Are you ready to enter a child's imagination?
Writing is incredible fun and children have amazing imaginations. The best way to engage children in story writing is to make it fun.
These ideas are what I have learned from working with children:
Playing games to engage children
Do you remember the game where you drew the head on the top third of a piece of paper, folded it down and passed the paper to the person to your left or right?
Drawing the body and feet on the middle and bottom thirds of the paper respectively. Children love this game.
The children I have worked with loved the point where the paper is unfolded and the character is revealed.
The children are actively engaged in the activity and from here can be guided to think about the character in front of them and about writing a story about the character.
Using drawing to engage children
Get the children to draw their own character. Here the child is using their imagination and focusing totally on what they are doing, no one is telling them what to do.
Once the character is drawn the child can name the character and think about what the character likes or dislikes, for example. The child has ownership of their work.
A story can come from this starting point and because the child has ownership they will invest their time and effort fully.
Asking the child for ideas
Every child or adult likes to have their opinions and thoughts valued. Asking a child for ideas on how a story starts and then how the story continues immediately grabs their attention.
The more input they have in the story writing process deepens their attachment to the story.
Whoever adds an element which appears in the story feels personally attached to the story.
In conclusion
Using the above ideas grabs a child and keeps their attention. Once you have a child’s attention anything is possible.
The most important point is to make the process fun - for the children and you!
Please contact me if you would like me to run a workshop.