Learning to write. Helping children to write at home.

As with anything to do with children and learning, fun makes it easier. Ask a child to read a book they are interested in, opposed to a book they have to read, and you will hear and see the difference. With children struggling, this can be even more pronounced. Who wants to feel like everything is too hard, AND dislike the task at hand? Nope, certainly not me. And children are no different.

There are hundreds of fun activities online about learning sounds, and even writing words, today I'm focusing on activities to do at home in regard to beginning to write whole sentences and encourage writing overall. Below are some simple activities to do with kindergarten children, and beyond. Last I have included a list of things parents can do to encourage writing in general.

Activity 1

A first activity, which many schools require as homework, is using 'sight words' cards to make sentences, then writing these sentences down. This is a great first step. Kids are usually happy to do this, especially if the words are laminated (can't help myself!) and the words are special and no one else is allowed to touch them. Not even once. And they are kept in some super awesome location/box/whatever. Treat these words like they are as precious as gold, super-seriously (after all, they are FROM THE TEACHER!!!!) and the family will follow. It doesn't hurt if someone gets into 'trouble' for touching them. Example:

"Oh Daisy, you can't touch those! They are Henry's really important words for school. I know you would LOVE to have a turn, but you just can't. You have to be REALLY grown up to have special words like these. We will just have to go and play with something else instead, while Henry does very grown up school things with them."

Works a treat. Added benefit being that when Daisy has her first set of words laminated, she will sooooo much enjoy getting to show her SPECIAL words off to her siblings telling them that they are certainly not allowed to touch them. The older kids have always been on board with this. Isabel:

"Henry, they are great words. No, you're right I'm not allowed to have them anymore, because I'm in year 4 now. Only people in Kinder and Year 1 get to have them." Cue sad, disappointed face.

Encourage silly sentences if that helps. Many kinder children love silly! Other children will be happy with themselves just making a sentence on their own. Writing and being understood can be very exciting for children.

Activity 2

This is where Henry is at right now. He is a getting a bit bored with the above activity. This is the tricky bit of learning to write: learning to write what is in their head at a slower pace than they would like. It can be very frustrating for them, especially if the child likes to do things 'right' and is not a big fan of taking a risk. Being faced with a blank page can really be too much. Where do they start?

For all my children after Jack (sorry Jack, you could already write in Kinder and I was pregnant with Henry) I have used a simple, readily available item to help me.

A scrap book. It is easily picked up when I'm at the grocery store. The thicker the pages the better.

To make it super special, I covered it with different things depending on the child. For Isabel it was with a painting she did, Lucy paint stamps and Henry 'Planes' wrapping paper.

The next part is the key to success. Grab a black felt tip pen and a standard plastic ruler. Starting from the bottom, trace along either side of the ruler until you have the preferred number of lines. Depending on the child, start with one, two or three. Less is better than more at the start. Success breeds success. A big space for a drawing and only a few large spaced lines (that can be altered for the child's needs) is great.

Introduce the special book without fanfare at homework time, explaining simply that the child is finally grown up enough to have a special writing book, where they can write stories of their own.

The big thing is to draw first. Not last. Many kinder children like drawing, so there is automatic success AND they have something to write about on the page in front of them. It is also easier to write on a page that isn't completely blank. For little ones, like Henry, who prefer to follow directives, I will give him something to draw, for example a cat. If he says he can't draw that (because oh no, it might not be perfect) I will draw a simple one beside him, one step at a time. Kids love drawing something 'properly.' The child could also follow a simple 'how to draw' book.

Ask the child to tell you something about their drawing, and then ask them to write it down. Have sight words spread out in front of them, so they can be used to create a simple sentence about their picture, perhaps using only a few unknown words. They may need a page with all the letters of the alphabet on it to refer to when thinking about what sounds are found in the unknown word. Henry doesn't really need either now, but I know some children do require these visuals. Remember it is supposed to be fun and about writing something, no matter what they need to do it.

At first the child may only write down one or two sounds from the unknown word, which is fine! As they become more confident with writing at school, their knowledge will come through their writing at home. This is merely good practice and a chance to learn to enjoy writing, outside of school. Writing needs to be seen as something that is needed beyond the walls of the school room.

Activity 3

Once a child becomes more confident with writing, move the lines in the scrap book closer together and encourage writing of all kinds. Journaling is great. Reading back over their writing later together can really add to the importance of writing. Creative writing about their dreams and hopes can also be great. As can recording data from experiments or rules for games in the back yard. Really, anything that they WANT to write about should be encouraged. It can often help them to process their own thoughts, and can give you insight.

If a child likes to use computers, open up a word processing program and let them go for it. They can learn to add photos and other pictures to their work. Children who love art may find writing then creating an art project to accompany their writing fun. Often parents need to stand out of the way and saying 'yes' to messy exciting things the child wants to do.

When to do writing tasks

Provide a time for writing that is a nothing time. A time when nothing fun is going on, play has been had, and everyone else is doing seemingly boring tasks. It's also great if it's a time when parents are busy (so can't hover), but not too busy to wander over calmly if the kindergarten child is getting frustrated. Dinner cooking time, or cleaning up after dinner time, works well.

All children are different, so if the time isn't working, pick another one. Don't stop play and demand writing. It just won't work. For us, writing time is during homework time. One benefit of many kids is you just need one to start. I can announce it's time to do anything, and generally if one believes, the others follow.

Other things parents can do to encourage writing

*Ask the child to add items to a shopping list. Ask like it's no big deal.

*Allow the child to see the grown ups write with purpose. They need to feel the NEED to write. Why bother learning something that serves no purpose and is only for school. It's tempting to do all the work for work, making schedules, writing lists, etc once children are in bed. Try to do some in front the child.

*Let the child see writing can be fun. Write a story together. Parent write a few lines, the child writes a few lines. Or at the very beginning, child talks and parent writes. They will start to understand the importance of words and some children will pick up spelling, grammar etc from simple activities like this. Again, writing doesn't have to be serious: have fun with it and make it silly.

*Ask the child questions about their writing. Be interested. Genuinely. Without all the over the top praise if the writing isn't worthy. Compliment effort, not the finished product.

*Ask the child to read their writing to you, and even better to siblings. Quite often the child will want to make changes or add words. This is completely normal.

*Read. A lot. It will give them ideas to write about and provide opportunities to talk about writers. Discuss how people come up with ideas, what is important to think about when writing, how funny it would be if there were no full stops etc.

*Make a writing box and provide endless amounts of paper, lined and unlined.

*With an older child, a communication book between parents and child can be great. It serves many more purposes than learning to write too.

Just as parents encourage and value the development of verbal language in the early years, writing is yet another form of communication for us to encourage and get excited about. Enjoy the journey and take photos. Before you know it they will be a proficient writer and you will hardly remember all the steps along the way.

Jen.x