How to Teach Your Child Proper Writing Skills for Longer Essays

Do you struggle to get your child to actually sit down and write? Does your child even know how to structure and write a paragraph? Before your child can write a longer essay, he needs to build up stamina and skills, and an excellent way to do that is through creative writing that’s fun and engaging. Following are some tips for how you can teach your child essential writing skills for creative writing. 

Writing in Paragraph Format

Help your child keep a diary or journal of their day and break different sections of the day into different paragraphs; maybe you have a paragraph each for before breakfast, between breakfast and lunch, between lunch and dinner, and after dinner. Thinking of the day in terms of sections can help your child understand the importance of sectioning off his writing. 

Writing Transitions

Go back to the journal your child wrote about his day and help him add transitions between the paragraphs. Talk about how things in life are easier when we get a little preview of what is to come, and how it’s the same for someone who reads your writing. 

Following a Story Mountain

This is a classic way to organize a story with exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. You could read your child’s favorite book or watch his favorite move then work together to create a story mountain. Practicing this with stories your child already loves will help him be interested. 

Forming Supporting Details

Encourage your child to write you a letter explaining why he should get a new toy at the store. He’ll have to include supporting details to prove to you why he deserves a toy, and why the toy he wants will be beneficial. 

There are so many ways to make writing fun and creative for kids; these are just a few ideas. Teaching students how to write creatively while they master the concepts of effective writing also helps them find their voice as a writer. If you want to help your child become a better writer but are at a loss for where to start, Reading Genie offers creative writing lessons that can take the pressure off. We’ll teach your child strategies to become a better writer, and we’ll foster creative thinking and writing that will help him learn to love to write.