If you happen to be the mom whose kid is struggling with writing and it becomes an ordeal for you, then you are not alone. Plenty of mothers do come across some resistance or unwillingness of this sort, so they try to find help or seek the best strategies online.
Parents need to become a role model for children in different ways. So, as a mother, you have to communicate well with your child to make him understand about writing and how to make the process fun for him.
The following tips will be immensely helpful for you through which you can spark your child’s imagination and enable him to write better effectively.
1. Reading Time:
It is a universal fact that great reading leads to exceptional writing. For a child, regular reading is a must for him or her to write better and to strengthen the writing skills. Through reading kids expand the vocabulary which becomes apparent by the usage of the words. With time, they possess a better flow when they use new words in their own writing.
So, you should make it a habit to read with your kid or kids daily to encourage the love of reading as they grow up. When they begin reading early, their creativity and writing peaks with time which is necessary for their expression and communication later in life.
2. Use of Materials:
To build great writing skills, you can choose other writing materials instead of the pencil and paper. Finger painting, salt writing tray, and sidewalk chalk on the driveway are other means for fun writing activities for the kid for sure.
3. Letter Writing:
Since the advent of email and short messaging service, letter writing has become less common. However, you can encourage your child to write a letter after every few days to relatives or the friends. It happens that distant family members get thrilled to receive handwritten letters and that letter writing can improve the writing skills as well.
4. Organize Different Activities:
You should remember that reading, learning, and writing have to be made exciting so that your child remains focused and active. When it comes to writing, you can plan come activities or play games to encourage writing. Word games and crossword puzzles are pretty interesting and liked by children and adults alike. You can make your child get involved in it especially the word game for the kid where he will search for the items and write the word after he finds them.
5. Make Writing Worksheets:
For your child to practice writing there can be no better way than through writing worksheets. You should create a worksheet where he can trace letters and words. The other method is that you write the words and letters, place another sheet over it and then make your child trace onto the blank piece of paper.
A popular choice for writing worksheet is by creating the dotted lines. Your child can play the connect-the-dots game over it by tracing the dotted lines. Then, you can spell out the word or the letter he finds.
6. Journal Writing:
Writing on daily basis leads to more ideas and thoughts for better and clear expression. So, keeping a journal is the best way to express the idea which aids in improving the writing skills. You can plan an outing where your kid takes the journal with him and then urge him to write about what he sees and experiences in the journal later.
Journal writing can be made a daily habit where your child can express the activities for the day.
7. Organize a Writing Space:
Before you make your child begin writing, it is better to set aside a place for him. This will help your child to remain focused without any disturbance and distraction. You can monitor his work and involve word games and worksheet activities there only.
8. Dedicate Proper Time:
When you make your child to write or to complete worksheet activity, you just cannot get busy elsewhere. You should be available for proofreading and spelling when he needs it. When writing time become your priority every day, your child will understand its importance, too, and will improve the writing skills within no time.
9. Use Story Prompts:
The story prompts are the present-day norm being used by a private tutor that you can use to improve writing. When you make your child to write stories their imagination will widen and this will greatly improve their expression.
What you can do is cut out a picture from the magazine having different locations or characters. Then, place the pictures in a container or stick them to cards to be used as the story writing prompts. This will lead to an engaging story writing activity where interesting stories can be made with ease.
Moreover, you can even write a few words on a piece of paper and then your child can piece together a story from them.
10. Follow Your Child’s Interests:
Knowing about your child’s interest in reading is vital as it can be used to write good stories to improve writing skills. Suppose your child is interested in dinosaurs or cars, you can connect them to writing by making him write a new story about dinosaurs.
This article was written in collaboration with a Singaporean tuition agency, SmileTutor.
