6 Tips to Help You Teach Writing to Children
Writing is a very important part of a child’s education. What they learn as a child and how they learn it will stick with them throughout the rest of their lives. Writing is a way to communicate and it is involved in many different areas of our lives.
If you are trying to find fun ways to improve your writing help for kids, you have come to the right place. Using the tips below you will find that a child will not become bored with the learning process.
1. Writing Is Important
We suggest you show children why writing is important. You can do so by modeling the importance of writing. For example, when you write stuff down do so in front of the children. Make this more powerful by reading out-loud what you are recording as you are writing it. Explain the value writing offers in the situation Children need to see that writing is something that is done on a daily basis which is just one reason why it is a very important skill for them to master.
2. Writing Tools
Be sure that the children are supplied with the proper writing tools. This means the correct writing paper for your child’s age (very wide lines, medium lined, traceable letters….). Age appropriate paper can sometimes be difficult to find but there are many resources to buy it online.
Children also enjoy writing with their very own “special” pencils or markers. Make getting you child’s writing tools a big deal and let your child know that these tools are very important because they support his learning a vital life skill.
3. Writing Help For Kids Using The Right Tools
Leave plenty of paper, crayons, marker and pencils around for children to use whenever they are feeling creative or ambitious. Encourage your children to draw and scribble as much as they want to. Mix it up and ask children to draw and write about activities that they did that day. You want kids to get used to writing things down, especially in this age of technology.
4. Encourage Writing
Encourage kids to write, write, write. Write when they are happy, when they are sad, and when they are not sure how they feel. Ask them to write funny stories or their name over and over again. Ask them to read back to you everything that they wrote.
To further encourage a child’s writing skill development do not… that is DO NOT! … correct the child on the mistakes that he or she makes as this could end up making them feel badly about themselves. IF you decide to go ahead and correct mistakes, you must be gentle when correcting children. This will help them to feel a little better about your feedback and to not take it to heart.
5. Make Learning Writing Fun!
Making learning to write fun is the most important part of teaching a child this skill. When learning any new skill it has to interest and engage them. Play games together that involve writing. For example, you could play hangman or scrabble. You could even create a word search that has their name in it. Don’t forget to encourage your child to write fun stories that will make you both laugh and be sure to encourage them to draw plenty of pictures if they are the more artistic type (or even if they aren’t!).
Learning to write doesn’t have to be a hassle or boring for children, rather you can make it wildly fun.
6. Reward Your Child’s Writing Efforts
When you are offering writing help for kids it is important that you reward your child when they do a great job. It could be with a piece of candy or a toy or a special trip to the grocery store to buy their favorite snack. The reward could even be a new pack of markers and crayons.
Just remember, when teaching writing you and your child can have a great time learning together, laughing at silly words and stories and making fun memories that will last a lifetime!
Until next time, write on…