Developing Basic Creative Writing Skills
Creative writing can be a very difficult subject at the school level for our kids. They find it hard to comprehend a topic. As adults we too feel that creative writing is a very difficult skill and only English literature lovers and the learned can produce masterpiece. But this notion may not be true in the complete sense. It is best that creative writing be taught at an early age. Here are some points which I would like to share for building the creative writing skill for our beginners.
1. It is universally known that language is the base for any subject or topic to be explained orally or through writing. Hence, it is very important that we speak to them in the most conversed language with gestures. The first five years are the crucial years for a child to absorb the most while learning any difficult language. Sign language arouses curiosity in an infant and language is picked up easily by them then.
2. While doing this we should also ensure that our diction is pure and reasonably easy for the child to follow. Along with baby talk they can be taught the mother tongue effortlessly. Slowly, as the baby gets a grip of the mother tongue, you can introduce the child to the common spoken languages like English and Hindi.
3. After age three, you can engage in light conversations like how to plant a tree, how do birds make a nest, etc. With this the child is pushed to think and her curiosity is triggered to ask more questions and enrich her little knowledge database.
4. With a strong base of language, it is easy for the kid to express and participate in a common group like a class of English in a pre-primary section. Hence, always ensure that the first three steps are taken care of.
5. Read, read and read! Yes, that’s right. When the child is well read either on its own or through her parents the child starts thinking over stories and the characters in the story. These characters or stories then slowly get modified to their story building process. In conversations between parents and the child, a story is built in their mind. This shows that they have already got the confidence and are capable to formulate a concept to begin with. With this you have inspired sheer creativity in the child.
6. Encourage them to build a story by throwing them some situations or lending them your ears when they have already built up a story with their favorite toys (Keep your smartphones aside and take pride in knowing how your creative your child is!)
7. Also as they grow, children have complex topics for language projects and search engines copy paste don’t help every time. It is very important to ask your child to have a gradual improvement in their thought process.
All these tips will make your child think about any topic in a broader perspective and the source of the output they come up with will be genuine. It is a matter of interest and each child has her own aptitude or inclination towards a specific subject. But these basic tips can always help them to make the creative writing process easy. I have listed these few things because I have followed these tips for myself (initially pushed by my parents) and then it all evolved from there to love for English literature. My education in creative writing and tried and tested techniques has helped me build my child’s creative writing ability. their creative minds. I am sure you will have lots more to add on this.
After 12 years of banking experience, I chose to take a sabbatical for my kids and be an enterprising mother. I am a Bachelor in Commerce, Masters in Finance Management and done diploma in creative writing.Writing is my passion and wish to develop it further. My husband is my inspiration to all my aspirations. I am a mother of two sons, both in a very agile stage, all ready to run to explore with their little feet. I love travelling and writing about places visited and every thought that fascinates me. All this can be read in my blog Life Bytes.
