, and watching.
He will happily write cards out, and loves to read and be read to, so I hope his interest in writing will grow over time and I'm happy not to push him too much for now.

Reading and listening to my children read and then encouraging them to use their own experiences to write their own stories has worked for us.

Me and my two sometimes try and only talk in rhyme! I know that sounds utterly barking but we have a real giggle with it and it encourages them to think of new words and expand their vocabulary which therefore helps with creative writing.

Modelling creativity myself. DS2's school have a writing competition and parents have been asked to submit entries too. I told DS2 (v v reluctant writer) that I would if he would. Most I have seen him write for years! And I got DS1 - a great drawer but massively unconfident and unmotivated - to do illustrations for my wee story. Feel chuffed that they both have done something creative this weekend!

Reading to children from when they are babies is the greatest thing you can give them - stories introduce them to other worlds where anything is possible. As they get older encourage them to read different types of books - not just same old, same old stories. Once a year I choose a 'classic' book for both of mine and set it for them to read - so they need to read and understand a different and older style of text and wording. Role play when they are little is also great (we spent so much time playing shops and cafes) and toys where they can create scenes and dialogue - I used to be able to listen to mine for hours playing with cars/garages/dolls houses.

We too are in the habit of making up stories, usually after reading books in bed, before sleeping. I make up a story, then my kids tell one each too. I agree that story telling is verbal primarily for young children; they will be more likely to want to write stories if they are in the habit of making them up in their imaginations. Regarding crafts, we always have lots of material available for our kids, and lots of different crayons and pens. We sometimes find ideas online or in library craft books and I'll sit and make things with them; other times my kids will make up their own without prompting.

When it comes to writing interest is the key. If you are trying to get a child who hates football to write about it you won't end up with a good story. If that same child is a big fan of animals and that's their topic, expect essays

I read from when my daughter was born & that continued until she could read to me, it gave her a love of books & led to her creating her own stories. Her imagination and creative side knows no bounds! She’s always putting pen to paper

Since a very early age we have always encouraged our children to draw and write stories about their week in general and to let their imagination run wild. Its part of their weekend routine now and its something they enjoy as it allows for free expression.

Since going to school writing has become one of my daughter's favourite things - she loves to fill notebooks so we often buy her something to write on as a treat. We've encouraged story writing by making them into stop go animations with her Lego afterwards - she churns out the tales!

When I was a child I made up my own comic with bits of story and puzzles and pictures. There was enough variety to keep it interesting. This was something I encouraged my son to do as well.

The children complains if we don't read a story to to them before bed lol, they always wake up and tell me their dreams they had about the fairytale stories & i ask them to draw and write about in in a huge scrap book so we can read those stories through the day. It's filling up really well, it's surprising how much imagination they have lol. I do encourage them to write a thank you letter to send back to their aunties,uncles etc., for their birthday gifts and to be honest they love it.

If they are struggling to think of something to draw/write I get them to write or draw something that we have done on that day, draw their favourite animal etc. They always enjoy it and it's a peaceful, relaxing time for them too.

Read lots of books together. When they are role playing will join in. Its mainly to encourage their imagination. From there creativity is born.

For my lad my wife and I sat down and wrote out 20 themes/topics that we know he would be quite interested in. Each week we get him to choose one at random and then write us a short story or fact file about it. Works really well as it gives him a little nudge to help him start.

My daughter loves to read and write, I encourage her to write short stories and I have helped her with changing some describing words and use her imagination to go as magical she wants for them. I feel reading to her from birth has encouraged her love of this, I always talked about the stories after and put on voices etc to keep her engaged. To keep her love of this going we take trips to the library, write thank you notes on birthday and xmas, go to museums and talk about the world around us alot. My son loves being outside in nature, collecting things, exploring so we go on walks all the time, we try new places and let him explore at his own pace. We then tell family or friends about what he found so when he talks about it he remembers more.

Verbally telling stories really helps, as I found doing that first encouraged her to write them down using bright coloured pencils and crayons. We normally play a game, shouting out words and using them to create a story. I found that introducing reading from a very young age really helped inspire dd imagination.

Our little lad is 2 1/2 and loves drawing, so we encourage drawing and art as much as we can. He also loves being read to so we read to him every night at bedtime.

I found reading when I was little helped me be creative so I read lots to my little one

I give them notebooks to draw and write in. I encourage them to draw and write cations.

My 6 yr old is keen to read and write, we take him out and let him have lots of experiences which then fuel his imagination.