Shining Time Academy

Creative Writing 1
Activities for the pre-writing child

Home
WISH LIST
Preschool -3-
Preschool -4-
Charlotte Mason Kindergarten
Year -0- Introduction
Year -0- Booklist
Year -0- Schedule
Curriculum Reviews
Activities by Subject
Links
Original Works
Pictures 2003
Pictures 2004

This curriculum was created to encourage young children to explore the world of creative writing before they are able to put pen to paper.  Children should be encouraged from their earliest days to "think outside the box."  They should question why things are done the way they are and experiment with doing things differently.
 
It is not necessary to complete every lesson nor is it necessary to do them in the order they are listed.  What is important is that you present the lessons to your child in an interesting and exciting way.  If he's not having fun he's not learning!
 
The number of activities in this curriculum suggests that the child complete one lesson per week.  It may take one day or one week to complete each lesson but remember to go at your child's pace.  If he isn't interested simply set it aside for another day or try a different activity.  Some children may want to do the same activity over and over, which is okay too.  Provide the activity for as long as he is interested.  The idea is to get the creative juices flowing.  Many activities also lend themselves to a whole plethora of variations.  If your child likes doing the same activity again and again try changing it just slightly for a bit of newness.
 
In addition to the ideas presented in this curriculum parents should remember to ask how, why and what if questions often.  These encourage your child to think and imagine.  Unlike adults, most children, when posed with these types of thinking questions, will use their imagination to come up with an answer even if it is incorrect.  See the end of this booklet for a short list of these questions to get you started.  Remember the sky is the limit.

Lesson 1

 

Materials:

Magazine pictures

Glue

Solid colored sheet of paper

 

Encourage your child to choose a magazine picture and paste it to a solid sheet of paper.  Ask the child to create a story based on this picture alone.  What does he think is happening in the picture?  Why are certain things arranged as they are?  Where are people going?

 

Lesson 2

 

Materials:

Any book of your child’s choosing

 

Read through your child’s favorite book once.  Ask your child what would happen if you change the ending.  Encourage him to retell the story with the alternate ending. 

 

Lesson 3

 

Materials:
Family photos

 

Ask your child to look through a stack of family photos with you.  Allow him to choose any picture that strikes his fancy.  Encourage him to retell what happened during the time the picture was taken.  If the child cannot remember ask him to make something up based on the clues in the picture alone.

 

Lesson 4

 

Materials:
Any book of your child’s choosing

Dress up clothes

 

Read through your child’s favorite book once.  Ask your child what it would be like to actually BE his favorite character.  Encourage him to dress up like that character and pretend to be him.  You might remind him of the character’s accent or subtle nuances of the character’s personality.

 

Lesson 5

 

Materials:

Tape recorder

 

Sit in a chair facing your child.  Set up a tape recorder on a table near you.  Tell your child that you are going to interview him.  Ask your child questions and record them.  Question can range from his favorite color to what he would like to do tomorrow to what he wants to be when he grows up.  After you are finished interviewing him ask if he would like to interview you.

 

Lesson 6

 

Materials:

Paper

Markers, pencil or crayons

Talk to your child about what a super hero is.  Read books about various kinds of super heroes such as Superman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman etc.  Encourage your child to make up his own super hero.  Ask him to draw his super hero and explain a bit about what kind of hero he is.  Be sure to copy down his dictation of the hero.

 

Lesson 7

 

Materials:

2 stuffed animals

 

Ask your child to gather two of his favorite stuffed animals.  Help him to create a story and dialog between the two toys.  Are the toys friends or enemies?  Do they like to spend time together?  Doing what? 

 

Lesson 8

 

Materials:

None

 

Begin by creating a story to tell your child.  When you get to a turning point in the story as your child to take over and finish the story.

 

Lesson 9

 

Materials:
Handmade or store bought puppets

Chair or table

Blanket

 

Provide your child with a few puppets.  If you don’t have any help him make them with paper bags, old socks, paper plates and Popsicle sticks or any other items you may have on hand.  Throw a blanket over a chair or table at your child’s height and encourage him to have a puppet show.  If he’s not sure what to do show him how to make the puppets talk to one another.  Don’t expect him to properly move the mouth of the puppet; the idea is to encourage the dialog.  If he’s stumped offer to put on a puppet show for him.

 

Lesson 10

 

Materials:

Paper

Pencil, crayons, markers etc.

 

Encourage your child to create his own book with pictures.  Help him to put one picture on each page to tell the story in chronological order.  Ask him if he would like you to write the story down on each page as he dictates it to you.

 

Lesson 11

 

Materials:

None

 

Ask your child, “What would you do if a dinosaur walked into the backyard today?”  Allow him to explain just what he would do while you write down his dictation.  If he is unsure exactly what he would do try jumpstarting his imagination by telling a short story about what YOU would do.

 

Lesson 12

 

Materials:

Video camera

 

Help your child become a news reporter.  Set up a video camera and let him announce the weather or what you will have for dinner.  Let him go with this as long as he desires or until you run out of blank tapes.  If he is unsure as to what a news reporter does you might allow him to watch a carefully selected portion of a live news program or you may simply demonstrate for him.

 

Lesson 13

 

Materials:

None

 

Talk to your child about different holidays and explain how some holidays originated.  Help your child to create his own holiday and come up with special traditions for it.  Afterwards be sure to actually celebrate it in exactly the way he suggested… if possible of course.

 

Lesson 14

 

Materials:

None

 

Introduce your child to other languages through CD’s, videos, books and/or live speakers.  Explain that people speak lots of different languages and are able to say the same things in many different ways.  Encourage him to create new words for familiar items.  Help him to create his own language!

 

Lesson 15

 

Materials:

None

 

Go to the grocery store with your child.  Pretend that you (the parent) are from another place.  Ask your child to explain the things around you as you walk through the store.  Let your child know that when explaining things to a foreigner we often need to use simple terms and lots of explanation.  Point to things, such as fruit and vegetable scales or the cash register and ask questions such as, “What is that?” “What is it used for?”  Try to ask lots of questions in order to solicit a detailed picture of the item.

 

Lesson 16

 

Materials:

None

 

Ask your child to pretend that he lives on the moon.  Encourage him to explain the kinds of things a visitor might see there.  What do people do for fun?  What kinds of food do you eat?  How do you travel on the moon?  What language do these people speak?  If he is so inclined he might even draw a picture of his new civilization.

 

Lesson 17

 

Materials:

Magazines

Scissors

Glue

Paper

 

Help your child use scissors to cut out pictures from the magazines.  Ask him to arrange and paste them on the paper.  Ask him to create a story involving all of these pictures on the paper.  Remember that each picture must fit into the story somewhere… even if it doesn’t make sense to you. 

 

Lesson 18

 

Materials:

Joke books

 

Read several jokes from a joke book to your child.  Ask him if he would like to make up his own jokes.  If he chooses not to make up his own maybe he will enjoy memorizing some simple ones such as, “Why did the chicken cross the road?”  You might even tape record his stand up act to show the family later.

 

Lesson 19

 

Materials:

None

 

Ask your child, “How does lightening happen?”  Afterwards, ask him if he would like to look it up to see if he was correct. 

 

Lesson 20

 

Materials:

None

 

Ask your child to close his eyes.  Ask him what he sees.  Encourage him to describe it in as much detail as possible.  What do you see, hear, feel, taste, smell etc?  Are there other people or animals around? 

 

Lesson 21

 

Materials:

An unfamiliar book

 

Read your child a book he’s never heard before.  At several intervals throughout the story encourage him to guess what will happen next. 

 

Lesson 22

 

Materials:

A book of your child’s choosing

 

Read a familiar book to your child several times.  Now ask him to retell the story from another character’s point of view.  For instance, retell Cinderella from the sister’s point of view or The Three Little Pigs from the Wolf’s point of view.  Help him to understand why the story may sound different depending on who is telling it.

 

Lesson 23

 

Materials:

Tape recorder

Various items that will make noise

 

Ask your child to tell a story on tape and use various items from around the house to make sound affects.  It isn’t important that the sound affects be realistic, it’s important that it is fun and exciting.

 

Lesson 24

 

Materials:

Book: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

 

Read through the book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”  Ask your child to think up a new room to add to the factory.  What kind of candy would be made there?  What kind of machine would make it?  When you have finished reading the story ask him what he things happened after the story ended.

 

Lesson 25

 

Materials:

None

 

Sing a familiar song with your child.  Help him to come up with new words to fit the beat.  Try to make the words as silly as possible.  You might even try to include your child’s name in the new song.

 

Lesson 26

 

Materials:

A pet

 

Encourage your child to talk to your pet.  Ask him what the pet is saying back to him.  Try to engage him in a conversation where he and the pet are “talking” to one another. 

 

Lesson 27

 

Materials:

Tape recorder

 

Ask your child to tell a story on tape.  If he is interested he may wish to illustrate it and allow you to write down the words to make a book on tape combination.  This would make a wonderful gift for a grandparent’s birthday.

 

Lesson 28

 

Materials:

None

 

Ask your child to create a story about how an elephant got his long trunk or how a giraffe got its long neck.

 

Lesson 29

 

Materials:

Pencil

Paper

 

Write a story on paper and create a blank space in each sentence.  Read the story to your child and ask him to fill in the blanks.  Don’t be concerned if the word isn’t grammatically correct and don’t try to lecture about parts of speech.  Simply allow him to add any word he thinks will fit and then read the silly story back to him.

 

Lesson 30

 

Materials:

Computer

Printer paper

 

If your child already knows the alphabet and how to spell some words but does not have the dexterity to write encourage him to use the computer to write a story.  He might even want to add in clip art in place of hand-drawn pictures.

 

Lesson 31

 

Materials:

None

 

Talk to your child about bears and hibernation.  Explain that bears sleep through the winter by storing up enough food to keep them warm.  You might even want to read the book, “Blueberries for Sal.”  Ask your child to imagine that a bear has decided to stay awake all winter.  What did the bear do?  How did he find food?  Was he lonely?  Etc.

 

Lesson 32

 

Materials:

None

 

As an offshoot of lesson 32 you may again read “Blueberries for Sal” and then ask your child what he would do if he had to hibernate in the winter.  What items would he take with him?  Where would he like to hibernate?

 

Lesson 33

 

Materials:

Previous knowledge of different animals

 

Talk to your child about different animals.  If possible allow him to visit a zoo, pet show or farm to see many animals up close.  Now ask your child if he could be any animal, which would he like to be and why.  Encourage him to make up a story about himself as that animal.  What sort of adventures would he go on?  Where would he live?  What would he eat? 

 

Lesson 34

 

Materials:
None

 

Ask your child to pretend he is walking in the woods when suddenly he came upon a tree house.  What would he do?  What does the tree house look like?  Is there anything or anyone in the tree house?  Who do you think built it?  Why is it here?

 

Lesson 35

 

Materials:

Any movie of your child’s choosing

 

Allow your child to watch any movie that captures his interest, with parental approval of course.  When the movie is over ask questions about the characters and the plot.  Then ask him to tell the story of what happens after the movie… a sequel.

 

Lesson 36

 

Materials:

Various materials that he is familiar with

 

Show your child an ordinary item that he is familiar with.  Ask him to come up with new ways to use it.  For instance, hand him a comb and say, “What else could we do with this?”

 

Lesson 37

 

Materials:

An item that your child has never seen before

 

Show your child an item that he has never seen before.  The item should look interesting but its use should not be easily deduced.  Ask him questions like, “What do you think this object is? and “What do you think it is used for?”  If you wish you may tell him what it is and what it is used for after he guesses.

 

Lesson 38

 

Materials:

None

 

Start a series of never ending questions and see how far your child will go with it.  The dialog might look like this.

 

Adult:  What would you do if you were all alone on a desert island?
Child:  I would play all day.

Adult:  But what would you do for food?
Child:  I would cook it.

Adult:  But what would you cook, you didn’t bring any food with you?

Child:  I would eat berries.

Adult:  But what if there were no berries?

Child:  I would eat fish from the water.

Adult:  How would you catch the fish?
Child:  A fishing pole.

Adult:  What fishing pole?  You didn’t bring anything with you.

Child:  I would make one.

Adult:  Out of what?

Child:  A stick and some string.

Adult:  Where would you get the string?
Child:  It was in my pocket.

Adult:  What would you use for bait?
Child:  Worms.

Adult:  Where did you get the worms?
Child:  The dirt.

Adult:  How would you get the worms out of the dirt?
Child:  Dig.

Adult:  What would you dig with?

And this goes on and on until one of you gets tired or you run out of questions and answers.  This activity really gets the imagination flowing.  It also helps with problem solving skills.

 

Why” Questions

 

  1. Why is the sky blue?
  2. Why is the grass green?
  3. Why do birds sometimes fly in a V formation?
  4. Why do pennies sink and feathers float?
  5. Why do great big airplanes look so tiny up in the sky?
  6. Why do the leaves change colors in the fall?
  7. Why do bears sleep in the winter?
  8. Why do people have 2 legs, dogs have 4 legs and octopi have 8 legs?
  9. Why don’t ducks get wet in the water?
  10. Why do pigs like the mud

 

How” Questions

 

  1. How do the clouds stay in the sky?
  2. How do birds fly without falling?
  3. How do fish breathe under water?
  4. How does the light switch turn on the light bulb?
  5. How does the radio work?
  6. How long does it take a bird to fly south for the winter?
  7. How do balloons float in the sky when you let them go?
  8. How is rain made?
  9. How do bees make honey?
  10. How does a tree know whether it is an apple tree or a pear tree?

 

What” and “What if” Questions

 

  1. What would you do if you were trapped on a space shuttle?
  2. What if dinosaurs still roamed the earth?
  3. What if cars had never been invented?
  4. What if we could visit the moon on vacation?
  5. What if we lived when George Washington lived?
  6. What happens to water when it runs out of the tub?
  7. What would happen if we could get inside of the television or computer?
  8. What is snow made from?
  9. What happens to the sun when it goes down?  What happens to the moon when it goes down?
  10. What if the earth was flat like a map instead of round like a globe?


     
     

 

 

 

 

Character is who you are when no one but GOD is watching.