When it comes to writing, the most important thing to remember is that it should be fun! Shouldn’t that apply to all learning? From time to time, a follower on Facebook will ask for advice about how to get their child to enjoy “writing practice.” The first thing I suggest is to make the “writing process” fun! Put away the workbooks until the time comes when the child is interested in them, and instead incorporate writing activities into their daily play.
Start with their name
When introducing writing to your children or students, you want to make it relevant to them. What is more relevant than their own name? Begin by pointing out the letters in their name when you see them in environmental print. You can say things like, “This cereal starts with the letter R, just like your name.” Or “Will has four letters in his name, just like Jack has four letters in his name.” This year, at school, we have tested out a few ways to get our children to sign in each morning. Our young threes may not grasp all the letters in their name, but we still encourage them to “make their mark.” We want them to know that their name is important, and also that we are glad they came to school.All good artists will want their name on their artwork and all teachers need a way to remember whose artwork belongs to who. So, we like to encourage our children to put their name or make their mark on all of the art work that they do in class. This is also something that you could do at home.
Explain the meaning of words
When you write out to her and she asks you the meaning of a word, the worst you could do is to ignore her. Always pause, explain the word, and give her examples of other instances where the word can be used. You could also ask her to come up with her own set of examples.
Spelling out words
If she has to write it down, she has to know it. So, always emphasise on spelling out words when she’s writing. If you haven’t taught her spellings properly, there’s no point in forcing her to write. Making multiple mistakes, might drive her away from writing.
Encourage reading
Having a strong vocabulary, and an ability to write down her thoughts, feelings, and emotions, is important for her to be driven towards writing. This can happen, only when she reads a lot. So make sure you drive her towards nursing the habit of reading.
Activities-based learning
Your child gets a hang of writing only when she’s been practising it consistently. But if you get her to trace over the same pages of her cursive writing book, and indulge in similar activities, she’s soon to be bored. Think up some fun activities she could indulge in and let her play games like word building, by writing out words.
Make it fun
Include writing as an inevitable, but fun part of your day. Encourage her to write anything she likes. Even simple games like name, place, animal, thing, could help her learn to write, while having fun.