how to teach creative writing in a fun way

Inspiring Ink: Expert Tips on How to Teach Creative Writing

The world of creative writing is as vast as it is rewarding. It’s a form of expression that allows the writer to explore different worlds, characters, and narratives – all within the power of their pen.

But what exactly is creative writing and why is it important? Let’s explore the value of creative writing and how to inspire young (or old!) minds to embark on the curious and exciting journey of writing creatively – it’s easier than you think!

What is Creative Writing?

Creative writing, in its simplest form, is writing that goes beyond the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature.

It’s characterized by its emphasis on:

• narrative craft
• character development
• the use of literary devices

From poetry to plays, scripts to sonnets, creative writing covers a wide range of genres . It’s about painting pictures with words, invoking emotions, and bringing ideas to life . It’s about crafting stories that are compelling, engaging, and thought-provoking.

Whether you’re penning a novel or jotting down a journal entry, creative writing encourages you to unleash your imagination and express your thoughts in a unique, artistic way. For a deeper dive into the realm of creative writing, you can visit our article on what is creative writing .

Benefits of Developing Creative Writing Skills

The benefits of creative writing extend beyond the page.

It’s not just about creating captivating stories or crafting beautiful prose. The skills developed through creative writing are invaluable in many aspects of life and work.

1. Creative writing fosters creativity and imagination. 

It encourages you to think outside the box, broaden your perspective, and explore new ideas. It also enhances your ability to communicate effectively, as it involves conveying thoughts, emotions, and narratives in a clear and compelling manner.

2. Creative writing aids in improving critical thinking skills.

It prompts you to analyze characters, plotlines, and themes, and make connections between different ideas. This process activates different parts of the mind, drawing on personal experiences, the imagination, logical plot development, and emotional intelligence.

3. Creative writing is also a valuable tool for self-expression and personal growth.

It allows you to explore your feelings, experiences, and observations, providing an outlet for self-reflection and introspection. By both reading and writing about different characters in different situations, readers develop empathy in a gentle but effective way.

4. Creative writing skills can open up a host of career opportunities.

From authors and editors to content creators and copywriters, the demand for creative writers is vast and varied. You can learn more about potential career paths in our article on creative writing jobs and what you can do with a creative writing degree .

In essence, creative writing is more than just an art—it’s a skill, a craft, and a powerful tool for communication and self-expression. Whether you’re teaching creative writing or learning it, understanding its value is the first step towards mastering the art.

The 3 Roles of a Creative Writing Teacher

Amongst the many facets of a creative writing teacher’s role, three vital aspects stand out: inspiring creativity , nurturing talent , and providing constructive criticism . These elements play a significant role in shaping budding writers and fostering their passion for the craft.

1. Inspiring Creativity

The primary function of a creative writing teacher is to inspire creativity.

They must foster an environment that encourages students to think outside the box and explore new possibilities . This includes presenting students with creative writing prompts that challenge their thinking, promoting lively discussions around various topics, and providing opportunities for students to engage in creative writing activities for kids .

Teachers should also expose students to a range of literary genres , styles, and techniques to broaden their understanding and appreciation of the craft. This exposure not only enhances their knowledge but also stimulates their creativity, encouraging them to experiment with different writing styles .

2. Nurturing Talent

Nurturing talent involves recognizing the unique abilities of each student and providing the necessary support and guidance to help them develop these skills. A creative writing teacher needs to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each student and tailor their approach accordingly.

This means:

• offering personalized feedback
• setting realistic yet challenging goals
• providing opportunities for students to showcase their work

Encouraging students to participate in writing competitions or to publish their work can give them a confidence boost and motivate them to improve. Furthermore, teachers should educate students about various creative writing jobs and what you can do with a creative writing degree . This knowledge can inspire students to pursue their passion for writing and explore career opportunities in the field.

3. Providing Constructive Criticism

Providing constructive criticism is a critical aspect of teaching creative writing. It involves assessing students’ work objectively and providing feedback that helps them improve .

Teachers should:

• highlight the strengths of the work
• address the areas that need improvement
• suggest ways to make the piece better

Constructive criticism should be specific, actionable, and encouraging . It’s important to remember that the goal is to help the student improve, not to discourage them. Therefore, teachers need to communicate their feedback in a respectful and supportive manner.

In essence, a teacher’s role in teaching creative writing extends beyond mere instruction. They are mentors who inspire, nurture, and shape the minds of budding writers. By fostering a supportive and stimulating environment, they can help students unlock their creative potential and develop a lifelong love for writing.

3 Techniques for Teaching Creative Writing

When it comes to understanding how to teach creative writing, there are several effective techniques that can help inspire students and foster their writing skills.

1. Encouraging Free Writing Exercises

Free writing is a technique that encourages students to write continuously for a set amount of time without worrying about grammar, punctuation, or topic. This type of exercise can help unleash creativity, as it allows students to freely express their thoughts and ideas without judgment or constraint.

As a teacher, you can set a specific theme or provide creative writing prompts to guide the writing session. Alternatively, you can allow students to write about any topic that comes to mind. The key is to create an environment that encourages creative exploration and expression.

2. Exploring Different Genres

Another effective technique is to expose students to a wide range of writing genres. This can include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, fantasy, mystery, and more. By exploring different genres, students can discover their unique writing styles and interests. This variety also offers the chance to expand their writing skills and apply them to various writing formats.

To facilitate this exploration, you can assign writing projects in different genres, conduct genre-specific writing workshops, or invite guest speakers who specialize in different genres. You can also encourage students to critically analyze how different authors approach their work.

3. Analyzing Published Works

Analyzing published works is a powerful way to teach creative writing. This technique allows students to learn from established authors by studying their:

• writing styles
• narrative structures
• use of language.

It also provides a practical context for understanding writing concepts and techniques.

As a teacher, you can select diverse pieces of literature for analysis , ranging from classic novels to contemporary short stories. Encourage students to identify elements they admire in these works and discuss how they can incorporate similar techniques into their own writing.

These techniques for teaching creative writing are effective ways to inspire creativity, encourage self-expression, and develop writing skills. As a teacher, your role is crucial in guiding students through their creative journey and helping them realize their potential as writers.

Creative Writing Workshops and Exercises

One effective method on how to teach creative writing is through the use of targeted workshops and exercises. These interactive sessions can stimulate creativity, foster character development , and help in understanding story structures .

Idea Generation Workshops

Idea generation is a crucial aspect of creative writing. It is the starting point that provides a springboard for writers to explore and develop their narratives. Idea generation workshops can be an interactive and fun way to help writers come up with fresh ideas.

Workshops can include brainstorming sessions , where writers are encouraged to think freely and note down all ideas, no matter how unconventional they may seem. Another method is the use of writing prompts , which can serve as a creative spark.

A prompt could be:

• even an image

Editor’s Note : Encourage children to create a big scribble on a scrap piece of paper and then look for an image in it (like looking for pictures in the clouds). This can be a great creative writing prompt and students will love sharing their writing with each other! Expect lots of giggles and fun!

Character Development Exercises

Characters are the heart of any story. They drive the narrative and engage the readers. Character development exercises can help writers create well-rounded and relatable characters.

Such exercises can include character questionnaires , where writers answer a series of questions about their characters to gain a deeper understanding of their personalities, backgrounds, and motivations. Role-playing activities can also be useful, allowing writers to step into their characters’ shoes and explore their reactions in different scenarios.

Story Structure Workshops

Understanding story structure is vital for creating a compelling narrative. Story structure workshops can guide writers on how to effectively structure their stories to engage readers from start to finish .

These workshops can cover essential elements of story structures like:

• rising action
• falling action

In addition to understanding the basics, writers should be encouraged to experiment with different story structures to find what works best for their narrative style. An understanding of story structure can also help in analyzing and learning from published works .

Providing writers with the right tools and techniques, through workshops and exercises, can significantly improve their creative writing skills. It’s important to remember that creativity flourishes with practice and patience .

As a teacher, nurturing this process is one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching creative writing. For more insights and tips on teaching creative writing, continue exploring our articles on creative writing .

Tips to Enhance Creative Writing Skills

The process of teaching creative writing is as much about honing one’s own skills as it is about imparting knowledge to others. Here are some key strategies that can help in enhancing your creative writing abilities and make your teaching methods more effective.

Regular Practice

Like any other skill, creative writing requires regular practice . Foster the habit of writing daily, even if it’s just a few lines. This will help you stay in touch with your creative side and continually improve your writing skills. Encourage your students to do the same.

Introduce them to various creative writing prompts to stimulate their imagination and make their writing practice more engaging.

Reading Widely

Reading is an essential part of becoming a better writer. By reading widely, you expose yourself to a variety of styles, tones, and genres . This not only broadens your literary horizons but also provides a wealth of ideas for your own writing.

Encourage your students to read extensively as well. Analyzing and discussing different works can be an excellent learning exercise and can spark creative ideas .

Exploring Various Writing Styles

The beauty of creative writing lies in its diversity. From poetic verses to gripping narratives, there’s a wide range of styles to explore. Encourage your students to try their hand at different forms of writing. This not only enhances their versatility but also helps them discover their unique voice as a writer.

To help them get started, you can introduce a variety of creative writing activities for kids . These tasks can be tailored to suit different age groups and proficiency levels. Remember, the goal is to foster a love for writing, so keep the activities fun and engaging .

Have Fun Teaching Creative Writing!

Enhancing creative writing skills is a continuous journey. It requires persistence, curiosity, and a willingness to step out of your comfort zone. As a teacher, your role is to guide your students on this journey, providing them with the tools and encouragement they need to flourish as writers – and most of all – enjoy the process!

For more insights on creative writing, be sure to explore our articles on what is creative writing and creative writing jobs and what you can do with a creative writing degree .

Brooks Manley

Creative Primer  is a resource on all things journaling, creativity, and productivity. We’ll help you produce better ideas, get more done, and live a more effective life.

My name is Brooks. I do a ton of journaling, like to think I’m a creative (jury’s out), and spend a lot of time thinking about productivity. I hope these resources and product recommendations serve you well. Reach out if you ever want to chat or let me know about a journal I need to check out!

Here’s my favorite journal for 2024: 

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Enriching Creative Writing Activities for Kids

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How to Teach Creative Writing | 7 Steps to Get Students Wordsmithing

“I don’t have any ideas!”

“I can’t think of anything!”

While we see creative writing as a world of limitless imagination, our students often see an overwhelming desert of “no idea.”

But when you teach creative writing effectively, you’ll notice that  every  student is brimming over with ideas that just have to get out.

So what does teaching creative writing effectively look like?

We’ve outlined a  seven-step method  that will  scaffold your students through each phase of the creative process  from idea generation through to final edits.

7. Create inspiring and original prompts

Use the following formats to generate prompts that get students inspired:

• personal memories (“Write about a person who taught you an important lesson”)
• imaginative scenarios
• prompts based on a familiar mentor text (e.g. “Write an alternative ending to your favorite book”). These are especially useful for giving struggling students an easy starting point.
• lead-in sentences (“I looked in the mirror and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Somehow overnight I…”).
• fascinating or thought-provoking images with a directive (“Who do you think lives in this mountain cabin? Tell their story”).

Don’t have the time or stuck for ideas? Check out our list of 100 student writing prompts

6. unpack the prompts together.

Explicitly teach your students how to dig deeper into the prompt for engaging and original ideas.

Probing questions are an effective strategy for digging into a prompt. Take this one for example:

“I looked in the mirror and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Somehow overnight I…”

Ask “What questions need answering here?” The first thing students will want to know is:

What happened overnight?

No doubt they’ll be able to come up with plenty of zany answers to that question, but there’s another one they could ask to make things much more interesting:

Who might “I” be?

In this way, you subtly push students to go beyond the obvious and into more original and thoughtful territory. It’s even more useful with a deep prompt:

“Write a story where the main character starts to question something they’ve always believed.”

Here students could ask:

• What sorts of beliefs do people take for granted?
• What might make us question those beliefs?
• What happens when we question something we’ve always thought is true?
• How do we feel when we discover that something isn’t true?

Try splitting students into groups, having each group come up with probing questions for a prompt, and then discussing potential “answers” to these questions as a class.

The most important lesson at this point should be that good ideas take time to generate. So don’t rush this step!

5. Warm-up for writing

A quick warm-up activity will:

• allow students to see what their discussed ideas look like on paper
• help fix the “I don’t know how to start” problem
• warm up writing muscles quite literally (especially important for young learners who are still developing handwriting and fine motor skills).

Freewriting  is a particularly effective warm-up. Give students 5–10 minutes to “dump” all their ideas for a prompt onto the page for without worrying about structure, spelling, or grammar.

After about five minutes you’ll notice them starting to get into the groove, and when you call time, they’ll have a better idea of what captures their interest.

Did you know? The Story Factory in Reading Eggs allows your students to write and publish their own storybooks using an easy step-by-step guide.

4. Start planning

Now it’s time for students to piece all these raw ideas together and generate a plan. This will synthesize disjointed ideas and give them a roadmap for the writing process.

Note:  at this stage your strong writers might be more than ready to get started on a creative piece. If so, let them go for it – use planning for students who are still puzzling things out.

Here are four ideas for planning:

Graphic organisers

A graphic organiser will allow your students to plan out the overall structure of their writing. They’re also particularly useful in “chunking” the writing process, so students don’t see it as one big wall of text.

Storyboards and illustrations

These will engage your artistically-minded students and give greater depth to settings and characters. Just make sure that drawing doesn’t overshadow the writing process.

Voice recordings

If you have students who are hesitant to commit words to paper, tell them to think out loud and record it on their device. Often they’ll be surprised at how well their spoken words translate to the page.

Write a blurb

This takes a bit more explicit teaching, but it gets students to concisely summarize all their main ideas (without giving away spoilers). Look at some blurbs on the back of published books before getting them to write their own. Afterward they could test it out on a friend – based on the blurb, would they borrow it from the library?

3. Produce rough drafts

Warmed up and with a plan at the ready, your students are now ready to start wordsmithing. But before they start on a draft, remind them of what a draft is supposed to be:

• a work in progress.

Remind them that  if they wait for the perfect words to come, they’ll end up with blank pages .

Instead, it’s time to take some writing risks and get messy. Encourage this by:

• demonstrating the writing process to students yourself
• taking the focus off spelling and grammar (during the drafting stage)
• providing meaningful and in-depth feedback (using words, not ticks!).

Reading Eggs also gives you access to an ever-expanding collection of over 3,500 online books!

2. share drafts for peer feedback.

Don’t saddle yourself with 30 drafts for marking. Peer assessment is a better (and less exhausting) way to ensure everyone receives the feedback they need.

Why? Because for something as personal as creative writing, feedback often translates better when it’s in the familiar and friendly language that only a peer can produce. Looking at each other’s work will also give students more ideas about how they can improve their own.

Scaffold peer feedback to ensure it’s constructive. The following methods work well:

Student rubrics

A simple rubric allows students to deliver more in-depth feedback than “It was pretty good.” The criteria will depend on what you are ultimately looking for, but students could assess each other’s:

• use of language.

Whatever you opt for, just make sure the language you use in the rubric is student-friendly.

Two positives and a focus area

Have students identify two things their peer did well, and one area that they could focus on further, then turn this into written feedback. Model the process for creating specific comments so you get something more constructive than “It was pretty good.” It helps to use stems such as:

I really liked this character because…

I found this idea interesting because it made me think…

I was a bit confused by…

I wonder why you… Maybe you could… instead.

1. The editing stage

Now that students have a draft and feedback, here’s where we teachers often tell them to “go over it” or “give it some final touches.”

But our students don’t always know how to edit.

Scaffold the process with questions that encourage students to think critically about their writing, such as:

• Are there any parts that would be confusing if I wasn’t there to explain them?
• Are there any parts that seem irrelevant to the rest?
• Which parts am I most uncertain about?
• Does the whole thing flow together, or are there parts that seem out of place?
• Are there places where I could have used a better word?
• Are there any grammatical or spelling errors I notice?

Key to this process is getting students to  read their creative writing from start to finish .

Important note:  if your students are using a word processor, show them where the spell-check is and how to use it. Sounds obvious, but in the age of autocorrect, many students simply don’t know.

A final word on teaching creative writing

Remember that the best writers write regularly.

Incorporate them into your lessons as often as possible, and soon enough, you’ll have just as much fun  marking  your students’ creative writing as they do producing it.

Need more help supporting your students’ writing?

Read up on  how to get reluctant writers writing , strategies for  supporting struggling secondary writers , or check out our huge list of writing prompts for kids .

Watch your students get excited about writing and publishing their own storybooks in the Story Factory

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51 Creative Writing Activities For The Classroom: Comics, Prompts, Games, And Pretend Play

January 4, 2024 //  by  Milka Kariuki

Creative writing can be tough for learners of any age. From knowing where to start to establishing the vocabulary to develop their story, there are a bunch of different skills they’ll need to perfect their creative writing pieces. There are so many creative writing activities out there, but which ones are best for your kiddos? Our list of 51 creative writing activities is the perfect place to start looking if you’ve got a creative writing unit coming up! Read on and see which ones might grab your little writers’ attention!

1. Make Your Own Comic Books

We bet your kiddos just love comic books! Let them create their very own in the style of the super popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid books! Encourage your students to come up with their own plot, dialogue, and illustrations to spark their creativity. Even your most reluctant writers will love this fun activity! 

Learn More: Puffin Schools

2. Mad Libs

Using Mad Libs is a super popular way to develop your little creative writers! Use these free printables to get their creative juices flowing as they try to come up with words to fill the gaps to create weird and wonderful new stories. The best thing is that you can use these printables as many times as you like as their answers will be different each time!

Learn More: Teacher Vision

3. Flash Fiction

Flash fiction is a fantastic way to get your kiddies writing creatively while keeping things short and sweet! Use the range you prompts included in this resource to challenge them to write a creative story in less than 100 words. Flash fiction is amazing because your students won’t be overwhelmed by a huge writing task and it also means that your more confident writers will need to focus on the quality of their work, not the quantity! 

Learn More: TES

4. Write a Story Based on the Ending

Test your students’ creativity by providing them with writing prompts that start at the end! In backward story writing, your budding writers will need to plan and pen a story that eventually leads to the ending you give them. This idea is a fantastic way to turn your traditional creative writing lesson on its head and in many ways take the pressure off your kids, as ending their stories is often the most difficult part for them!

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

5. Found Poetry

Your learners will love this fun and creative found poetry activity. You can encourage them to collect words or a group of words from a favorite story or song then write them on a piece of paper or cut them out of a printed page. The overall goal is to have them rearrange the words differently to make an interesting poem with a unique writing style or genre!

Learn More: Homeschooling Ideas

6. Picture Dictionary

A picture dictionary is a brilliant way to support every member of your younger elementary class in their creative writing. The words paired with pictures give your writers a ‘dictionary’ that they can use pretty independently, so your less confident writers or non-native English-speaking students can still access your writing lessons! 

Learn More: Twinkl

7. Creative Journal Writing

Why not start a creative journal with your kiddos? Have them engage in daily journaling activities by giving them a different creative prompt each day. For instance, write a story about what would happen if dogs took over the world or what would you do if you were the security guard at a zoo and someone stole an animal? The fun is never-ending with these prompts!  

Learn More: Think Written  

8. Roll a Story

Roll-a-Story is one of the best ways to help any of your kids who are suffering from a bout of writer’s block! They’ll roll the dice to discover the character, setting, and problem for their story then set to work weaving their creative tale! It could be a story about a wise doctor being chased by a mysterious creature in a casino, or maybe a rich artist losing their wallet in a library. Then it’s up to your students to fill in the gaps!

Learn More: TPT

9. Pass-it-on Story Writing

There’s no telling quite where this fun writing game will end up! Start by writing the first sentence of a story on a piece of paper then pass it around your class, having your kids come up with a sentence that continues the story. The paper is then passed around the whole class until every student has contributed. Finally, once it makes its way back to you, read out your collaborative story to the whole class!

Learn More: Minds In Bloom

10. Picture Writing Prompts

Creative writing prompts activities test not only your little ones’ imaginations but also their ability to craft a story and dialogue from that. Display an intriguing picture prompt for your class and have a discussion about it, recording their ideas. You could discuss what the person or animal in the picture is doing or what they’re thinking, where they think the picture was taken, and much more. They can use your collective notes to inspire their story!

Learn More: Pandora Post

11. What’s the Question?

What’s the Question is a simple, yet super engaging game that requires your young learners to think creatively. Spark their creativity by writing an answer on the whiteboard such as “the moon would explode,” and task your kiddos with coming up with a question to match it. There’ll be lots of laughs as everyone shares what they came up with!

Learn More: That Afterschool Life

12. Creative Writing Printables

This website is absolutely full of quick and fun graphics for children that’ll encourage their creative writing! The cute graphics and simple directions make it an easy bellringer activity for your writing class. Just print out some of these cool sheets and let your students get creative as they write thank-you notes to helpful heroes or finish little cartoon comics!

Learn More: Jarrett Lerner

13. Paint Chip Poetry

Nothing says creative writing quite like figurative language! Grab some of these free paint swatches from your local home improvement store and have your students create metaphors about their chosen color! We love this low-prep activity as once your kids have finished their poems, they’re a ready-made multi-colored display that’ll brighten the walls of your classroom! 

Learn More: Fabulous In Fifth

14. Story Storm Activities

Once again, these Jarrett Lerner activities do not disappoint! Your students will have a blast pretending they are the principal for a day and they’ll get to create their very own rules for the school. Not only will this be an engaging writing exercise that we’re sure they’ll love getting creative with, but it also challenges children to think about why rules in school are important.

Learn More: Tara Lazar

15. Story Bag

Story bags are a fantastic way to destroy any kind of writer’s block! Grab an assortment of random objects from your home or classroom and pop them into the story bag. Next, gather your students around and pull out all the objects in the bag. Can they then write a story connecting all the items? Be sure to leave time to let them share their stories at the end of the lesson!

Learn More: Life Hack

16. Change the Ending

An easy way to ease your kiddos into the writing process is by having them rewrite part of a story. Grab their favorite read-aloud, and challenge them to come up with a new ending! They’ll need to finish the story in a way that makes sense, but aside from that, they can be as creative as they like! Your reluctant readers will like this one as much of the work on setting and characters has already been done! 

Learn More: Make Beliefs Comix

17. Plot Twist Writing Prompts

BUT WAIT – there’s a twist…This fun writing practice is perfect for older middle or high school but could also be simplified for younger students. Write these twist prompts on notecards and have your kids draw one each before letting them go off and write a story around their chosen twist! They’ll be eager to share their finished work with classmates at the end. After all, who doesn’t love a good plot twist?

Learn More: Pinterest

18.  Craft Box Craft

Every kid loves the book The Day the Crayons Quit for its creative narrative about this familiar box of coloring supplies! This extension activity rolls art and creative writing into one! Your students will have fun coming up with dialogue for each of the different crayons and you could even make it into a fun display for your classroom walls!

Learn More: Buggy And Buddy

19. Dialogue Pictures

Personalizing writing activities always makes it more engaging for kids! Print out a picture of yourself with a blank speech bubble, and model how to add in some dialogue. Then, let your kiddos practice speech bubbling with a photo of themselves, a pet, or a favorite celebrity, and have them come up with some interesting things for each of their subjects to say!

Learn More: SSS Teaching

20. Figurative Language Tasting

Your students will be creative writers in no time after practicing their figurative language with food tasting! Not only do tasty treats make this activity incredibly fun, but it also brings the writing process of metaphors and hyperbole to life. Just give each of your kids a few pieces of candy or snacks, and have them practice writing figures of speech relating to each one! They’ll have the words on the tip of their tongue- literally! 

Learn More: It’s Lit Teaching

21. Explode the Moment

One of my favorite writing concepts as a teacher is ‘exploding the moment’. This method is perfect for showing your kiddies that even the smallest moment can be turned into an imaginative, descriptive story! Start by having them brainstorm some ideas and expand on tiny memories like losing a tooth, getting a pet, or making a winning goal in a soccer game!

Learn More: Raise The Bar Reading

22. Round-Robin Storytelling

Round-robin storytelling is the perfect collaborative creative writing activity! This one can be done verbally or in writing, and it challenges your class to build a story using a given set of words. They’ll have a fun and challenging time figuring out how to incorporate each piece into one cohesive story.

Learn More: Random Acts Of Kindness

23. Acrostic Poems

Acrostic poetry is one of the least intimidating creative writing exercises as there are no rules other than starting each line with the letter from a word. Challenge your kiddies to use each letter in their name to write lines of poetry about themselves, or they could choose to write about their favorite food or animal!

Learn More: Surfin’ Through Second

24. Sentence Sticks

This exercise requires minimal prep and can be used in so many different ways. All you’ll need are some craft sticks in which you will write sentences with blanks and word banks. Your young writers can then pull a stick and fill in the blanks to practice creative thinking! Task them with a different goal each time; can they make the sentence silly or sad for example?

Learn More: Liz’s Early Learning Spot

25. Conversation Prompts

These fun prompts require your kids to think creatively and answer a range of interesting questions. They’ll be excited to write stories about waking up with a mermaid tail or describe what is in a mystery package delivered to their doorstep! These creative prompts are perfect for bellringers or transitions throughout the school day!

Learn More: Twitter

26. Pretend Play Writing

Do you remember playing with fake money and fake food when you were younger? This idea takes it a step further by incorporating some writing practice! All you’ll have to do is print the templates for dollars, shopping lists, and recipes then let your little learners have fun with these play-pretend writing ideas!

Learn More: Prekinders

27. Question Cubes

Your class will be on a roll with these amazing question cubes! Whether the cubes are used for responding to a story, brainstorming the plot of a story, or practicing speech and listening, they are an easy, affordable tool for your little readers and writers! You can snag some foam dice at the dollar store and hot glue questions on each side to spark some creative writing ideas for your class.

Learn More: A Love 4 Teaching

28. Balderdash

Not only is Balderdash an addicting board game, but it can even be used in the classroom! Your little learners will have a blast as they create made-up, imaginative definitions for words, important people, and dates. Whoever guesses the real answer out of the mix wins the points!

Learn More: EB Academics

29. Two Sentence Horror Story

This creative writing exercise is best for older students and would be a great one to try out around Halloween! You’ll be challenging your learners to write a story that runs chills up their readers’ spines, but there’s a twist…the story can only be two sentences long! Your kiddos will love writing and sharing their writing to see who can come up with the spookiest short story!

30. Telephone Pictionary

Another game that your kids will be begging to play over and over again is telephone pictionary! The first player will write down a random phrase, and the next person must draw their interpretation of the phrase. The third player will write what they think the picture is and so on!

Learn More: Imagine Forest

31. Consequences

You need at least two players for this fun creative writing game. Each pair or group of kids will start by having one person write a random phrase and conceal it by folding the paper. Then, they pass it to the next student to fill in the blank using the prompt. Once all the blanks are filled in, let them unfold the paper and get ready to reveal some seriously silly stories!

32. Story Wands

​​Story wands are a fun way to have your kids respond to stories and study what makes something their favorite. Responding to what they’re reading is a super helpful exercise in preparing them for creative writing as it allows your students to connect to their favorite stories. By figuring out what elements make stories great, this is sure to help them in their own creative writing assignments!

Learn More: Little Lifelong Learners

33. The Best Part of Me

Probably my favorite creative writing activity, this one is infused with social-emotional learning and self-esteem building! Let your students get to choose their favorite physical characteristics about themselves; whether it be their eyes, hands, feet, etc. Then, they take a picture to attach to their written reasoning! Make sure to boost the creative element of this writing task by encouraging your learners to use a bunch of adjectives and some figurative language!

Learn More: Sarah Gardner Teaching

34. Me From A-Z

Challenge your kiddos to get creative by coming up with 26 different words to describe themselves! Me From A-Z gives your students the opportunity to explore who they are by coming up with words describing them in some way using each letter of the alphabet. Why not let them decorate their lists and turn them into a display celebrating the uniqueness of each of your class members?

35. How to Make Hot Chocolate

How-to writing is a great way to get the creative writing wheels turning in your kiddies’ brains! They’ll have a fun time coming up with their instructions and ways to explain how to make hot chocolate! Do they have a secret recipe that’ll make the best-ever hot cocoa!? Once they’ve written their instructions, be sure to try them out and do a taste-test of their recipes!

Learn More: Teacher Mama

36. Give Yourself a Hand

Hands up if you love this idea! For this creative writing activity, have your little ones trace their hand on a piece of paper and decorate it with accessories. Then, encourage them to write a list of all the different things they do with their hands all over their tracing! This is a great warm-up to get the creative gears turning.

Learn More: Write Now Troup

37. Word Picture Poem

A word picture poem is a fantastic way to challenge your kids to write descriptive poetry about a common object! Your little poets will learn to find beauty in ordinary things and strengthen their sensory language skills and their vocabulary. For some added fun, you can even task them with writing a short story about the item as well! The results are sure to be fun to read!

Learn More: Teaching With Terhune

38. Shape Poem

Shape poems are some of the most creative poetry as they combine words and art into one! First, your young poets can choose an object to use as their muse and lightly trace an outline onto some paper. Then, they’ll write words along the outlined shape in the form of a poem that describes the object! The result is a bunch of fun and striking poems that’ll look great displayed around your classroom!

39. Crazy Hair Poetry

Here’s another one that combines writing and art! Start by guiding your kiddos in drawing a self-portrait then adding some crazy hair by blowing watercolor paints around! After the paint dries, have your kids come up with a short but creative poem describing their hair art.

Learn More: Grade School Giggles

40. Fingerprint Poetry

Nothing is more creative than getting your kiddies to let down the barriers in their mind and tap into their stream of consciousness! Show them how to pick a topic and then let their words flow straight from mind to paper in a swirling pattern. This fingerprint idea can be used for a get-to-know-you activity as well!

Learn More: Kristen Dembroski

41. Doggie Haiku Poems

Put a fun twist on classic haiku poetry! Your students will have a paw-some time writing three-line poems about dogs which they can then illustrate afterwards! Before starting the activity, you can use Dogku by Andrew Clements as a read-aloud to get your class hooked on this idea!

Learn More: Teaching Fourth

42. Fractured Fairy Tale

Ever wondered if the Big Bad Wolf was framed? Or if Sleeping Beauty was actually a snorer? Your writers in training will have a fun time taking a classic fairytale and putting their own spin on it! Following five simple steps, your kids will be funky fairytale authors in no time!

43. Letter Writing

These creative letter-writing prompts are sure to boost your kiddies’ imaginative writing skills! Whether writing to a pen pal or a favorite celebrity, letter writing is a great way to practice handwriting, word flow, descriptive language, and communicating all rolled into one! Have your writers grab their pencils and let the creativity flow as they write fun response letters to these prompts!

44. Hersey’s Kisses Similes

Teach sensory language and similes by connecting this tasty treat with the sense of taste! Your students will have a lovely time brainstorming how chocolate connects to each of our senses and applying that knowledge by writing some sweet similies! What a fantastic way to teach them how to use these essential creative writing tools!

Learn More: Teacher By The Beach

45. Sensory Poetry

Another great way to teach sensory details is to have your learners write poems about their favorite foods! Task them with writing a line for each sense to describe the food! Everyone will be hungry after this creative writing lesson so it might be a good idea to have some snacks on hand!

Learn More: Mrs. Tice’s Class

46. Season Personification

Each season of weather has an array of characteristics making this the perfect activity to practice personification in creative writing! Allow your little writers to choose a season to write about as if it were a person with human characteristics. Winter is a no-brainer! It’s Elsa!

Learn More: Write Shop

47. Class Book of Character Traits

To be creative writers, your kids need to know how to create realistic characters for their stories. For this class book, you’ll start by giving each student two opposing character traits. Next, have them demonstrate these traits by illustrating two characters and displaying them through dialogue!

Learn More: Crafting Connections

48. Socialgrams

With Instagram being all the rage these days, your kiddos will have a fun time creating a ‘socialgram’ on paper! Challenge them to create a descriptive and engaging caption to go along with their “photo” in the post. Then, classmates can comment on each other’s work! 

Learn More: Breezy Special Ed

49. Story Introduction Worksheets

Creative writing worksheets are a simple, minimal-prep tool to use in your creative writing units. Print out a variety of options, and have your kids practice their skills by finishing imaginative story introductions. By giving them a place to start their story, you can really take the pressure off your kids which will help ease them into the creative writing process!

Learn More: Lanternfish ESL

50. Dialogue Worksheets

Here’s another low-prep option for the last-minute planners! Pre-written dialogue can help guide the mood of the story and allow your kiddies to just focus on filling in the characters’ actions. This is also a great way to model how dialogue is spaced out and balanced in a story!

Learn More: ESL Writing Worksheets

51. Character Trait Posters

In this personalized character trait activity, your students will create a poster of themselves and label it with a bunch of different character traits. Descriptive, interesting characters are what make a story captivating, so this is a great introduction to understanding characters and their physical as well as personality traits! This is an activity that’s sure to help them build a strong foundation for their creative writing skills to build from!

Learn More: Life In First Grade

10 fun writing activities for the reluctant writer

  10 FUN WRITING ACTIVITIES FOR THE RELUCTANT WRITER

No doubt about it – writing isn’t easy. It is no wonder that many of our students could be described as ‘reluctant writers’ at best. It has been estimated by the National Association of Educational Progress that only about 27% of 8th and 12th-grade students can write proficiently.

As educators, we know that regular practice would go a long way to helping our students correct this underachievement, and sometimes, writing prompts just aren’t enough to light the fire.

But how do we get students, who have long since been turned off writing, to put pen to paper and log the requisite time to develop their writing chops?

The answer is to make writing fun! In this article, we will look at some creative writing activities where we can inject a little enjoyment into the writing game.

25 Fun Daily Writing Tasks

Quick Write and JOURNAL Activities for ALL TEXT TYPES in DIGITAL & PDF PRINT to engage RELUCTANT WRITERS .

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1. Poetry Scavenger Hunt

The Purpose: This activity encourages students to see the poetry in the everyday language around them while helpfully reinforcing their understanding of some of the conventions of the genre.

The Process: Encourage students to ‘scavenge’ their school, home, and outside the community for snippets of language they can compile into a piece of poetry or a poetic collage. They may copy down or photograph words, phrases, and sentences from signs, magazines, leaflets or even snippets of conversations they overhear while out and about.

Examples of language they collect may range from the Keep Out sign on private property to the destination on the front of a local bus.

Once students have gathered their language together, they can work to build a poem out of the scraps, usually choosing a central theme to give the piece cohesion. They can even include corresponding artwork to enhance the visual appeal of their work, too, if they wish.

The Prize: If poetry serves one purpose, it is to encourage us to look at the world anew with the fresh eyes of a young child. This activity challenges our students to read new meanings into familiar things and put their own spin on the language they encounter in the world around them, reinforcing the student’s grasp on poetic conventions.

2. Story Chains  

The Purpose: Writing is often thought of as a solitary pursuit. For this reason alone, it can be seen as a particularly unattractive activity by many of our more gregarious students. This fun activity exercises students’ understanding of writing structures and engages them in fun, creative collaboration.

The Process: Each student starts with a blank paper and pen. The teacher writes a story prompt on the whiteboard. You’ll find some excellent narrative writing prompts here . For example, each student spends two minutes using the writing prompt to kick-start their writing.  

When they have completed this part of the task, they will then pass their piece of paper to the student next to them. Students then continue the story from where the previous student left off for a given number of words, paragraphs, or length of time.

If organized correctly, you can ensure students receive their own initial story back at the end for the writing of the story’s conclusion .

The Prize: This fun writing activity can be used effectively to reinforce student understanding of narrative writing structures, but it can also be fun to try with other writing genres.

Working collaboratively motivates students to engage with the task, as no one wants to be the ‘weak link’ in the finished piece. But, more than that, this activity encourages students to see writing as a communicative and creative task where there needn’t be a ‘right’ answer. This encourages students to be more willing to take creative risks in their work.

3. Acrostic Associations

The Purpose: This is another great way to get students to try writing poetry – a genre that many students find the most daunting.

The Process: Acrostics are simple poems whereby each letter of a word or phrase begins a new line in the poem. Younger students can start off with something very simple, like their own name or their favorite pet and write this vertically down the page.

Older students can take a word or phrase related to a topic they have been working on or have a particular interest in and write it down on the page before beginning to write.

The Prize: This activity has much in common with the old psychiatrist’s word association technique. Students should be encouraged to riff on ideas and themes generated by the focus word or phrase. They needn’t worry about rhyme and meter and such here, but the preset letter for each line will give them some structure to their meanderings and require them to impose some discipline on their wordsmithery, albeit in a fun and loose manner.

4. The What If Challenge

The Purpose: This challenge helps encourage students to see the link between posing interesting hypothetical questions and creating an entertaining piece of writing.

The Process: To begin this exercise, have the students come up with a single What If question, which they can then write down on a piece of paper. The more off-the-wall, the better!

For example, ‘What if everyone in the world knew what you were thinking?’ or ‘What if your pet dog could talk?’ Students fold up their questions and drop them into a hat. Each student picks one out of the hat before writing on that question for a suitable set amount of time.

Example What If Questions

• “What if you woke up one day and found out that you had the power to time travel?”
• “What if you were the last person on Earth? How would you spend your time?”
• “What if you were granted three wishes, but each one came with a terrible consequence?”
• “What if you discovered a secret portal to another world? Where would you go, and what would you do?”
• “What if you woke up one day with the ability to communicate with animals? How would your life change?”

The Prize: Students are most likely to face the terror of the dreaded Writer’s Block when they are faced with open-ended creative writing tasks.

This activity encourages the students to see the usefulness of posing hypothetical What If questions, even random off-the-wall ones, for kick-starting their writing motors.

Though students begin by answering the questions set for them by others, please encourage them to see how they can set these questions for themselves the next time they suffer from a stalled writing engine.

5. The Most Disgusting Sandwich in the World

The Purpose: Up until now, we have looked at activities encouraging our students to have fun with genres such as fiction and poetry. These genres being imaginative in nature, more easily lend themselves to being enjoyable than some of the nonfiction genres.

But what about descriptive writing activities? In this activity, we endeavor to bring that same level of enjoyment to instruction writing while also cleverly reinforcing the criteria of this genre.

The Process: Undoubtedly, when teaching instruction writing, you will at some point cover the specific criteria of the genre with your students.

These will include things like the use of a title, numbered or bulleted points, time connectives, imperatives, diagrams with captions etc. You will then want the students to produce their own piece of instruction writing or procedural text to display their understanding of how the genre works.

 But, why not try a fun topic such as How to Make the Most Disgusting Sandwich in the World rather than more obvious (and drier!) topics such as How to Tie Your Shoelaces or How to Make a Paper Airplane when choosing a topic for your students to practice their instruction writing chops?

Example of a Most Disgusting Sandwich Text

The Prize: As mentioned, with nonfiction genres, in particular, we tend to suggest more banal topics for our students to work on while internalizing the genre’s criteria. Enjoyment and acquiring practical writing skills need not be mutually exclusive.

Our students can just as quickly, if not more easily, absorb and internalize the necessary writing conventions while engaged in writing about whimsical and even nonsensical topics.

if your sandwich is entering the realm of horror, be sure to check our complete guide to writing a scary story here as well.

Daily Quick Writes For All Text Types

Our FUN DAILY QUICK WRITE TASKS will teach your students the fundamentals of CREATIVE WRITING across all text types. Packed with 52 ENGAGING ACTIVITIES

6. Diary Entry of a Future Self

The Purpose: This activity allows students to practice personal writing within diary/journal writing conventions. It also challenges them to consider what their world will be like in the future, perhaps stepping a foot into the realm of science fiction.

The Process: Straightforwardly, after working through some examples of diary or journal writing, and reviewing the various criteria of the genre, challenge the students to write an entry at a given milestone in the future.

This may be when they leave school, begin work, go to university, get married, have kids, retire, etc. You may even wish to get the students to write an entry for a series of future milestones as part of a more extended project.

Example of Message to Future Me Text

The Prize: Students will get a chance here to exercise their understanding of this type of writing , but more than that, they will also get an opportunity to exercise their imaginative muscles too. They will get to consider what shape their future world will take in this engaging thought experiment that will allow them to improve their writing too.

7. Comic Strip Script

The Purpose: Give your students the chance to improve their dialogue writing skills and work on their understanding of character development in this fun activity which combines writing with a series of visual elements.

The Process: There are two ways to do this activity. The first requires you to source or create a comic strip without the dialogue the characters are speaking. This may be as straightforward as using whiteout to erase the words in speech bubbles and making copies for your students to complete.

Alternatively, provide the students with photographs/pictures and strips of cards to form their action sequences . When students have their ‘mute’ strips, they can begin to write the dialogue/script to link the panels together.

The Prize: When it comes to writing, comic strips are probably one of the easier sells to reluctant students! This activity also allows students to write for speech. This will stand to them later when they come to produce sections of dialogue in their narrative writing or when producing play or film scripts.

They will also develop their visual literacy skills as they scan the pictures for clues of tone and context before they begin their writing.

Keep It Fun

Just as we should encourage our students to read for fun and wider educational benefits, we should also work to instil similar attitudes towards writing. To do this means we must work to avoid always framing writing in the context of a chore, that bitter pill that must be swallowed for the good of our health.

There is no getting away from the fact that writing can, at times, be laborious. It is time-consuming and, for most of us, difficult at the best of times. There is a certain, inescapable amount of work involved in becoming a competent writer.

That said, as we have seen in the activities above, with a bit of creative thought, we can inject fun into even the most practical of writing activities . All that is required is a dash of imagination and a sprinkling of effort.

8. Character Interviews

The Purpose: Character interviews as writing activities are excellent for students because they encourage creative thinking, character development, and empathy. The purpose of this activity is to help students delve deeper into the minds of the characters they are creating in their stories or reading about in literature. By conducting interviews with these characters, students gain a better understanding of their personalities, motivations, and perspectives.

The Process of character interviews involves students imagining themselves as interviewers and their characters as interviewees. They can either write out the questions and answers in a script-like format or write a narrative where the character responds to the questions in their own voice.

The Prize: Through character interviews, students learn several valuable skills:

• Character Development: By exploring various aspects of their characters’ lives, backgrounds, and experiences, students can develop more well-rounded and authentic characters in their stories. This helps make their fictional creations more relatable and engaging to readers.
• Empathy and Perspective: Conducting interviews requires students to put themselves in their characters’ shoes, considering their thoughts, emotions, and struggles. This cultivates empathy and a deeper understanding of human behavior, which can be applied to real-life situations as well.
• Voice and Dialogue: In crafting the character’s responses, students practice writing authentic dialogue and giving their characters unique voices. This skill is valuable for creating dynamic and believable interactions between characters in their stories.
• Creative Expression: Character interviews provide a creative outlet for students to let their imaginations run wild. They can explore scenarios that may not appear in the main story and discover new aspects of their characters they might not have considered before.
• Critical Thinking: Formulating questions for the interview requires students to think critically about their characters’ personalities and backgrounds. This exercise enhances their analytical skills and storytelling abilities.

Overall, character interviews are a dynamic and enjoyable way for students to delve deeper into the worlds they create or the literature they read. It nurtures creativity, empathy, and writing skills, empowering students to become more proficient and imaginative writers.

9. The Travel Journal

The Purpose: Travel journal writing tasks are excellent for students as they offer a unique and immersive way to foster creativity, cultural awareness, and descriptive writing skills. The purpose of this activity is to allow students to embark on a fictional or real travel adventure, exploring new places, cultures, and experiences through the eyes of a traveller.

The process of a travel journal writing task involves students assuming the role of a traveler and writing about their journey in a journal format. They can describe the sights, sounds, tastes, and emotions they encounter during their travels. This activity encourages students to use vivid language, sensory details, and expressive writing to bring their travel experiences to life.

The Prize: Through travel journal writing tasks, students will learn several valuable skills:

• Descriptive Writing: By describing their surroundings and experiences in detail, students enhance their descriptive writing skills, creating engaging and vivid narratives.
• Cultural Awareness: Travel journals encourage students to explore different cultures, customs, and traditions. This helps broaden their understanding and appreciation of diversity.
• Empathy and Perspective: Through writing from the perspective of a traveler, students develop empathy and gain insight into the lives of people from different backgrounds.
• Research Skills: For fictional travel journals, students might research specific locations or historical periods to make their narratives more authentic and accurate.
• Reflection and Self-Expression: Travel journals offer a space for students to reflect on their own emotions, thoughts, and personal growth as they encounter new experiences.
• Creativity and Imagination: For fictional travel adventures, students get to unleash their creativity and imagination, envisioning fantastical places and scenarios.
• Language and Vocabulary: Travel journal writing tasks allow students to expand their vocabulary and experiment with expressive language.

Overall, travel journal writing tasks inspire students to become more observant, empathetic, and skilled writers. They transport them to new worlds and foster a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world around them. Whether writing about real or imaginary journeys, students develop a deeper connection to the places they encounter, making this activity both educational and enjoyable.

10. The Fairy Tale Remix

The Purpose: A fairy tale remix writing activity is a fantastic creative exercise for students as it allows them to put a unique spin on classic fairy tales, fostering imagination, critical thinking, and storytelling skills. This activity encourages students to think outside the box, reinterpret well-known tales, and explore their creative potential by transforming traditional narratives into something entirely new and exciting.

The process of a fairy tale remix writing activity involves students selecting a familiar fairy tale and altering key elements such as characters, settings, plot twists, or outcomes. They can modernize the story, change the genre, or even mix different fairy tales together to create a wholly original piece.

The Prize: Through this activity, students will learn several valuable skills:

• Creative Thinking: Students exercise their creativity by brainstorming unique concepts and ideas to remix the fairy tales, encouraging them to think imaginatively.
• Critical Analysis: Analyzing the original fairy tale to identify essential elements to keep and areas to remix helps students develop critical thinking skills and understand storytelling structures.
• Writing Techniques: Crafting a remix requires students to use descriptive language, engaging dialogue, and well-developed characters, helping them hone their writing techniques.
• Perspective and Empathy: Remixing fairy tales allows students to explore different character perspectives, promoting empathy and understanding of diverse points of view.
• Genre Exploration: Remixing fairy tales can introduce students to various genres like science fiction, fantasy, or mystery, expanding their literary horizons.
• Originality: Creating their own narrative twists and unexpected plots encourages students to take ownership of their writing and develop a unique voice.
• Storytelling: Students learn the art of compelling storytelling as they weave together familiar elements with innovative ideas, captivating their readers.

By remixing fairy tales, students embark on a creative journey that empowers them to reimagine well-loved stories while honing their writing skills and imaginative prowess. It’s an engaging and enjoyable way for students to connect with literature, explore new possibilities, and showcase their storytelling talents.

Top 5 Tips for Teaching Engaging Creative Writing Lessons

Teaching creative writing can be a thrilling discovery journey for students and educators alike. To foster a love for storytelling and unleash the imaginative prowess of your students, here are five engaging tips for your creative writing lessons:

1. Embrace Playfulness : Encourage a spirit of playfulness and experimentation in your classroom. Encourage students to explore unconventional ideas, characters, and settings. Use fun writing prompts like “What if animals could talk?” or “Imagine a world where gravity is reversed.”

2. Incorporate Visual Stimuli : Visual aids can be powerful creative catalysts. Show intriguing images or short videos to spark students’ imaginations. Ask them to describe what they see, then guide them to weave stories around these visuals. This approach can lead to unexpected and captivating narratives.

3. Encourage Peer Collaboration : Foster community and collaboration among your students. Organize group writing activities where students can brainstorm, share ideas, and build upon each other’s stories. This not only enhances creativity but also promotes teamwork and communication skills.

4. Explore Different Genres : Introduce students to various writing genres—fantasy and science fiction to mystery and historical fiction. Let them experiment with different styles and find what resonates most with their interests. Exposing students to diverse genres can broaden their horizons and inspire fresh ideas.

5. Celebrate Individuality : Encourage students to infuse unique experiences and perspectives into their writing. Provide opportunities for them to write about topics that are meaningful to them. Celebrate their voices and help them discover the power of their narratives.

Remember, the key to teaching creative writing is to create a supportive and inspiring environment where students feel empowered to take risks and explore the limitless possibilities of storytelling. By embracing these tips, you can transform your classroom into a vibrant imagination and literary exploration hub. Happy writing!

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Unleashing Creativity: A Guide to Teaching Creative Writing

Thu Apr 18, 2024

Introduction: Creative writing is more than just putting words on paper; it's an exploration of imagination, a journey through the depths of the human experience, and a means of expression unlike any other. Teaching creative writing isn't about simply imparting rules and techniques; it's about nurturing the innate creativity within each individual and providing them with the tools and guidance to unleash their imagination. In this blog post, we'll delve into the art of teaching creative writing and explore strategies to inspire and empower budding writers.

Understanding the Fundamentals: Before diving into the creative process, it's essential to establish a solid foundation of the fundamentals of writing. This includes grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and vocabulary. While creativity knows no bounds, having a grasp of these basics provides writers with the necessary framework to effectively convey their ideas.

Encouraging Exploration: Creativity flourishes when writers are encouraged to explore different genres, styles, and perspectives. As an instructor, provide opportunities for students to experiment with various forms of writing, whether it's poetry, fiction, non-fiction, or even hybrid forms. Encourage them to step out of their comfort zones and embrace the unknown.

Creating a Supportive Environment: Building a supportive and nurturing environment is crucial for fostering creativity. Encourage open dialogue and constructive feedback among peers. Establishing a community where writers feel safe to share their work without fear of judgment promotes growth and collaboration.

Embracing the Writing Process: The writing process is unique to each individual, but it often involves stages such as brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing. Teach students to embrace each stage and emphasize that writing is a journey rather than a destination. Encourage them to embrace uncertainty and to see challenges as opportunities for growth.

Igniting Inspiration: Inspiration can be found everywhere, from everyday experiences to dreams and fantasies. Encourage students to keep a journal to capture fleeting ideas and observations. Encourage them to draw inspiration from art, music, nature, and personal experiences. Sparking creativity often involves encouraging writers to see the world through a different lens.

Exercises and Prompts: Engage students with writing exercises and prompts designed to stimulate their creativity. These could include visual prompts, word prompts, writing sprints, or even collaborative storytelling exercises. By challenging students to think outside the box, you'll help them tap into their creative potential.

Cultivating a Growth Mindset: Instill in students the belief that creativity is not fixed but can be developed and nurtured over time. Encourage a growth mindset where setbacks are seen as opportunities for learning and improvement. Celebrate progress and effort rather than focusing solely on outcomes.

Celebrating Diversity: Encourage writers to embrace their unique voices and perspectives. Celebrate diversity in storytelling and highlight the importance of representation in literature. By valuing and amplifying diverse voices, you'll create a richer and more inclusive creative community.

Conclusion: Teaching creative writing is an art in itself, requiring patience, passion, and a deep appreciation for the creative process. By fostering a supportive environment, embracing exploration, and igniting inspiration, you can empower budding writers to unleash their creativity and embark on a lifelong journey of self-expression. As an instructor, your role is not only to teach the craft of writing but to nurture the creative spirit within each student, guiding them as they discover the power of their own voice.

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How to Teach Creative Writing

Last Updated: March 13, 2024 References

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 117,514 times.

Creative writing is one of the most enjoyable types of writing for students. Not only does it allow students to explore their imaginations, but it helps them to structure their ideas and produce writing that they can be proud of. However, creative writing is a relatively difficult type of writing to teach and offers challenges to both new and seasoned teachers alike. Fortunately, though, with some work of their own, teachers can better develop their own abilities to teach creative writing.

Providing Students with the Fundamentals

• Theme. The theme of a story is its message or the main idea behind it.
• Setting. The setting of a story is the location or time it takes place in.
• Plot. The plot is the overall story, narrative, or sequence of events.
• Characterization. Characterization is how a character or person in a story is explained or presented to the reader.
• Conflict and dramatic action. Conflict and dramatic action are the main events of focus in the story. These events are often tense or exciting and are used to lure the reader in. [1] X Research source

• Explain how your students, as writers, can appeal to the humanity of their readers. One great way to do this is to ask them to explore character development. By developing the characters in their story, readers will become invested in the story.
• Discuss the triggers that engage readers in an effective story. Most great stories start with a problem, which is solved with the resolution, or conclusion of the story. Encourage students to create an engaging problem that will hook the readers in the first few pages of a short story or novel. [2] X Research source

• By setting the tone and atmosphere of a story, the author will establish his or her attitude to the subject and the feel of the story.
• Tone can be positive, neutral, or negative. [3] X Research source
• Atmosphere can be dark, happy, or neither.
• Descriptive words like “darkness” or “sunshine” can help set both the tone and atmosphere. [4] X Research source

• Active verbs are used to show action in the story.
• Active verbs are very often a better alternative to passive voice, as it keeps your writing clear and concise for your readers. [5] X Research source
• For example, instead of writing “The cat was chased by the dog” your student can write “The dog chased the cat.”

Guiding Students through the Process

• Tell your students to brainstorm about ideas they are truly interested in.
• If you must restrict the general topic, make sure that your students have a good amount of wiggle room within the broad topic of the assignment.
• Never assign specific topics and force students to write. This will undermine the entire process. [6] X Research source

• Letting your students know that the outline is non-binding. They don’t have to follow it in later steps of the writing process.
• Telling your students that the parts of their outline should be written very generally.
• Recommending that your students create several outlines, or outlines that go in different directions (in terms of plot and other elements of storytelling). The more avenues your students explore, the better. [7] X Research source

• Tell students that there is no “right” way to write a story.
• Let students know that their imaginations should guide their way.
• Show students examples of famous writing that breaks normal patterns, like the works of E.E. Cummings, William Faulkner, Charles Dickens, and William Shakespeare.
• Ask students to forget about any expectations they think you have for how a story should be written. [8] X Research source

• Gather the first drafts and comment on the student's work. For first drafts, you want to check on the overall structure of the draft, proper word use, punctuation, spelling, and overall cohesion of the piece. [9] X Research source
• Remind them that great writers usually wrote several drafts before they were happy with their stories.
• Avoid grading drafts for anything other than completion.

• Let students pair off to edit each others' papers.
• Have your students join groups of 3 or 4 and ask them to go edit and provide feedback on each member’s story.
• Provide guidance so students contribute constructively to the group discussion. [10] X Research source

• Reward your students if they are innovative or do something unique and truly creative.
• Avoid evaluating your students based on a formula.
• Assess and review your own standards as often as you can. Remember that the point is to encourage your students' creativity. [11] X Research source

Spurring Creativity

• Teach your students about a variety of writers and genres.
• Have your students read examples of different genres.
• Promote a discussion within your class of the importance of studying literature.
• Ask students to consider the many ways literature improves the world and asks individuals to think about their own lives. [12] X Research source

• Make sure your room is stocked with a wide variety of fiction stories.
• Make sure your room is stocked with plenty of paper for your students to write on.
• Line up other writing teachers or bring in writers from the community to talk to and encourage your students.

• Cut out pictures and photographs from magazines, comic books, and newspapers.
• Have your students cut out photographs and pictures and contribute them to your bank.
• Consider having your students randomly draw a given number of photos and pictures and writing a short story based on what they draw.
• This technique can help students overcome writer's block and inspire students who think that they're "not creative." [13] X Research source

• Pair your students with students from another grade in your school.
• Allow your students to write stories that younger students in your school would like to read.
• Pair your students with another student in the class and have them evaluate each others' work. [14] X Research source

• If you just have a typical classroom to work with, make sure to put inspirational posters or other pictures on the walls.
• Open any curtains so students can see outside.
• If you have the luxury of having an extra classroom or subdividing your own classroom, create a comfortable space with a lot of inspirational visuals.
• Writing spaces can help break writer's block and inspire students who think that they're "not creative." [15] X Research source

• Involve students in the printing process.
• Publication does not have to be expensive or glossy.
• Copies can be made in the school workroom if possible or each student might provide a copy for the others in the group.
• A collection of the stories can be bound with a simple stapler or brads.
• Seek out other opportunities for your students to publish their stories.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/creative-writing-101
• ↑ https://kobowritinglife.com/2012/10/14/six-tips-for-engaging-readers-within-two-seconds-the-hook-in-fiction-and-memoir/
• ↑ https://www.dailywritingtips.com/in-writing-tone-is-the-author%E2%80%99s-attitude/
• ↑ http://ourenglishclass.net/class-notes/writing/the-writing-process/craft/tone-and-mood/
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/02/
• ↑ http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/choices-children/
• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/7-steps-to-creating-a-flexible-outline-for-any-story
• ↑ http://thewritepractice.com/the-formula-to-write-a-novel/
• ↑ https://student.unsw.edu.au/editing-your-essay
• ↑ http://orelt.col.org/module/unit/5-promoting-creative-writing
• ↑ http://education.seattlepi.com/grade-creative-writing-paper-3698.html
• ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/educating-teenagers-emotions-through-literature/476790/
• ↑ http://www.wrightingwords.com/for-teachers/5-tips-for-teaching-creative-writing/

About This Article

To teach creative writing, start by introducing your students to the core elements of storytelling, like theme, setting, and plot, while reminding them that there’s no formula for combining these elements to create a story. Additionally, explain how important it is to use tone and atmosphere, along with active verbs, to write compelling stories that come alive. When your students have chosen their topics, have them create story outlines before they begin writing. Then, read their rough drafts and provide feedback to keep them on the right path to storytelling success. For tips from our English reviewer on how to spur creativity in your students, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Teaching Creative Writing: Tips for Your High School Class

When I was first told that I’d be teaching creative writing, I panicked. While I had always enjoyed writing myself, I had no idea how to show others how to do it creatively. After all, all of my professional development had focused on argumentative writing and improving test scores. 

Eventually, though, I came to love my creative writing class, and I think you will too. In this post, I hope to help you with shaping your own creative writing class. 

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products that I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful.

The Importance of Teaching Creative Writing

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of how to teach creative writing, let’s first remind ourselves why you should teach a creative writing class.  

How often do you see students freeze in your English class, wondering if what they’re writing is “right”? How often do your students beg you to look over their work to make sure that they’re doing it “right”? 

We English teachers know that there’s no such thing as “right” when it comes to writing. But our students really struggle with the idea of there being no one correct answer. Creative writing is one solution to this problem.

By encouraging our students to explore, express themselves, and play with language, we show them how fun and exploratory writing can be. I know there have been many times in my life when writing clarified my own ideas and beliefs for me; creative writing provides this opportunity for our high school students. 

Plus, creative writing is just downright fun! And in this modern era of standardized testing, high-stakes grading, and just increased anxiety overall, isn’t more fun just what our students and us need? 

Creative writing is playful, imaginative, but also rigorous. It’s a great balance to our standard literature or composition curriculum. 

Whether you’re choosing to teach creative writing or you’re being voluntold to do so, you’re probably ready to start planning. Make it as easy as possible on yourself: grab my done-for-you Creative Writing Class here !

Otherwise, preparing for an elective creative writing class isn’t much different than preparing for any other English class .

Set your goals and choose the standards you’ll cover. Plan lessons accordingly. Then, be sure to have a way to assess student progress. 

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #1: Get Clear on Your Goals

First, what do you want to achieve with your creative writing class? In some school, Creative Writing is purely a fun elective. The goal is create a class that students enjoy with a side of learning. 

For other schools or district cultures, however, Creative Writing might be an intensely academic course. As a child, I went to an arts middle school. Creative writing was my major and it was taken very seriously. 

The amount of rigor you wish to include in your class will impact how you structure everything . So take some time to think about that . You may want to get some feedback from your administrator or other colleagues who have taught the course. 

Some schools also sequence creative writing classes, so be sure you know where in the sequence your particular elective falls. I’ve also seen schools divide creative writing classes by genre: a poetry course and a short story course. 

Know what your administrator expects and then think about what you as an instructor want to accomplish with your students.  

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #2: List Out Your Essential Skills

Regardless of your class’s level of rigor, there are some skills that every creative writing course should cover. 

First, you need to cover the writing process. Throughout the course, students should practice brainstorming, outlining, writing, and editing their drafts. In nearly every Poem Writing Activity that I use in my class, students follow the same process. They examine a model text, brainstorm ideas, outline or fill out a graphic organizer, put together a final draft, and then share with a peer for feedback. 

That last step–sharing and critiquing work–is an essential skill that can’t be overstated. Students are often reluctant to share their work, but it’s through that peer feedback that they often grow the most. Find short, casual, and informal ways to build in feedback throughout the class in order to normalize it for students. 

Literary terms are another, in my opinion, must-cover topic for teaching a creative writing class. You want your students to know how to talk about their writing and others’ like an actual author. How deep into vocabulary you want to go is up to you, but by the end of the course, students should sound like writers honing their craft. 

Lastly, you should cover some basic writing skills, preferably skills that will help students in their academic writing, too. I like to cover broad topics like writing for tone or including dialogue. Lessons like these will be ones that students can use in other writing assignments, as well. 

Of course, if you’re teaching a creative writing class to students who plan on becoming creative writing majors in college, you could focus on more narrow skills. For me, most of my students are upperclassmen looking for an “easy A”. I try my best to engage them in activities and teach them skills that are widely applicable. 

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #3: Make Sure Your Materials are Age-Appropriate

Once you know what you’re teaching, you can begin to cultivate the actual lessons you’ll present. If you pick up a book on teaching creative writing or do a quick Google search, you’ll see tons of creative writing resources out there for young children . You’ll see far less for teens. 

Really, the content and general ideas around creative writing don’t change much from elementary to high school. But the presentation of ideas should .

Every high school teacher knows that teens do not like to feel babied or talked down to; make sure your lessons and activities approach “old” ideas with an added level of rigor or maturity.

Take for example the haiku poem. I think most students are introduced to haikus at some point during their elementary years. We know that haiku is a pretty simple poem structure. 

However, in my Haiku Poem Writing Lesson , I add an extra layer of rigor. First, students analyze a poem in which each stanza is its own haiku. Students are asked not only to count syllables but to notice how the author uses punctuation to clarify ideas. They also analyze mood throughout the work.  

By incorporating a mentor text and having students examine an author’s choices, the simple lesson of writing a haiku becomes more relevant and rigorous. 

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #4: Tell Students What They Should Not Write About

You’ll often be surprised by just how vulnerable your students are willing to be with you in their writing. But there are some experiences that we teachers don’t need to know about, or are required to act on. 

The first day of a creative writing course should always include a lecture on what it means to be a mandated reporter. Remind students that if they write about suicidal thoughts, abuse at home, or anything else that might suggest they’re in danger that you are required by law to report it. 

Depending on how strict your district, school, or your own teaching preferences, you may also want to cover your own stance on swearing, violence, or sexual encounters in student writing. One idea is to implement a “PG-13” only rule in your classroom.

Whatever your boundaries are for student work, make it clear on the first day and repeat it regularly.

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Teaching Creative Writing Tip #5: Give Students Lots of Choice

Creative writing should be creative . Yes, you want to give students parameters for their assignments and clear expectations. But you want them to feel a sense of freedom, also.  

I took a class once where the story starters we were given went on for several pages . By the time we students were able to start writing, characters had already been developed. The plot lines had already been well-established. We felt written into a corner, and we all struggled with wrapping up the loose ends that had already been created. 

I’ve done an Author Study Project with my class in which students were able to choose a poet or short story author to study and emulate. My kids loved looking through the work of Edgar Allan Poe, Elizabeth Acevedo, Neil Gaiman, and Jason Reynolds for inspiration. They each gravitated towards a writer that resonated with them before getting to work. 

Another example is my Fairy Tale Retelling Project. In this classic assignment, students must rewrite a fairy tale from the perspective of the villain. Students immediately choose their favorite tales, giving them flexibility and choice.

I recommend determining the form and the skills that must be demonstrated for the students . Then, let students choose the topic for their assignment. 

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #6: Use Hands-On Activities

If you’re teaching a class full of students who are excited to write constantly, you can probably get away writing all class period. Many of us, however, are teaching a very different class. Your students may have just chosen an elective randomly. They might not even have known what creative writing was!

(True story–one of my creative writing students thought the class would be about making graffiti. I guess that is writing creatively!)

For students who have no long-term writing aspirations, you need to make your lessons and activities a little more engaging. 

When possible, I try to make writing “hands-on.” Adding some tactile activity to a standard lesson breaks up class, engages students, and makes the lesson more memorable.

For example, when I teach students the old adage “Show. Don’t Tell” , I could just give them a scene to write. Instead, I print simple sentences onto strips of paper and have students randomly select one from a hat. (Then they turn this simple sentence into a whole “telling” scene.)

Simply handing students a strip of paper that they can touch and feel makes the lesson more exciting. It creates more buy-in with students. 

Another one of my favorite hands-on activities is a Figurative Language Scavenger Hunt. I hang up posters of mentor poems around the room, each full of different figurative language techniques. 

Then, students must get up and explore the posters around the room in an attempt to find an example of 10 different figurative language techniques.

We could do the same lesson on a worksheet, but having students up and moving increases engagement, collaboration, and gives everyone a break from constantly sitting. 

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #7: Incorporate Mentor Texts

One way to make sure that your creative writing class is rigorous–and valuable–enough for high school students is to use mentor texts . 

Mentor texts are essential for older students because it shows them what’s possible . Many of my students will rush through an assignment just to be done with it. If you ask them what they could do to improve their writing, they say that they think it’s fine. 

But when they’re shown mentor texts or exemplar products produced by their peers, suddenly students see a myriad of ways in which they could improve their own work. They’re quick to make edits. 

I try to always include a mentor text and several examples whenever I introduce students to new ideas or teach a new lesson. You can pull mentor texts from classic writers. However, I also recommend including writing from more modern poets and writers as well. 

Teaching Creative Writing truly is a special job. Your students trust you with writing that many adults in their lives will never see. You’ll be able to watch students grow and bloom in a totally new way.

That doesn’t mean that teaching creative writing is without challenges or difficulties, however. If you want an easy place to start, or just want to save yourself a ton of planning time, I highly recommend checking out my Complete Creative Writing Class . 

Inside this bundle, you’ll receive daily warm-ups, weekly lessons, two projects, several activities, a lesson calendar, and more! It’s truly everything you need for an engaging 9-week elective course!

Teach Creative Writing In High School With 10 Fun Activities

Creative writing is a meaningful aspect of literature that mandates you to utilize your expertise, ingenuity, and story to depict a critical message, emotion, or plot. It defies the traditional bounds of other forms of writing and is completely subjective to our preferences and experiences. In creative writing, it’s all about imaginativeness!

Using creative imagination and originality to convey feelings and concepts in a unique way is at the heart of creative writing. Simply stated, it’s about infusing your own ‘flair’ into your writing, moving beyond academic or other technical kinds of literature. 

In this post, we will explore the various activities which would be advantageous for a high schooler who wishes to indulge in creative writing!

What Happens When Creative Writing Is Put To Use?

Creative writing is any form of writing that deviates from traditional professional, investigative journalism, educational, or technological forms of literature. It is typically distinguished by emphasizing narrative craft, character development, literary tropes, or various poetic traditions.

Here are the few ways how high schoolers can benefit from creative writing –

1. Imagination

When you write creatively, you expand your imagination by creating new environments, scenarios, and characters. This way, you are also boosting and stretching your imagination, as well as “thinking out of the box.” This allows you to concentrate your energy on many other things and improve your ability to find fresh ideas and alternatives to problems you’re having. Whether you’re a researcher or a businessman, creative writing will increase your imagination and help you think more creatively, and push the boundaries.

2. Empathy and Communications skills

When you create characters, you’ll be constructing emotions, personalities, behaviors, and world views that are distinct from your own. Writers must conceive personalities, emotions, places, and walks of life outside of their own lives while creating universes with fictional characters and settings.

This can give children a good dose of empathy and understanding for those who aren’t like them, who don’t live where they do or go through the same things they do daily. Writers are better equipped to communicate when they have a greater understanding of other points of view. They can come up with creative ways to explain and debate subjects from multiple perspectives. This ability is crucial in both professional and personal situations. 

3. Clarification of Thoughts 

Creating structures in creative writing allows you to organize your impressions and emotions into a logical procedure. You may express both your thoughts and your sentiments through creative writing. For example, if you’re a marketing executive, you could create a short tale in which your clientele reads your promotional emails. You can guess what they’re up to, where they’re seated, what’s around them, and so on.

This enables you to focus on the language and strategies you employ. Alternatively, if you’re a technical writer writing on a new desktop platform, you could create a creative scenario in which a user encounters a problem. 

4. Broadens Vocabulary and gets a better understanding of reading and writing

You’ll learn a larger vocabulary and a better understanding of the mechanics of reading and writing as you begin to practice writing exercises regularly. Even if you’re writing a budget report, you’ll know when rigid grammar standards work and when they don’t, and you’ll know what will make your writing flow better for your readers. Exploring different ways of expressing yourself when writing creatively allows you to extend your vocabulary.

You’ll notice a change in your use and range of language as you improve your writing over time, which will be useful in any professional route and social scenario. You’ll be able to bend and break the rules when you need to, to utilize your voice and make what you’re writing engaging without coming off as an amateur, dull, or inauthentic once you’ve grasped the fundamentals of writing professionally and creatively.

5. Building Self-Belief 

When you write creatively, you’re actively involved in an activity that allows you to fully develop your voice and point of view without being constrained. You have a better chance to investigate and express your feelings about various issues, opinions, ideas, and characters. And you’ll feel more at ease and secure stating your thoughts and perspectives in other things you write as a result of this.

Writers who don’t write creatively may be concerned about appearing authoritative or trustworthy. They accidentally lose their voice and sound like drones spouting statistics by omitting to include their perspective on the topics they’re writing about. As a result, they miss out on using their distinct voice and presenting themselves as an expert with real-world expertise.

Creative Writing Activities That Will Strengthen Your Writing Skills  

Short spurts of spontaneous writing make up creative writing activities. These writing exercises push a writer to tackle a familiar topic in a new way, ranging from one line to a lengthy tale. Short, spontaneous projects are common in creative writing programs, but any writer should make them a regular practice to extend their abilities and learn new tactics to approach a series of stories.

These activities must be performed for ten minutes at a time, several times a week – by creative writers. They’re designed to help you improve your writing abilities, generate fresh story ideas, and become a better writer.

1. Free Writing

Writing is the first and foremost activity that is going to give your creative writing a boost. Start with a blank page and let your stream of thoughts and emotions flow. Then simply begin writing. Don’t pause to think or alter what you’re expressing. This is known as “free writing.” This writing activity is referred to as “morning pages” by Julia Cameron, the author of ‘The Artist’s Way.’ She recommends that authors do this every day when they first wake up. Stream of consciousness writing can provide some intriguing concepts.

Allow your intellect to take the lead as your fingers type. Or write a letter to your younger self.  Consider a topic you’d like to discuss, such as a noteworthy event, and write it down. Give guidance or convey a message that you wish you had heard as a youngster or a young adult.

2. Modify a Storyline – Read

Most of us like to read. However, just reading won’t really help augment your creative writing skills. While reading bestows insight into the deeper meanings of numerous things, you need a more concrete approach to better your aptitude. To do this, you can modify any storyline. Take an episode from a chapter, if you’re feeling brave—from one of your favorite books and recreate it. Write it from the perspective of a different character. Swap out the main character in this exercise to examine how the story may be conveyed differently.

Take Percy Jackson’s thrilling conclusion, for instance, and rework it with Annabeth as the primary character. Another way to approach this creative activity is to keep the primary character but switch viewpoints. Rewrite a scene in the third person if the writer has told a story in the first person. 

3. Add Creative Writing Prompts or Create Flash Fiction

Use writing prompts, often known as narrative starters, to produce writing ideas. A writing prompt is a sentence or short excerpt that a writer uses to start composing a story on the spot. You can look up writing prompts online, pick a sentence out of a magazine at random, or use a brilliant line from a well-known work as the start of your short scene.

Another thing you can do to accentuate your writing is to create flash fiction. Sit down at your desktop or pick up a pen and paper and write a 500-word story on the spur of the moment. This isn’t the same as just writing whatever comes to mind. With no fixed guidelines, free writing generates a stream of consciousness. All of the basic components of a story arc, such as plot, conflict, and character development, are required in flash fiction, albeit in a shortened form.

4. Create a Fictitious Advertisement

Pick a random word from a nearby book or newspaper and create a fictitious commercial for it. Write one ad in a formal, abbreviated newspaper classified format to require you to pay special attention to your word choice to sell the item. Then write one for an online marketplace that allows for longer, more casual text, such as Craigslist. Describe the item and persuade the reader to purchase it in each one.

5. Engage in Conversations 

Engaging in conversations with your friends/family – or simply communicating can help brush up your writing skills. Talk to your loved ones about their hobbies, career, views on societal issues – any suitable topic for that matter. This helps implement others’ points of view and expands your mental ability. Another useful thing that you can do is – make another person’s tale and create it by implementing your own thoughts. Then talk about it in an impeccable manner. Also, talk in complete sentences. This goes to show your Linguistic intelligence proficiency – and helps augment your creative writing skills.

6. Create Your Own Website/Blog

Start your search for blogging. There are a million writing suggestions out there, but they all boil down to the same thing: write. Blogging is excellent writing practice because it gives you a place to write regularly.

To keep your fingers and mind nimble, write a post every day. Like most bloggers, you’ll want to restrict your subject—perhaps you’ll focus on parenting or start a how-to site where you can tell stories from your point of view.

7. Participate in Debates/Extempores  

Participating in debates, extempores – anchoring for your school function, giving a speech, all of these activities help boost your creative spirit. These group events make you understand what other people are envisioning, which in turn helps you generate new ideas, approaches, and methods. Not only do they improve your articulation and research skills, but they also develop critical thinking and emotional control abilities. All of these promote a better creative writing aptitude.

8. Start a YouTube Channel or Podcast 

Starting a YouTube channel or podcast will definitely level up your creative game. YouTube is a never-ending platform, covering myriads of topics. Choose a particular niche for your channel.

Then do your topic research, create content, manage SEO, approach brands, talk to clients and influencers – do all the good stuff. Communicating with other influencers and creating content will take your creative writing skills to another level. Starting a podcast will have a similar impact. 

9. Love them? Say it with your words!

We have many festivals, occasions, birthdays, parties, anniversaries and whatnot! You can employ these special days and boost your creative writing skills. You can make a token of love for them – writing about your feelings. You can also make gift cards, birthday cards, dinner menus, and so on. So let’s say, it’s your mother’s birthday, you can write her a token of love, elucidating your feelings and letting her know what all she’s done for you and that you’re grateful. Do this for all your near and dear ones. This not only spreads positivity and love but helps you develop your creative aptitude.

10. The What-if Game

The What-If game is an incredible way to upgrade your creative abilities. You can play this game with your friends, cousins, relatives, or solo. Here, you need to find links to many interesting hypothetical questions. For instance, what if the sun doesn’t rise for a week? What if there’s no oxygen for one minute? Play it with your peeps, or ask these questions to yourself. It can be anything random but concrete. If you don’t know the answers to the questions, look them up on Google. This way, you’re training your mind to learn new concepts all the while enhancing your visualization process. 

We can conclude that creative writing encourages students to think creatively, use their imaginations, imply alternatives, expand their thinking processes, and improve their problem-solving skills. It also allows the child to express themselves and grow their voice. Besides, it enhances reasoning abilities. The principle behind the creative writing concept is that everyone can gain the qualities that are needed to become a successful writer or, rather become good at writing. Creative writing is all about using language in new and innovative ways.

Sananda Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of TheHighSchooler, is dedicated to enhancing operations and growth. With degrees in Literature and Asian Studies from Presidency University, Kolkata, she leverages her educational and innovative background to shape TheHighSchooler into a pivotal resource hub. Providing valuable insights, practical activities, and guidance on school life, graduation, scholarships, and more, Sananda’s leadership enriches the journey of high school students.

Explore a plethora of invaluable resources and insights tailored for high schoolers at TheHighSchooler, under the guidance of Sananda Bhattacharya’s expertise. You can follow her on Linkedin

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8 Ideas and Activities for Making Writing Fun in Upper Elementary

Making Writing Fun Activities Written by Guest Blogger Jessica Thompson, 4th Grade Teacher

Writing. The minute the word is mentioned there is an audible, in-sync sigh from the students. Of course, there are a few super excited students who cannot get their ideas down quick enough. For every handful of excited writers, there is a large portion of the class that “has nothing to write about.”

The struggle is real, y’all. For both teachers and students.

The big question for teachers is not only how to make writing fun and engaging, but how do we get students excited about writing?

Fun Writing Activities To Try

Here are 8 Activities to try with third, fourth, and fifth grade students. These activities are to get our young writers excited about writing which will make formal writing tasks less daunting.

1. Think-Write-Pass:

This is always a favorite that gets lots of laughs. 

Put students in groups of four.  Give each student a piece of paper and have them write their name on the top. 

Have students write for 2-3 minutes.  You can give them a topic, or simply have them write about whatever they want.   

When the time is up, students pass their paper to another student in their group.   Each student in the group will have to read, continue the writing, and pass the paper again 2-3 minutes later.

When each student gets their own paper back they get a few minutes to complete the story. If time allows: let the groups choose their favorite one to share. 

2.  Sticky Note Stories:

Students want to share stories with us. There are so many stories - from their weekend, the ball game, recess, at their Aunt Barb’s birthday party 5 years ago - they have so much that they want to tell us!

It’s usually the same students ones who are constantly trying to tell us stories that, come writing time, same they have nothing to write about.   Sticky Note Stories are an easy solution.

A sticky post it note is not nearly as intimidating as a piece of notebook paper.

When a student has a story to share, tell them how much you want to hear it - but they have to write it down on the sticky note.

A holiday weekend? A school event?  A birthday party?  A football game?  Write it on a sticky note.

The end of year is a great time to introduce and review probability - the hands on activities are fun and engaging for students. This Low Prep Probability Resource makes it easy on you. It includes:

• no prep worksheets
• an introduction to probability vocabulary - certain, likely, equally likely, unlikely, and impossible
• hands on probability games and graphing with spinners, dice, and a coin toss
• 32 task cards

3.  Found Poetry

Make copies of text from a book you are reading and have them find words or groups of words throughout the text to create a poem.

They can circle these words and draw pictures or designs around everything else to make the poem pop.  See some examples of found poetry here.   

Or, check out these other ways to help students enjoy writing poetry. 

4.  Go Outside!

A change of scenery makes everything more fun.  Take the notebooks and pencils to the outdoors for 10-15 minutes. Have students sit and use their 5 senses to write observations.

You can stop there, or take this activity a little further and have students write some poetry!

Give them free rein, or add some guidelines for structure.

This free cinquain writing template is perfect for an activity like this!

Or, have students write a short haiku!  This no prep resource gives students a chance to read and write haiku, as well as answer comprehension questions!

You might also like some of these other outdoor lesson ideas.

5.  This or That

Sometimes all students need is a little bit of choice and control.  Give them that control with This or That.  

This is easy - simply provide them with 2 writing prompts and let them choose!

It can be time consuming to create choice boards with 9 options, but with This or That you only need to create two.  You can use these example discussion questions as writing prompts if you need help coming up with options!   

6.  Silly Pictures

This is an easy way to make writing fun!

There are millions of funny pictures without captions on the internet. The key is to find appropriate ones and save them for later use.

Put the picture up on a projector, mirror it to a screen, or print it out. Have students write about what is happening in that picture.

This is great to practice skills such as predicting, inferring, cause and effect, and problem and solution.

Or, inspire even more creativity by having students create their own silly drawings to write about using these Squiggle Drawing Story Starters! 

7.  Persuasive Letters

Two birds, one writing piece.  The key to making this writing activity fun is choosing a topic that is sure to of interest of students.  

What student wouldn't love to try to convince their teacher that recess should be longer?  Or that they should be able to skip homework one night?  Or that they should have a pizza party?

The list of ideas is endless.  They could write to their parents on why they should have a later bedtime or get a dog. They could write to the principal on why donuts should be served with breakfast. They could write to an author on why they should write another book in their favorite series.  You could also let students choose the topic. 

3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students have fun arguing their point and they will learn quickly the importance of supporting their claim. 

8.  Quick Writes

Quick Writes are a timed writing. The idea is not to scare the students, but for them to get their ideas on paper as quickly as possibly and to be writing or thinking the entire time.

Give students a prompt, and then tell them to write down whatever comes to mind over the next 5 - 10 minutes.  Make sure students aren't worried about spelling or a grade - the goal is to just spend some time writing.

If you are looking for a more polished piece, you can have students do this daily for 3-5 days.  Then, have them choose their favorite quick write to revise, edit, and turn in.

9.  BONUS - Secret Descriptive Writing Activity

Make writing a descriptive paper fun!  Have your students secretly draw a picture and use describe with vivid descriptive language.  Then, students read their descriptions aloud while their classmates try and figure out which drawing is theirs!

This works best if students are all drawing something similar.  This is an easy activity to create on your own, but you could also try out one of these secret descriptive writing activities for a no prep way to walk your students through the entire writing process:

• Alien Descriptive Writing Activity
• Snowman Descriptive Writing Activity
• Monster Descriptive Writing Activity

An Extra Tip for Making Writing Fun

A personalized writing notebook can be an easy way to motivate students to write. This is something that is theirs and they have more ownership over.

Composition books can easily be decorated with pictures, stickers, photographs, etc. and covered with contact paper.  Letting them take the time to decorate a notebook with things that are important to them can give them more ownership over their writing - as well as help stir up ideas for writing!

Bonus: Writing will not get lost easily! Make one yourself as a teacher and use it! Let the students see you write. Read your writing to them and make time for students to share too. 

Sometimes it's not about making writing fun - it's about your mindset as the teacher.  Check out these 7 tips for rethinking your writing instruction. 

Or, you might find these other writing tips and ideas helpful.   

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12 ideas for teaching creative writing

Teaching creative writing to kids can be one of the most rewarding parts of teaching the English curriculum. But with so many statutory requirements to hit in a portfolio of writing, it can be difficult to capture truly creative writing as well as instil enthusiasm for the art.

Some of your class will really enjoy creative writing from scratch. For others, this will be a daunting experience. We have gathered together a collection of simple ideas for teaching creative writing to help your pupils smash writing tasks.

Creative writing tips for teachers

• Use a workshop-style environment
• Show your class how it’s done
• Draw up a storyboard
• Encourage book reading
• Re-write a known story
• Show, don’t tell
• Inspire them with video
• Deconstruct characters
• Give your pupils freedom
• Use story-starters and prompts
• Elaborate with a story generator
• Get the children to take creative writing home

1. Use a workshop-style environment

Separate your class into groups or tables, each group will then be able to choose what they work on. Some may look to write fiction pieces and use ideas around storytelling. Another group could focus on word games, spelling and puzzle-solving. There could even just be a group for reading stories and learning the craft!

All children are able to work in groups, but each pupil will have one-to-one time with you too. As long as assignments and tasks are rotated, children will find their favourite part and be more engaged as a result. Working this way can also lead to competitions and collaborative creative writing work.

2. Show your class how it’s done

The adage is ‘practise what you preach’. When it comes to creative writing, this means you should be showing the class what the process is.

Doing live creative writing sessions for your class can give them perspective on how to build a story effectively. More importantly, it gives them chance to see how it’s OK to make mistakes, how to take criticism and that they shouldn’t be afraid to create whatever they feel they want to. You could even get your more able (and confident!) pupils to live write on the board for the class to gather inspiration from; pupil modelling can be a really fantastic assessment for learning activity.

3. Draw up a storyboard

Some visual cues might be the key to unlocking greater creativity in your pupils. Instead of writing out a story, why not begin with a storyboard? It doesn’t need to be a work of art – simple stick people will do the job.

Once you’ve drawn out the basis of your story, you can then start to write down more detail to really flesh out their story.

4. Encourage book reading

If there is one place anyone can go to experience good storytelling, it’s in books. Reading brings a whole host of benefits to children form an educational standpoint – many of which apply to creative writing.

To increase vocabulary, improve creativity and enflame imaginations (plus a whole lot more), we should always be looking for more reading opportunities for pupils in class. Beyond the classroom, encourage them to do as much reading as possible at home too.

5. Re-write a known story

If you’re struggling for ideas, why not take inspiration from one of the countless legendary stories already out there. Give a classic story a twist and ask the class to elaborate on it:

• Three Billy Goats Gruff are the ones under the bridge, and you’re trying to cross it
• At the top of Jack’s Beanstalk is Mars
• Aladdin rubs his lamp, but what are his three wishes?
• The three bears are the ones sneaking into Goldilocks’ house

6. Show, don’t tell

It’s a tenant of good storytelling across many different mediums. The idea of show, don’t tell means the writer should avoid explaining every aspect of what a character is feeling or thinking and instead focus on different ways of revealing that information in the story.

For example, give your class some basic information like “the boy was sad”, and ask to write a sentence that would display that information more creatively. It could become, “the boy’s heart sank, his head bowed and he sniffled as the tears began to fall.”

This way, the reader is able to unravel the emotions involved in the story themselves, rather than being told.

7. Inspire them with video

YouTube is a treasure trove of learning resources and other helpful content that can boost a pupil’s creative writing capability. With a quick search, you’ll find plenty of interviews with famed writers sharing their experiences in the job.

Use these to dig a little deeper into the mind of a writer. What is there process for coming up with ideas? What are the challenges they face? This type of content can provide key takeaways that pupils can bring into their next creative writing task.

8. Deconstruct characters

A simple but effective method for getting into the routine of character building involves writing down what makes them tick. Take a famous character from a book or a famous children’s TV show. Split a piece of paper into a grid, and label them with things like “what makes them happy”, “what makes them angry” “How would they react in a certain situation?”

Then as a class fill out the grid. You could use them method when a pupil comes up with a new character for their story, helping them to get in the correct mindsight for creating characters.

9. Give your pupils freedom

There will be a lot of children in your class who thrive when given the freedom to write. Always remember to set aside time for your pupils to have an open-ended opportunity to write, allowing them to express their favourite topics. If it’s too open for some children, then proposing a particular topic for this time can help too.

10. Use story-starters and prompts

Story-starters or prompts are great for getting the creative juices flowing. It helps pupils to avoid the dreaded ‘writer’s block’. We’ve got a whole load of story starters for KS1 and KS2 creative writers, but here are just a few to get the juices flowing:

• It was there and then it was gone! As quick as a flash…
• This was it! I now had the power to change anything.
• A million pounds sat there in the suitcase. “What should we do with it?” I said.
• The three friends set out on their journey, with nothing but each other to help them for what lied ahead.
• The car lurched down the road when suddenly a thud came from below.
• The tap on my shoulder woke me. “Shhh” she said with a finger pressed to her lips. “Follow me.”

11. Elaborate with a story generator

Generate ideas and get a story rolling with a tried and tested method: the story generator. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

• Find three bags
• Create three lists: one for characters (a footballer, a dog, an astronaut etc), one for scenes (an unknown planet, a bedroom, a park etc) and one for the situation (looking for a lost coin, meets a talking dog, during a big thunderstorm etc)
• Cut out each of the ideas and group them together in the bags. You have three bags filled with dozens of possibilities for different stories.
• Ask a pupil to reach into each bag so they then have a character, a scene and a situation. This is the basis of their story.

12. Get the children to take creative writing home

The home environment will be a more comfortable or possibly, a more inspiring place for children to write their stories. Encouraging parents to get onside with this can sometimes be a battle, but one worth fighting. Sharing their stories and creations across different audiences is a valuable experience for children, whether that be in class, at home or safely online. The perfect flipped classroom experience!

Amber Vaccianna

Hope Education writer

Advice & Inspiration | Primary

9 october 2020.

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| | --> by Susan Verner 85,023 views If your students are struggling to write or they just lack inspiration, maybe it’s time to inject your writing lessons with a little fun. These activities are great for getting students excited about writing and then helping them get the words on the page. How many of them have you tried with your studetns? Use stickers to inspire your students to write while they have fun decorating the page. Gather a variety of stickers – people, animals, places, props, etc. – and cut them into individual pieces. Then throw all the stickers in a bag and shake it up. Let your students choose between three and five stickers (depending on their language level – more stickers for more advanced writers) and then have them incorporate those people or objects into a story of their own creation. If not, you should. Working together gets individual creativity flowing, and what we create with others is often far more than we could do ourselves. There are lots of ways to write with other people. Put several notebooks in a writing center. Have one person start a story or start it yourself, and then allow your students to add to a story of their choosing during free learning periods. Have one student choose the characters and another student the conflict, and then have them work together to write the final piece. Have one student write a sentence on a piece of paper and pass it to the person next to him. Then that person adds a sentence. Continue until everyone in class has had a chance to add their own line to the story. Choose a poem or a short piece of literature to read as a class. Then have students use that selection as a model for their own compositions. They can either follow the structure and style of what you read or just write about the same content. Either way, the great writers will come out among you when you give them great things to read. Create a scene, draw a picture, collect interesting photos, or teach them appealing vocabulary. Then ask your students to use what you have prepared as inspiration for their own compositions. If you have never tried setting up a to inspire your students, you might want to give it a try. Then let your students write and see how the creativity flows. When students are overcorrected, they can become discouraged or fearful of writing. Try some freewriting or give your students permission to write freely in a journal. Make sure they know you won’t be correcting for grammar or spelling. Then have students use what they wrote as a starting point for a more formal piece of writing which you will then correct. You might want to read particularly good writing to the rest of the class (with the author’s permission, of course). Try “publishing” books of your students’ writing and then putting them on display in your classroom. Your bragging might be something as simple as stapling what your students have written to a bulletin board in your class, or displaying them in the hallway of your school. When your students feel proud of what they have written, it will inspire and encourage them to write more. If you had one as a kid, you might have done what just about every other kid did. Write one line with each of the colors and rotate through the page. You can give your students creative inspiration in a writing center of your classroom even if you don’t have four-colored pens for the entire class. On a spare desk, set out several different colors and types of paper with colored pens and pencils. Include pencils and markers that are scented as well. You may find that your students write just so they can use a different type of paper or color pen. Give them another avenue to communicate by asking them to illustrate their story or nonfiction piece. When students know they can include a picture to share their thoughts, their inability to express exactly what they want in writing becomes less of an obstacle. Your struggling writers know that they can include important information in their picture, and it won’t be a total loss if they can’t find the right words to put their ideas into writing. Help these students by giving them a purpose for what they are writing. Have them write letters, thank you cards, e-mails, or other pieces they will have a use for in real life. If you like, let them “mail” the letters and cards to their classmates in a or through the U.S. mail. Let them see you write while they do, and share what you have written with them. Students who write well usually have teachers who write well, also. You can direct students to particular exercises in their writer’s notebook or let them come up with the ideas on their own. Then, when it’s time to write, students will have a notebook full of ideas from which they can draw ideas and inspiration. If you appreciate the value of what you are teaching and are enthusiastic about it, your students will be, too. What are your must share tips for making writing fun? If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow our Facebook page where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach English. . That's 4,036 pages filled with thousands of practical activities and tips that you can start using today. 30-day money back guarantee. --> Copyright 2007-2021 пїЅ Submit a worksheet Mobile version Success Story Testimonial Helps Me To Compatibility Get GraderAide Trial Confirmation 5 Seriously Fun Ways to Teach the Writing Process The writing process —that is, the steps of pre-writing, drafting, revising, rewriting, and publishing—can be intimidating for students with limited literary experience. It’s an onslaught of new information, and on top of that, students may find it boring. According to Read, Write, Think , however, that doesn’t diminish its importance: “Studies show that students who learn the writing process score better on state writing tests than those who receive only specific instruction in the skills assessed on the test. This type of authentic writing produces lifelong learners and allows students to apply their writing skills to all subjects.” How would you teach the writing process to reluctant learners? Would you believe you can do so almost entirely with fun writing games? Here are five fun ways to teach the writing process to even the most stubborn students. #1: Play-Doh Creations The colorful, squishy goop known as play-doh can be a powerful teaching tool. For this activity, geared towards pre-teens and teenagers, all you’ll need is a mini jar of play-doh and a pencil for each student in your class. The assignment is simple: Each student needs to mold a functioning pencil holder out of the play-doh. By physical implementing the process of brainstorming, attempting, improving, finalizing, and publicly sharing their designs, you’ll also be imprinting the writing process through kinesthetic exposure. Reading and Writing Haven has all the details if you want to attempt this activity. As a bonus, your students will all have both new writing skills and new pencil holders at the end. #2: “Publish” Your Students If students know their work will be shared, they’re much more motivated to polish their prose to perfection. That’s why Teach Hub advises “publishing” your students, which is one of many fun ways to teach the writing process. There are multiple ways to “publish” student work. You could print and bind a “book” of your students’ writing. You could publish it in the school newspaper or design one just for your class. If you want to keep it simple, even hanging students’ writing on a bulletin board or in the hallway gives them reason to be proud of their work—and make it the best it can be. #3: Become a Model Luckily, becoming a writing model doesn’t necessitate high heels or a catwalk, though it’s still one of the most fun ways to teach the writing process. All you need is a projector and either a blank document or a rough draft.  “By modeling the process of writing you can demystify it in terms of sequence and nuance, and make it artistic and entirely personal–and less mechanical as a result,” Teach Thought says. As you write or revise, talk through your writing process aloud so that students can follow along and take notes. Teach.com emphasizes the importance of providing multiple examples for each Trialnstrated technique, whether it’s as simple as correct punctuation or as complex as a prolonged metaphor. Additionally, Teach Thought suggests talking through answers to questions like: “What are you thinking as you finish that introduction? “Why do you go back and fix some errors while you write, and not others? “How do you decide when to go to a new a paragraph? “How does the absence or presence of pre-writing impact the drafting? “How are you using your own uncertainty to affect a certain tone in your writing? “How do you keep an audience in mind as you write–how exactly? “As you sketch out your conclusion, how is the introduction and the body impacting its design–i.e., what is the relationship between your introduction, your body, and your conclusion?” While you’re modeling, encourage students to take notes or fill in a pre-determined worksheet. This will cement the messages they’re learning firsthand into their long-term memory. By teaching writing to students through Trialnstration instead of structural memorization, you’ll build deeper understanding than you could ever hope for otherwise. #4: Play a Game There’s an abundance of fun writing activities to be mined online. Literacy Ideas offers “Story Chains,” which encourages social creativity instead of solo, single-minded struggle. To play “Story Chains,” write a prompt on the board and give each student 2 minutes to begin a story based on that prompt; then they pass their story along, allowing the next student to continue the story where they left off. The game ends when every student’s original story has traveled back to their desk, now complete with contributions from all of their classmates. “This activity encourages students to see writing as a communicative and creative task where there needn’t be a ‘right’ answer,” Literacy Ideas says. “This encourages students to be more willing to take on creative risks in their work.” Thoughtful Learning ’s contribution is equally zany. “ Diary of a Famous Figure ” tasks students with listing three famous people, real or fictional, that they particularly like—then writing a diary entry about a day in that person’s life, from first-person perspective. Finally, Essay Catcher offers a visual element to writing games with “Photo Story/Memes.” Select intriguing photos from the Internet, and then encourage students to choose a photo and write a story incorporating the image. For a more gentle introduction to visual writing inspiration, download meme templates (or photos that could lend themselves to memes) and ask students to write appropriately creative captions. #5: Use GraderAide to Make More Time for Activities If you’re thinking, “These creative writing games sound like a great idea, but how will I find the time to grade everything?” then GraderAide is your solution. Instead of painstakingly grading every assignment, you can simply upload them to the GraderAide software and receive recommended grades back in minutes. Grades are assigned at grade level based on focus, purpose, content, development, organization, and grammar. Best of all, you can tell GraderAide whether the assignment is informative, narrative, literary, or persuasive, allowing the program to adjust its grading accordingly. With your schedule freed from grading, you’ll have time to implement these fun ways to teach the writing process. So what are you waiting for? GraderAide is the most advanced scoring system for written assignments available to teachers. To learn more, visit www.graderaide.com . Terms of Service Privacy Policy Learn About GraderAide Immediate Value TRY OUR FREE APP Write your book in Reedsy Studio. Try the beloved writing app for free today. Craft your masterpiece in Reedsy Studio Plan, write, edit, and format your book in our free app made for authors. Guides • Perfecting your Craft Last updated on Dec 23, 2022 Creative Writing: 8 Fun Ways to Get Started Creative writing is a written art form that uses the imagination to tell stories and compose essays, poetry, screenplays, novels, lyrics, and more. It can be defined in opposition to the dry and factual types of writing found in academic, technical, or journalistic texts. Characterized by its ability to evoke emotion and engage readers, creative writing can tackle themes and ideas that one might struggle to discuss in cold, factual terms. If you’re interested in the world of creative writing, we have eight fantastic exercises and activities to get you started. 1. Use writing prompts every week Coming up with ideas for short stories can be challenging, which is why we created a directory of 1700+ creative writing prompts covering a wide range of genres and topics. Writing prompts are flexible in nature, they are meant to inspire you without being too constrictive. Overall, they are a great way to keep your creative muscles limber. If you’re struggling for motivation, how does a hard deadline and a little prize money sound? Prompts-based writing contests are a fantastic way to dive into creative writing: the combination of due dates, friendly rivalries, prize money, and the potential to have your work published is often just what’s needed to propel you over the finish line.  We run a weekly writing contest over on Reedsy Prompts, where hundreds of writers from all around the world challenge themselves weekly to write a short story between 1,000 and 3,000 words for a chance to win the $250 prize. Furthermore, the community is very active in providing constructive feedback, support, and accountability to each other 一 something that will make your efforts even more worthwhile. Take a peek at our directory of writing contests which features some of the most prestigious open writing competitions in the world.  2. Start journaling your days Another easy way to get started with creative writing is to keep a journal. We’re not talking about an hour-by-hour account of your day, but journaling as a way to express yourself without filters and find your ‘voice in writing’. If you’re unsure what to journal about, think of any daily experiences that have had an impact on you, such as…  Special moments . Did you lock yourself out of your house? Or did you catch a beautiful sunset on your way back from groceries? Capture those moments, and how you felt about them. People . Did you have an unusual exchange with a stranger at the bar? Or did you reconnect with someone you haven’t seen in years? Share your thoughts about it. World events . Is there something happening in the world right now that is triggering you? That’s understandable. You can reflect on it (and let some steam off) while journaling. Memories . Did you go down memory lane after a glass of wine? Great, honor those memories by trying to recollect them in detail on paper so that they will always stay vivid in your mind. Life decisions . Are you having an existential crisis about what to do with your life? Write down your thought process, and the pros and cons of the possible decisions in front of you. You’ll be surprised to discover that, not only is it a great creative writing exercise, but it can also actually help you sort your life out!  If you struggle to write consistently, sign up for our How to Write a Novel course to finish a novel in just 3 months.   NEW REEDSY COURSE How to Write a Novel Enroll in our course and become an author in three months. 3. Create an anonymous social media account Like anonymous blogging, an incognito Twitter account sidesteps the pressure that comes with attaching your name to your work. Anonymously putting tiny stories out into the ether gives you the freedom to create without worrying about the consequences — which is great, so long as you don’t use it as an opportunity to troll people or spread conspiracy theories.  You could use the anonymous account in different ways. For example, you could… Tweet from unique points of view (e.g. a dog observing human behavior ); Create a parody account of real or fictional people (e.g. an English poet from the Middle Ages ); Challenge yourself to write tiny flash fiction stories that fit into Twitter threads. Just remember, you’re not doing this to fool anyone into thinking that your account is real: be a good citizen and mark yourself a fiction account in your bio.  But if you’re not really a social media kinda person, you may enjoy our next tip, which is a bit more on the analog side. GET ACCOUNTABILITY Meet writing coaches on Reedsy Industry insiders can help you hone your craft, finish your draft, and get published. 4. Find an old photo and tell its story Find a random old photo — maybe on the web, maybe from a photo album in a yard sale — and see what catches your attention. Look closely at it and try to imagine the story behind it. What was happening? Who are the people in it and how are they really feeling? Do they share a relationship, and of what kind? What are their goals and dreams? In other words, bring the photo to life with your imagination. Don't be afraid to take artistic license with your story, as the goal is to be creative and have fun while writing.  How do you know it’s creative writing? 5. Create a character from a random name Just as our universe started from a few simple elements, you can create a character from a few basic information, like their name, culture, and gender. Reedsy’s handy character name generator can help you with that, offering random names based on archetypes, Medieval roots, fantasy traits and more. A few examples? A Celtic heroine named Fíona O'Keefe, a hero’s sidekick named Aderine, or a Korean track star named Park Kang-Dae. Once you've chosen their name, begin to develop their personality. Set a timer for 5–10 minutes and write anything that comes to mind about them. It could be a page from their FBI dossier, a childhood diary entry, or simply a scene about them boiling an egg. Just ‘go with the flow’ and don’t stop writing until your time is up. Repeat the process a few times to further hone the personality. If you like what you end up with, you can always go deeper later with our character profile template .  If a stream-of-consciousness exercise is not your thing, you can try to imagine your character in a specific situation and write down how’d they respond to it. For example, what if they were betrayed by a friend? Or if they were elected in power? To help you imagine situations to put your character in, we made a free template that you can download below.  FREE RESOURCE Reedsy’s Character Questionnaire 40 questions to help you develop memorable characters. 6. Construct a character by people-watching People watching is “the action of spending time idly observing people in a public place.” In a non-creepy way, ideally. Sit on a bench on a public square or on a road-side table at your favorite café, and start observing the people around you. Pay attention to any interesting quirks or behaviors, and write it down. Then put on your detective’s hat and try to figure out what that tells you about them. For example, the man at the table next to you at the restaurant is reading the newspaper. His jacket and hat are neatly arranged next to him. The pages make a whipping sound as he briskly turns them, and he grimaces every time he reads a new article. Try to imagine what he’s reading, and why he’s reacting the way he is. Then, try to build a character with the information you have. It’s a fun creative exercise that will also, hopefully, help you better empathize with strangers.  7. “Map” something you feel strongly about into a new context Placing your feelings into new contexts can be a powerful creative writing exercise. The idea is to start from something you feel strongly about, and frame it into a completely different context.  For example, suppose your heart is torn apart after you divorce your life-long partner: instead of journaling or crafting an entire novel  about it, you could tell a story about a legendary trapeze duo whose partnership has come to an end. If you’re struggling with politicking and petty power dynamics at the office: what if you “mapped” your feelings onto an ant who resents being part of a colony? Directing your frustration at a queen ant can be a fun and cathartic writing experience (that won’t get you in trouble if your co-workers end up reading your story).    8. Capture the moment with a haiku Haikus are poems from the Japanese tradition that aim to capture, in a few words, daily moments of insight (usually inspired by nature). In a nutshell, it’s about becoming mindful of your surroundings, and notice if you can see something in a new or deeper way 一 then use contrasting imagery to express whatever you noticed.  Here’s an example: Bright orange bicycle Speeding through the autumn leaves A burst of color waves It may sound a bit complicated, but it shouldn’t be 一 at least not for the purpose of this exercise. Learn the basics of haiku-writing , then challenge yourself to write one per day for a week or month. At the end, you’ll be able to look back at your collection of poems and 一 in the worst case scenario 一 revisit small but significant moments that you would have otherwise forgot about.    Creative writing can be any writing you put your heart and soul into. It could be made for the purpose of expressing your feelings, exploring an idea, or simply entertaining your readers. As you can see there’s many paths to get involved with it, and hundreds of exercises you can use as a starting point. In the next post, we’ll look more in detail at some creative writing examples from some fellow authors.  Join a community of over 1 million authors Reedsy is more than just a blog. Become a member today to discover how we can help you publish a beautiful book. Try our novel writing master class — 100% free Sign up for a free video lesson and learn how to make readers care about your main character. 1 million authors trust the professionals on Reedsy. Come meet them. Enter your email or get started with a social account: Our Mission Strategies for Giving Secondary Students Plenty of Practice Writing Frequent practice is key when it comes to improving writing skills, and teachers can foster this growth by requiring students to write often. Writing can be difficult to start. You can be filled with ideas, yet finding the combination of words that brings ideas to life can take time. Even among those who are confident in their writing skills, compositions rarely come together in one attempt. No matter how good the first draft looks, the ones that follow will be better by far. Translating these ideas for students is complicated. However, there is one aspect that’s simple, concrete, and impactful in how much it can help student writers build experience and confidence in their skills. The answer is… write often. Writing is a muscle that needs constant exercise. With more endurance, students can get more crafting done within set time periods. Collecting lots of content becomes a reservoir of ideas and sample writings that students can use to practice the author’s craft along with the writing process. What follows are different strategies that engage students in getting out their thoughts by building a collection of writing pieces that they can use for a variety of purposes throughout the year. With increased stamina, there’s much that writers can complete for a variety of purposes and audiences. Quick Write–Free Write Combo How do we assist writers when it comes to generating ideas and capturing them on the page? The following combo strategy is a reliable way to help writers accomplish this goal for expression. An important first step is to warm up the students with a conversation about the topic. For example, it could be based on a reading or a video. Structured discussion protocols can aid the focus and engagement. Immediately after the warm-up conversation, have the students dive into the writing combo. Set the timer for two to four minutes, depending on the newness of this strategy to the learners. Have them write without pausing, anything they recall from the warm-up conversation, plus any insights they picked up since. It’s important that writers do not stop to fix grammar or spelling. Just capture thoughts and ideas. When time is up, they review their writing and underline or highlight at least three different passages and/or phrases that resonate for them. For step two, students complete the free write. Double the time allocated for the quick write. Learners select one of their chosen passages and post it below the quick write content. As writers, they expand on their choice with more details, context, and perspective. They can pause to think about what and how they want to write something. If they run out of things to write, they can pick another passage to copy down and continue the process. By the end of this combo, writers will have a rough draft to expand and shape as part of the writing process. Pictures as Muses Constructing ideas can feel like an exercise in abstractions. Pictures provide concrete context for writers to study, pull out details, and compose connections and speculations that fire up one’s intellect and imagination across any subject area. The optimal picture has lots of detail, has contrasting viewpoints, and/or reflects a thought-provoking context. The image at left represents climate change, and the image at right represents a story starter: “I followed the music into the woods. A voice sang in my head, ‘What took you so long?’” Other sources for pictures include The Mysteries of Harris Burdick , by Chris Van Allsburg; online photo galleries; and websites of news outlets. Teacher Modeling Many students believe in the myth that their teachers are perfect writers, requiring only one draft. Teachers modeling their imperfect early drafts with think-alouds about their writing process can have a positive impact on student writers. Share decisions about the author’s craft, such as word-choice changes and expanding details based on the target audience. Showing the imperfections helps students see in real time how writers improve the content through rounds of revisions and edits. Use drafts that you complete by participating in the strategies above alongside your students. You can share your original draft to demonstrate through think-alouds how to edit and revise ideas. Use generative AI as a thought partner. Its purpose is to give feedback based on specific author’s craft questions, suggestions for adding content, and grammar checks. The intent is to model how to make the writer’s original content even better, and not to automate a first draft. View an example generative AI author craft conversation in this PDF . Make Work Public Having a publication deadline and an accessible location for the results can motivate writers to use the writing process. Submissions to the teacher have no other witnesses, unless the work will be published in a public area such as a classroom blog, a hallway, or by an outside organization. The act of submitting student writing for consideration counts as publication because an outside audience is viewing the work. Not only the best work is published. Instead, any work that fulfills the minimum requirements of quality should be published. The message to students is “Your thoughts matter.” These strategies give student writers much practice through meaningful purpose and intention. As they collect writing pieces from the exercises, they can draw on the ideas to practice the author’s craft and to compose their best draft for publication. Try these exercises yourself to know how students will feel. As with any workout, take time to reflect on their volume of content creation and crafting to show them their growth as writers. Buy ANY 3 Resources. Get the 4th FREE! 👉 SHOP NOW 👈 Making persuasive writing fun to teach and learn. April 21, 2021 How do you make persuasive writing fun in the classroom? Lots of the time, teachers and students alike don’t enjoy writing lessons. It can be a challenge getting ALL students motivated to put pencil to paper. That is where we step in to help you change that with these 5 fun strategies you can start using tomorrow to make persuasive writing enjoyable in your classroom. We want to begin by saying, children love learning through games, and as teachers, we have witnessed the benefits. These tips include a range of games for individuals, pairs and, whole groups that will have your students excited when you tell them that writing is next up on the daily timetable. 1. Would you rather game Build the field and get students talking with a Would You Rather game. Kids absolutely love playing this game, and it is an excellent way to get kids informally using persuasive language. An ‘Agree or Disagree’ game is another alternative you could play as a class (just make sure you include some funny or outrageous statements). 2. Spinner and dice games We know that speaking and listening is vital when it comes to writing development. Spinner or dice games are an engaging and different way for students to work on specific language conventions and have fun at the same time. We like to set games up as fast finisher activities or send them home for students that need extra support. 3. Word wheels These are a great alternative to word or vocabulary walls. You could have students make their own word wheels to use as a reference when writing or simply speaking before writing. They can be less overwhelming for students by presenting multiple options one by one. We have actually seen a creative teacher make large word wheels and pin them to her persuasive writing display. The students had the structure to refer to, examples, and could also access the word wheels on the wall if they needed help when writing. 4. Partner writing Don’t discount the learning opportunities that students obtain from working together on a piece of writing. Not only can they discuss and talk through their arguments but also mentor each other throughout the writing process. Peer or partner writing is another way to get reluctant writers engaged in the process. 5. Student choice and voice Give students a bingo board or a range of topics for them to choose something they are passionate about or know about. As adults, we know it is easier to write about something we know, and kids are exactly the same. By giving students a choice it will allow them to feel confident in the content and, therefore, be able to focus more on the punctuation, language conventions, and spelling required of them when writing. Create confident and enthusiastic writers with these persuasive writing activities and games. And remember, writing lessons don’t always require students to be sitting at a desk writing. Mix it up and make it fun! Loved these ideas and want to remember them later? Pin the image below. Need help when it comes to planning and preparing your persuasive writing lessons? Check out our ready-to-print resources for Grades 2-3 & Grades 4-6. “Fabulous addition to a unit we’ve taught many times before. This resource brought new perspectives & tasks to help revamp what we do.” Kristy T WHAT IF YOU COULD MASTER SETTING UP AND RUNNING YOUR READING GROUPS IN JUST ONE WEEK? Imagine running a reading group program which is uncomplicated, easy to implement and stress free. .., introducing…, transform your reading groups. Discover a streamlined system to take control of your reading groups. Learn our step-by-step instructions. Create a time in the day you and your students love. Click here to join us and TRANSFORM YOUR READING GROUPS. What to read next:. Ways to emotionally prepare your students for NAPLAN 8 Tips for Efficiently Running Reading Groups Time Saving Strategies for Teachers share this post 3 halloween freebies (that are academically focused), the place value posters every classroom needs, 7 fun ways to teach doubles, 7 ways to encourage gratitude in the classroom, member logins. Rainbow Sky Creations acknowledges the Dharawal people and Whadjuk Nyungar people, the traditional custodians of the lands on which they live, work and learn. They pay their respects to the past, present and emerging Elders of this nation, and supports the cultural, spiritual and educational practices of First Nations peoples. Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Site Maintained by Nyssa Let's hear from you! Text us! Here at Rainbow Sky Creations, we are all about turning everyday stuff into cool lessons. Enter UNO cards – our hands-down favourite resource for Maths ever! The possibilities are endless for UNO cards to spark curiosity and excitement in learners of all levels.  We share these helpful lessons ideas for all age groups in today’s episode:  Preschool / First Year of School  Colour sorting Identifying numbers before and after Number collection match Making tallies Making a number line Grades 1 and 2 Friends to ten Simple addition and subtraction number sentences Number of the Day generator ( free here ) Grades 3 and 4 Times table fluency Comparing numbers using greater than and less than symbols Place Value war game ( free here ) Grades 5 and 6 Multiplication fluency Creating fractions Prime and composite sort Whether you teach preschool or Grade 6 UNO cards are a great way to engage your students in mathematical concepts and have fun at the same time. Want more UNO inspo, find it on our blog:  www.rainbowskycreations.com/blog Rainbows ahead, Ashleigh and Alisha Connect with HUE Document Cameras:  HUE HD Pro Camera Follow @‌huecameras on Instagram Get 15% off using the code 15RAINBOWSKY (valid on Amazon Australia until the end of June, 2023) Resources mentioned in this episode Free Place Value War Game Free Number of the Day Template Ready-to-print UNO resources: Pre K / Kindergarten (prep)   Grade s1 & 2   Grades 3 & 4   Grades 5 & 6   This episode was brought to you by Schools for Change, an initiative created by Street Smart Australia—access free resources for your classroom here.  APPLE PODCAST | SPOTIFY How to Teach Essay Writing in a Fun Way Essay writing is essential in college and university since it demonstrates your understanding of the subject matter. Therefore, students must gain the necessary essay-writing skills to score good grades. Learning how to write high-quality essays may be challenging or tiresome, which makes it necessary to have some fun learning. When professionals teach essay writing in a fun way, students are likely going to have a better understanding of the vital features of an outstanding essay. Like in any other subject, failing to keep an essay-writing class engaged or making training interesting will have negative outcomes. With the widespread technology nowadays, instructors have numerous ways to make essay writing training fun. Trainers should choose appropriate fun activities that will help learners to understand all the essential components of an essay, such as paragraphing, word choices, and style, among others. Table of Contents 5 Effective Ways to Teach Essay Writing in a Fun Way Ingrain games, role-playing. Role-playing is another effective fun way that trainers can use in teaching essay writing. For instance, the teacher may request learners to read and act scenes from plays or stories they are reading. It will help them in understanding aspects such as sentence structure, word choice, and the logical flow of ideas. Consequently, the learners will transition the skills into their writings, improving their academic performance. Utilize modern technology Introduce innovative writing challenges, introducing rewards. One effective way to teach essay writing to weak students is by rewarding learners for their efforts. For instance, a trainer may request several learners to write thesis statements for a given topic and ask the rest of the class to vote for the best. The winner gets a reward. Another way that instructors could reward and motivate learners is by recognizing exceptional performance by requesting students with the most outstanding essays to present their essays to the class. Essay writing remains a significant challenge to most students across disciplines. Some learners struggle to keep up with the formatting and fulfilling other essential features of an essay while others have inadequate time or are grappling with complex theories and principles. Whichever the challenge, it significantly affects the overall grade. However, online essay-writing companies have proved to be vital homework helpers who are readily available to rescue struggling students. If you are facing difficulties meeting deadlines you should consider seeking academic assistance from professionals. CustomWritings is an all-in-one essay writing service with 18+ years of experience in helping learners achieve their academic goals. They deal with 80+ disciplines at all academic levels and find the best-matching writer based on students’ needs. The company is reputable for its quality and affordability. You shouldn’t hesitate to contact the company’s customer support team if you need any homework help. The Benefits of Using Fun Ways to Teach Writing in Colleges Unarguably, essay writing is an easy task for most students. Nevertheless, it is one of the most essential pieces of academic writing in colleges and universities. Professors provide students with essay prompts to assess the latter’s mastery of the subject contents. While most students may have correct responses, their presentation may cost them substantially. Therefore, teaching essay writing skills are vital to ensure learners understand the format and other important aspects of an academic paper. However, instructors should ensure that the teaching process is exciting to ensure learners remain engaged. Without ultimate attention, students may miss vital features of an essay, impacting their overall grades. Numerous fun activities are available for teachers to make the learning process interesting. Instructors should be creative to ensure that the fun activity they adopt helps learners to conceptualize the intended concepts. You may also like 10 best books for learning english writing, essential checklist to perform on your content, basic english sentence structure – writing..., 7 practical tips to improve your english writing. INSTANT DOWNLOADS HANDWRITING FUN WITH FOOD -- BACK TO SCHOOL -- HALLOWEEEN -- VETERAN'S DAY -- THANKSGIVING -- CHRISTMAS -- NEW YEARS -- PRESIDENT'S DAY -- CHINESE NEW YEAR -- VALENTINE'S DAY -- EARTH DAY -- ST. PATRICK'S DAY -- MOTHER'S DAY -- END OF SCHOOL YEAR -- FLAG DAY -- FATHER'S DAY -- FOURTH OF JULY ENCOURAGEMENT TRANSFORM YOUR TEACHING FUN Ways to Teach Letter Writing  For 38 years, Sarah Hale wrote letters trying to encourage the government to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Grades 6-12 School Leaders NEW: Classroom Clean-Up/Set-Up Email Course! 🧽 36 Meaningful Vocabulary Activities for Every Grade These activities are the definition of fun! Learning new words is like adding to your writing toolbox. The more tools available, the more interesting and engaging your writing becomes. Check out these fun and engaging vocabulary activities for kids in grades K-12, and supply your students with the tools they need to build their wordsmith skills. 1. Write vocabulary stories Using vocabulary words in writing shows mastery. Challenge your students to use all of their vocabulary words in an original short story. Allow students to pair up and share their stories with a partner. Learn more: Vocab Short Story  2. Put your students in the hot seat Divide your class into two teams. Choose one student from one team to go to the front of the room and sit in a chair facing the class with their back to the board. This person is “on the spot.” Place a word on the board so everyone can see it except the person in the chair. One at a time, team members give the person a clue about the mystery word. If the word is guessed before two minutes are up, the team gets a point and play turns to the other team. Learn more: On the Spot at Upper Elementary Snapshots 3. Match up words and definitions Download these vocabulary words and matching definitions. Distribute one card to each student (either a word or a definition). Allow students to circulate in the room and find their “match.” Switch cards and repeat. Learn more: Dictionary Sort 4. Sketch up word maps Creating word maps from vocabulary words encourages students to find the relationships between the vocabulary word and other words. Have them include words, pictures, examples, real-world connections, definitions, descriptive words, etc. Learn more: Word Map 5. Create Post-it stations Post vocabulary words around the room, then have students circulate and write an original sentence using that word on a sticky note. Follow along and make sure students use the words correctly. Learn more: Post-it Stations 6. Play a game of Pop! Kids draw cards out of the bag and attempt to correctly spell them. But be careful, you don’t want to draw the Pop! card. Learn more: Pop! 7. Take a gallery walk Hang six to eight large sheets of chart paper in various places around the room. On each sheet, write one vocabulary word. Have students work in small groups, rotating between stations. At each station, ask students to come up with a different, original way to use each word. Continue the activity until all students have visited every station. Learn more: Gallery Walk at TeachWriting.org 8. Play a round of Pictionary This fun activity requires students to draw a picture for each word to create their own visual dictionary. When students create their own visual representations, they develop an association with the word that they will be able to tap into when needed. Learn more: Pictionary 9. Make a word map Word maps help deepen understanding of a vocab word by relating it to other words and concepts students already know. 10. Use the Frayer model Frayer models are a popular way to learn new words and concepts. Kids define the word in their own terms, then list facts and characteristics, examples, and non-examples. Learn more: Frayer Model 11. Draw vocabulary Sketchnotes Kids and teachers love Sketchnotes ! Rather than writing out definitions, have students draw a sketch that sums up each word instead. It’s a lot more fun and gives kids an image for visual association to help them remember the meanings. Learn more: Sketchnotes 12. Bump words along Group vocab words together with a few other words with similar meanings and one that’s an antonym. Students identify the antonym and “bump” it to the next box, filling in the next group of words. They continue until the worksheet is full. Learn more: Bumper Words 13. Post a graffiti wall Think of a vocabulary graffiti wall like a collaborative word wall. In the classroom, post the words on the wall and have kids add sticky notes to illustrate the term (they can use words or pictures). Online, try a tool like Padlet or Google Slides. Learn more: Graffiti Wall 14. Match words to describe character This is a terrific way to practice vocab words pulled from books you’re reading. Ask students to use various words to describe the different characters in the book and their feelings, thoughts, and actions. Learn more: Vocabulary Activities 15. Fill in words from A to Z This vocabulary game is fun and challenging, and it can be played by kids of any age. Choose a word, then challenge kids to come up with related words for as many letters as possible. These could be synonyms, antonyms, examples, and more. Trickier letters are worth more points! Learn more: A to Z 16. Try Flip for vocabulary activities Are you on the Flip (formerly Flipgrid) bandwagon yet? It’s perfect for vocabulary activities! Have kids record a quick video for each word, using their creativity to make it fun and meaningful. Learn more: Pop-Up Pods 17. Battle it out in Vocabulary Jeopardy Good vocabulary activities encourage more than just memorization of definitions. That’s why we like this Jeopardy game idea. It explores synonyms and antonyms and how words are used in real sentences. Learn more: Not So Wimpy Teacher 18. Use RAFTs to write vocabulary stories Writing a story using vocab words is a perennial favorite, but the RAFT method gives it a new twist. Students are assigned a Role (the point of view from which they’ll tell the story), an Audience, a Format, and a Topic. For instance, they might be an astronaut (Role) writing a postcard (Format) to their friends back home (Audience) about what they’ve seen on Mars (Topic). RAFTs are especially great for kids who claim they don’t know what to write about. Learn more: RAFTs 19. Discover the power of words Vocabulary words take on greater meaning when students incorporate them into their daily lives. Challenge kids to use their vocab words in conversation and writing outside the language arts classroom. Use the free printable worksheet here to help them keep track of how often they use them. Learn more: Downloadable Vocabulary Activities 20. Create graphic organizers Colorful organizers like these are terrific vocabulary activities. Want to go digital? Have kids make a slideshow, one slide per word. They can include the same information, but instead of drawing a picture, have them find one online that illustrates the concept. Learn more: Graphic Organizers at Upper Elementary Snapshots 21. Focus on a Word of the Week Give really important terms the attention they deserve. Choose a new vocab word each week, then explore it in depth day by day. Learn more: Word of the Week 22. Join the Million Dollar Word Club Post a list of target vocab words. If a student uses one of the words in class (outside of vocabulary activities), they become a member of the Million Dollar Word Club! You can have them sign their name on a wall in the classroom or award a badge online. You could even develop this into a reward system for homework passes or extra credit. Learn more: Million Dollar Words 23. Explore shades of meaning This is a cool idea for exploring synonyms and the slight differences that make words unique. Ask for paint sample strips at your local hardware store, or buy a clip art set . Learn more: Shades of Meaning 24. Personify a word with social media This is one of those vocabulary activities kids will want to do over and over again! Assign each student a word and have them create a faux Facebook, Instagram, or other social media page for it. They can draw them freehand or complete a template like these from Teachers Pay Teachers . Post the images to a shared Google slideshow so other students can use them for review. Learn more: Social Media Vocabulary 25. Create vocabulary cards Have students draw a diagonal line across an index card. On the top half, have them write the vocabulary word and definition. On the bottom half, have them draw a picture of the word and use it in a sentence. Cards can be joined together in a strip for easy review. Learn more: Index Card Vocabulary 26. Play vocabulary word Taboo In this game, the goal is for one student to get their partner to guess the word by describing or giving examples of it. The trick? There’s a list of additional words they’re not allowed to use! Let other students see the card in advance to help keep the players honest. (Flash it on a whiteboard and have the guesser face away.) Learn more: Don’t Say It! Vocabulary Game 27. Roll a die for vocabulary activities Choose a vocab word, then have a student roll a die ( these virtual dice are handy ) to see which activity they get to complete. Learn more: Roll a Word 28. Write an acrostic Write an acrostic poem for each vocab term, using the letters to determine the first word in each line. This can get really challenging when words are longer! Learn more: Acrostic Poem 29. Play vocabulary board games Everyone knows that playing games is the best way to learn. Try some of these fabulous board games with your students and watch their vocabularies grow. Learn more: 11 Vocab Games To Make the Learning Stick 30. Become a Word Collector This is one of those picture books that grown-up kids will enjoy as much as little ones. Use it to remind your kids that they don’t need a vocabulary list to learn new words—new words are all around them. Encourage them to keep a word list or journal of their own to record new words they want to explore and use more often. Buy it: The Word Collector 31. Play Vocabulary Headbanz Make or buy headbands with a notch on the front designed to hold a card. Create cards with vocabulary words on them. To play, each student gets a card but can’t see it. Other students will describe the word, trying to get the one wearing the headband to guess the correct word. Learn more: Vocab Headbanz 32. Go Fish! A fun and lively way to practice vocabulary words. Create a deck of vocabulary words with two of each word. Explain the rules of Go Fish to students and let them loose! Learn more: Go Fish Vocab Game 33. String three-letter words Using wooden letter beads and pipe cleaners, students will form three-letter words that match vocabulary cards. Learn more: Three-Letter Busy Bag 34. Play vocabulary charades Everybody loves an exciting round of charades. Break your students into groups, provide them with a stack vocabulary cards, and watch them learn! Learn more: Word Charades 35. Make words Use plastic letters, magnet letters, or letter blocks to make words. Play it mentally with older kids, or with paper and pencil. Simply give your children some letters and challenge them to make words from those letters. Learn more: Make a Word 36. Do a dictionary dig Send your students on a scavenger hunt … in the dictionary! Exposing kids to the thousands of words in our language is both inspiring and fun. Download the free task cards below. Learn more: Dictionary Dig Reading poetry also helps students expand their vocabulary. Check out these must-share poems for elementary school and middle and high school . Plus, get all the latest teaching tips and ideas when you sign up for our free newsletters . You Might Also Like 8 Creative Ways to Use Sketchnotes in Your Classroom It's like doodling with purpose. Continue Reading Copyright © 2024. 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Activities to Improve Smooth Visual Pursuits What is Visual Scanning Classroom Accommodations for Visual Impairments Free Resources Members Club Handwriting , Letter Formation MORE Creative Cursive Practice Ideas Colleen beck otr/l. by Colleen Beck OTR/L October 16, 2017 Creative Cursive Practice Ideas Need more ideas to practice cursive writing? Try these ideas:  More Posts Like This Eye Hand Coordination , Fine Motor Skills , Occupational Therapy , Occupational Therapy Activities Occupational Therapy School Occupational Therapy Scope of Practice Prone Extension Activities Development , Occupational Therapy Activities , Proprioception , Self Regulation , Sensory Outdoor Sensory Path Ideas Quick links, sign up for the ot toolbox newsletter. Get the latest tools and resources sent right to your inbox! Get Connected Want to read the website AD-FREE? Want to access all of our downloads in one place? Want done for you therapy tools and materials Join The OT Toolbox Member’s Club! Jump to navigation Interested in establishing a writing center at your university or in a community education space? Check out this writing center manual to learn how! This website is a resource center for teaching and learning about American English and American culture developed by the Office of English Language Programs in Washington, D.C. All programs are implemented by  Regional English Language Officers (RELOs)  at American Embassies or Consulates. Please contact your nearest RELO for assistance or click on one of the links below to begin exploring our materials and resources ! Resources   Distance Learning Programs   Teacher Training Workshops  The Lighter Side of TEFL, Volume 2, is a teacher’s resource book of fun activities for students of English as a Foreign Language. Looking for resources to use in your classroom? Explore our engaging and free materials, including lesson plans, stories, music, games, and more. Find innovative, practical teaching ideas in this quarterly, peer-reviewed journal, which features articles written by teachers from around the world. We’re on social media! Join our communities of English language learners and teachers from around the world and stay up-to-date on our programs, events, and content. Privacy Notice Copyright Info Accessibility Statement Get Adobe Reader For English Language Teachers Around the World The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, manages this site. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein. 240 IMAGES How to Teach Creative Writing the Fun Way! (Free Printable Included Teaching Creative Writing in the Secondary ELA Classroom Teaching Creative Writing with High School Students How to Teach Creative Writing to High School Students How to Incorporate Creative Writing in the Classroom Why You Should Teach A Creative Writing Class VIDEO Beyond Imagination| A Day in the Enchanted Forest with Emma Max| Kid Venture World Creative Writing Lecture 4 Activity on Opinion Writing @DharanaEdu #opinionwriting#shorts #shortfeed How to Teach Creative Writing to Young Learners Ways to teach creative writing skills to your ASD child How to teach creative writing to montessori teachers COMMENTS Inspiring Ink: Expert Tips on How to Teach Creative Writing 1. Creative writing fosters creativity and imagination. It encourages you to think outside the box, broaden your perspective, and explore new ideas. It also enhances your ability to communicate effectively, as it involves conveying thoughts, emotions, and narratives in a clear and compelling manner. 2. How to Teach Creative Writing We've outlined a seven-step method that will scaffold your students through each phase of the creative process from idea generation through to final edits. 7. Create inspiring and original prompts. Use the following formats to generate prompts that get students inspired: personal memories ("Write about a person who taught you an important ... PDF How to Teach Creative Writing 6 Ways to Teach Writing reatively Teach your students the fun aspects of writing. Students of all ages write short stories and papers, from younger elementary-school writers through college-age students. 51 Creative Writing Activities For The Classroom ... What a fantastic way to teach them how to use these essential creative writing tools! Learn More: Teacher By The Beach. 45. Sensory Poetry. Another great way to teach sensory details is to have your learners write poems about their favorite foods! Task them with writing a line for each sense to describe the food! 10 Fun Writing Activities for Reluctant Writers 7. Comic Strip Script. The Purpose: Give your students the chance to improve their dialogue writing skills and work on their understanding of character development in this fun activity which combines writing with a series of visual elements. The Process: There are two ways to do this activity. How to Teach Creative Writing to High School Students Teach Creative Writing to High School Students Step #6: Use Clear and Structured Expectations. While showing students excellent prose or perfect poetry should help inspire students, your writers will still need some hard parameters to follow. Academic writing is often easier for students than creative writing. Unleashing Creativity: A Guide to Teaching Creative Writing Introduction: Creative writing is more than just putting words on paper; it's an exploration of imagination, a journey through the depths of the human experience, and a means of expression unlike any other. Teaching creative writing isn't about simply imparting rules and techniques; it's about nurturing the innate creativity within each individual and providing them with the tools and guidance ... How to Teach Creative Writing (with Pictures) X Research source. 2. Provide your students with a large number of resources. One of the best ways to teach and promote creative writing is to make sure your students have the resources to write. Such resources include both creative resources and material resources to actually write. 3 top tips for creative writing in a playful way Being playful with creative writing. Here are my top three tips for being playful and having fun while developing creative writing skills: 1. Encourage imaginary play to inspire characters and dialogue. Imaginary play is one of the best ways to engage young learners in the classroom. How to Run a Creative Writing Class A creative writing session should always include actual writing and, if possible, the sharing of students' work (more on which later). Fitting everything in, including stating your aims for the session, doing some warm-up writing exercises, having a 10-to-15-minute writing burst and still have time at the end for people to read aloud, needs ... 4 Activities to Support Creative Writing Activity #3 : Writing Center Posters and Paper. If you do not have a writing center, I highly recommend you create one. It does not have to be a large area that takes up a lot of wall space. My writing center gives me another outlet to foster my students' creativity by way of writing. Teaching Creative Writing: Tips for Your High School Class Teaching Creative Writing Tip #6: Use Hands-On Activities. If you're teaching a class full of students who are excited to write constantly, you can probably get away writing all class period. Many of us, however, are teaching a very different class. Your students may have just chosen an elective randomly. Teach Creative Writing In High School With 10 Fun Activities Here are the few ways how high schoolers can benefit from creative writing -. 1. Imagination. When you write creatively, you expand your imagination by creating new environments, scenarios, and characters. This way, you are also boosting and stretching your imagination, as well as "thinking out of the box.". 8 Activities for Making Writing Fun in Upper Elementary 8. Quick Writes. Quick Writes are a timed writing. The idea is not to scare the students, but for them to get their ideas on paper as quickly as possibly and to be writing or thinking the entire time. Give students a prompt, and then tell them to write down whatever comes to mind over the next 5 - 10 minutes. 12 ideas for teaching creative writing Give your pupils freedom. Use story-starters and prompts. Elaborate with a story generator. Get the children to take creative writing home. 1. Use a workshop-style environment. Separate your class into groups or tables, each group will then be able to choose what they work on. 12 Simple Tricks To Make Writing Fun Put several notebooks in a writing center. Have one person start a story or start it yourself, and then allow your students to add to a story of their choosing during free learning periods. Have one student choose the characters and another student the conflict, and then have them work together to write the final piece. Creative Activities to Develop Writing Skills for Students Storytelling exercises like role-playing and picture prompts help spark creativity. Ways to integrate fun writing games like story chains and story cubes can improve student writing skills and foster a positive learning environment. How to use writing prompts to show understanding and develop technical writing skills while being creative. 5 Seriously Fun Ways to Teach the Writing Process Here are five fun ways to teach the writing process to even the most stubborn students. #1: Play-Doh Creations. ... "This activity encourages students to see writing as a communicative and creative task where there needn't be a 'right' answer," Literacy Ideas says. "This encourages students to be more willing to take on creative ... Creative Writing: 8 Fun Ways to Get Started 2. Start journaling your days. Another easy way to get started with creative writing is to keep a journal. We're not talking about an hour-by-hour account of your day, but journaling as a way to express yourself without filters and find your 'voice in writing'. If you're unsure what to journal about, think of any daily experiences that ... Helping Student Writers Build Confidence The following combo strategy is a reliable way to help writers accomplish this goal for expression. An important first step is to warm up the students with a conversation about the topic. For example, it could be based on a reading or a video. Structured discussion protocols can aid the focus and engagement. Making Persuasive Writing Fun To Teach And Learn Peer or partner writing is another way to get reluctant writers engaged in the process. 5. Student choice and voice. Give students a bingo board or a range of topics for them to choose something they are passionate about or know about. As adults, we know it is easier to write about something we know, and kids are exactly the same. How to Teach Essay Writing in a Fun Way Role-playing. Role-playing is another effective fun way that trainers can use in teaching essay writing. For instance, the teacher may request learners to read and act scenes from plays or stories they are reading. It will help them in understanding aspects such as sentence structure, word choice, and the logical flow of ideas. FUN Ways to Teach Letter Writing First, discuss the basic parts of the letter. Using this printable to introduce the basic format of a letter is a creative way to tie in the relationship of the head and body. This is a cute song to help learn the parts of a letter. Here are several free powerpoints that teach letter writing. 36 Meaningful Vocabulary Activities for Every Grade 1. Write vocabulary stories. Using vocabulary words in writing shows mastery. Challenge your students to use all of their vocabulary words in an original short story. Allow students to pair up and share their stories with a partner. Learn more: Vocab Short Story. 2. Put your students in the hot seat. ChatGPT Design a programming game teach basics in a fun way (opens in a new window) Make up a story about Sharky, a tooth-brushing shark superhero (opens in a new window) Explain nostalgia to a kindergartener (opens in a new window) MORE Creative Cursive Practice Ideas Try writing these creative writing ideas for practicing cursive letter formation, re-trace, rhythm, and speed of writing. Write on recycled newspaper. Write on graph paper. Fill a tray with sand. Add a small amount of water and flatten the sand. Students can write with their finger or a stick in the sand. Write on cardboard. Write on paper bags. American English English Teaching Forum. Find innovative, practical teaching ideas in this quarterly, peer-reviewed journal, which features articles written by teachers from around the world. We're on social media! 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