Eyes on Early Years Volume 10 | Page 16

IDEAS TO HELP WITH WRITING By: Nicola Reynolds We all want our children to strive when it comes to their development in writing. Learning to write shouldn’t just be done at school, you can help your child at home by giving them the opportunity to excel in their development. Think of the parent job satisfaction you would get when you receive a note / sentence / list from your child that they did all by themselves. Try my TOP TIPS / ACTIVITES to help support, encourage and get them EXCITED about writing. KS1 WRITING ACTIVITIES: • • • • • • • • • • • Shopping lists Birthday cards / celebration cards Post-it note messages Writing messages in sand / shaving foam / cornflour / paint Creating scrap books, get your child to draw and write about a favourite animal or family member Writing messages under pictures for a photo album Recipe writing, get your child to write out their favourite treat to bake Write letters to family or your child’s teacher (this was a favourite with my children) Use magazines to cut out letters to make messages Play ‘guess my animal’. Give children clues to an animal, they then have to write down which creature they think it is Practice the alphabet, take it in turns to write a letter each if needed REMEMBER: • • • • Encouragement is key Quick / small writing tasks are better than longer ones Practice spellings Take turns. Children love to have someone to share an experience with. You are also building on relationship, social, language skills • Don’t pick up on spelling mistakes, let them be creative and have a go • Pick a topic that your child LOVES like cars, space, animals