How to help kids build writing skills
Strong writing skills benefit kids in everything from their mental health to academics. He are 5 ways you can help build those critical skills.
Every child will benefit from mastering writing, no matter what they go on to do in life. Writing is one of the primary modes of human communication; good writing skills are highly valued universally. Whether your child eventually uses their writing skills in the workplace, writes for pleasure, or even goes on to write professionally, they will do well from writing well.
Moreover, honing writing skills is good for children in numerous other ways, beyond career success. A study from West Virginia University summarizes current research on the benefits of writing. They range from improved physical and mental health to enhanced 'intellectual vitality, creativity, and thinking abilities.'
So, what are the practical ways parents can help kids build their writing skills? Here are 5 tips to boost their writing ability.
1. Get them to read more
Kids who are better readers become better writers. Actually, the same applies to people of any age: reading improves writing. According to one study from 2019, 'pleasure reading has a positive impact on enhancing writing achievement and reading comprehension.' If your child doesn't enjoy reading, it may simply be because they haven't yet found the right book to fascinate them and fire up their imagination. Try to encourage your kid to read a variety of texts, from picture books for younger children to young adult fiction and poetry for older kids. And if they still need more encouragement, get them to join an online reading class to help make the activity more sociable and fun.
2. Boost kids' writing skills with creative writing
The thing with writing school essays or exam essays is that many children find it a chore. It can be boring to write on a topic your child did not choose, so even kids showing a talent for writing may give up. There's a very good antidote to this type of boredom, though: creative writing. Whether your child wants to have a go at crafting their own fairy tale, a spooky ghost story for Halloween, or a poem, creative writing clubs and classes can really help them mine their own imagination in order to discover their love of writing.
It's not all about the sheer fun of it, either. A study published in Research in Pedagogy shows that children who practice creative writing have ''statistically and significantly higher' narrative writing and advanced reading skills.
3. Get them to take an essay writing class
Of course, eventually, your kid will have to write essays in order to pass their English tests and, later, to enter college. Essays are quite a bit different from creative writing. So, while creative writing classes will help develop your child's writing skills more generally, taking Outschool Essay writing classes like the 5 paragraph essay will help them hone in their craft to succeed academically. Essay writing doesn't need to be boring if the learning environment is right. Learning as part of a group can make the task more joyful, and it helps many children to learn writing while exchanging ideas with their peers.
4. Hire a writing tutor
On the other hand, if your child is a bit more introverted, it can really help to get them a one-on-one writing tutor. Outschool writing tutoring offers a personalized experience for every child, appropriate to their level of ability and age. Writing tutorials can be equally useful for children who especially struggle with writing and those who are gifted and find group writing classes not challenging enough. The reason writing tutorials work so well is that your child will get the most amount of attention and feedback possible. Tutorials are also highly useful for teens about to embark on their college studies because they help them prepare for the more personalized and thorough feedback on college essays.
5. Write letters to your child
Letter writing is a dying art, with fewer and fewer activities requiring handwriting. Children often use electronic devices in schools nowadays. As a homeschooling parent, you have an enormous advantage in being able to get them to write by hand more. Handwriting, according to a study conducted by John Hopkins University, improves writing skills, reading skills, and memorizing foreign language words. It does appear to be the act of writing things out by hand, not just any kind of writing, that helps boost those skills.
So, why not make handwriting fun by writing letters back and forth between your child and you? Not only will this activity improve their writing and learning skills, but it can also become a sweet form of bonding between you. Letter writing, like other forms of story-writing, can improve emotional intelligence and empathy and help our kid grow up to be more emotionally open and loving. You can start with very simple messages such as 'Here's what I did with my day today. What did you do?' And then progress to more complex subjects.
These tips will get your kid's writing skills off to a flying start. From fostering your child's love of reading through virtual book clubs to highly personalized one-to-one tutorials, Outschool is committed to helping your child grow into a more confident writer.
