When a child has a great imagination they can go on journeys in their own mind. They can become pirates sailing across the sea or astronauts exploring the vastness of space. For parents and teachers, it is important to encourage a child to create and imagine wonderful things in life. Writing is one way parents and teachers can help put a child's creativity to use.
By encouraging children to write stories, a child's imagination can be used to practice writing skills and to think critically and creatively. Children who learn to write down the stories they create are able to share the world's they are imagining for others to enjoy.
As children get older, writing skills become more important. To be successful in certain jobs or college a student needs to have skills in reading and writing. By learning these skills early on in life, children have time to hone their skills and learn the rules and guidelines for writing school papers, articles, stories, and more.
Children can learn to establish a style of writing that fits their own unique personality. Not all stories follow the same rules of writing. Children can be creative in how they present their work to readers. Some children may enjoy first-person perspective or writing about fantasy genres. Others my prefer sci-fi or non-fiction genres. In the world of stories, children can be creative and develop a way of writing they enjoy that fits the way they see a tale unfold in their own mind.
Give them plenty of tools: paper, pens/pencils, access to a laptop with a word processor, and books for inspiration!
Read every story and tell the young author all the things you enjoyed.
You can never give enough praise for hard work!
Give the child tips on how to improve their work as the grow older and more advanced writers.
If you are a parent, read to your child. Those stories may inspire them to create new ideas for their own works of art.
Asking probing questions to help children think more critically about the stories they are writing about. This can help them think of more details and creative elements to include in their story.
