Creative writing is one of those tasks that all children can take part in but not every child shows interest in. Given that writing has educational connotations, most children who enjoy writing do it of their own accord. However, creative writing is both fun and educational and something worth exploring with your child. Here is some advice from a boarding school on Reading on how to get started with your little one.

Encourage them to start reading. In order for children to fall in love with creative writing, they need to be inspired first. Reading allows children to reach into deep parts of their imaginative minds and explore the creativity that comes with it. Once your child understands how exciting it can be to read fictional writing, they may then feel more comfortable with getting busy with a pen and paper.

Help them to experiment with different endings. Once your child has become a book worm, you’ll notice they start to think about the characters in more depth as well as their own preferences to how they would’ve written the story. This is the perfect time to get your child to explore their creative writing. Rewriting the ends of stories gives your child a solid foundation to work on as all the main characters, plots and settings have been set in stone.

Help them write the first line. The hardest part of writing is the first line. It’s always easy to overthink it and let our minds race. Help your child come up with a catchy first line and use mind maps to build on it. These are great for visual learners especially as they are able to write down all their ideas on paper and expand on them as they go. Once characters, settings, plots and even senses have been set in place, your child and their creative writing will be unstoppable.