I am a big believer that writing should be fun. Everyone should be given the opportunity to have fun with writing and with words.
There is an article going around titled Where has the joy of writing gone and how do we get it back for our children?. A lot of the comments in the article resonated with me.
Growing up, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to explore different writing styles and just have fun with my writing. Even when I was doing my VCE, one of my assessment tasks was a Writing Folio, where I was able to submit a number of different pieces of work – poetry, short stories, plays, articles, and whatever else I could come up with – after choosing the pieces I felt were the best. I was encouraged to explore different ways of writing and discover my own style.
My kids are yet to be given the same sort of freedom to explore their writing at school. I am hoping that they will be given a similar opportunity that I had.
This is one reason I run my Imagination Storytelling Workshops. At each session, the participants are given a crazy writing prompt or two or three (depending on time) and then they are given the freedom to write whatever they want and simply have fun with their writing.
Over the years, I’ve loved watching the kids who attend these workshops growing in confidence as they find their own writing style and have fun with their stories. Their writing has also improved in leaps and bounds, simply by giving them the opportunity to have fun with writing.
In the workshops, no one is checking spelling or grammar. The kids know that a first draft isn’t meant to be perfect, and what counts is that they enjoy the process.
The easiest way to help kids to rediscover the joy of writing is to make writing fun. Crazy writing prompts and attending sessions where they meet with others to have fun with.
My next workshop is coming up on 1 December in Oakleigh, and is a wonderful way for kids to rediscover the joy of writing. For details and to register, click here.
As I can’t be everywhere, I have created a Summer Writing Program called Summer, Sun, Stories that is open to kids anywhere in the World. The aim of the program is for kids to have some fun over the Summer holidays with their writing. For details and to register, click here.
