How to Make Writing Fun
Wish your kids loved to write? These six creative steps can help kids enjoy creative writing, as well as instill in them a love for writing that will last for years! Sponsored by Night Zookeeper.
My middle daughter is the most creative kid I know. She is always coming up with stories and ideas and plans!
However, getting her to write down those ideas in her daily journal was always a bit of a struggle. No matter what I tried, I just couldn’t seem to get her excited about writing.
Since we are homeschooling, I have to figure out how to make sure that my daughter is learning all the writing skills she needs. It would also be nice if it was something she enjoyed!
When the awesome folks at Night Zookeeper reached out to us and asked if we wanted to try out a subscription to their creative writing platform, I jumped at the chance! Maybe this would finally get my daughter into writing!
The result far surpassed my modest expectations…my daughter starting asking to play Night Zookeeper every single day. And she even started writing journal entries in her notebook on her own…without my prompting!
Our experience with Night Zookeeper changed the way I looked at teaching writing to my child. In the few short weeks we’ve been using the program, I’ve seen a drastic improvement not only in my daughter’s writing abilities, but in her attitude towards writing as well!
Keep reading to learn more about why we love Night Zookeeper, a special discount code for 50% off a yearly subscription, plus 6 tips to help kids learn to write better.
6 Ways to Make Writing Fun
Night Zookeeper is a big part of our homeschool approach to improving writing skills. However, there are other things that I’ve found helpful as well.
Here are some of the things we’re doing in our family homeschool to make writing more fun and productive.
1. Read
Even though writing used to be a bit of a battle, my daughter has always loved to read! The good news is that reading builds the foundation for writing.
Reading helps improve writing skills by:
- Building vocabulary and grammar
- Exposing kids to different styles and sentence structures
- Improving comprehension
- Provides an example of good writing
In addition, reading shows kids the ends results of writing — a fabulous book! As a child, I always wanted to be an author…I couldn’t think of anything cooler than writing your own book!
Reading can instill a love of words that lasts a lifetime, as well as getting kids excited about writing them!
2. Make a Writing Space
Creating a special space just for writing makes it more enjoyable. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a full homeschool room — your child’s writing area could be a desk tucked away in a quiet corner.
Think of it like a writing center that you often find in an elementary classroom. (Which was one of my favorite things about elementary school!) Stock your writing station with all the tools young writers might need: pens, pencils, composition notebooks, crayons for illustrating, etc.
When planning a writing space, look for somewhere that is comfortable, well-lit, and free from distractions.
3. Utilize Technology
I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical that a computer program would translate into better writing with pencil and paper. However, after just a couple sessions of Night Zookeeper’s online creative writing platform, my daughter’s journal writing was noticeably improved.
So was her overall attitude! I didn’t have to beg her to write a daily journal…she would start writing on her own! Happily!
I also didn’t have to ask my daughter to log on to Night Zookeeper…she asked me almost every single day! “Mom, can I play Night Zookeeper? Please?!” When my kid ASKS me if they can do schoolwork, that is a total win in my book!
More on Night Zookeeper in a bit…plus a discount code JUST for my readers so your family can try it out too!
4. Incorporate Their Interests
My daughter currently has a bit of an obsession with Corgis. She spends a lot of time collecting Corgi toys and planning for getting her own real dog someday. What better to write about that something she loves?
Writing practice doesn’t have to be all about essays! If your kid loves comics, they could create their own comic strip or comic books. When I was a kid, I was known to write a short play or movie script quite often and then bring them to life with our family camcorder.
When your kids loves something, there won’t be any frustration in getting them to do it. And writing practice can take on so many different forms. Think outside the box!
5. Provide Positive Feedback
A little encouragement goes a long way! It’s so important that we notice and acknowledge our kids’ efforts. They want to make us proud! The best positive reinforcement is praise, and it is easy and free to give!
6. Be Consistent
We make writing a part of our daily routine, through journaling. Every day, I ask my daughter to write a page in her journal. It can be an account of something that happened recently or a work of fiction. The subject isn’t as important as the fact that she’s writing!
Once kids get into the habit, they won’t want to skip a part of their daily routine! Though we do take breaks on the weekend of course. Occasional “brain breaks” are just as important as daily practice!
What is Night Zookeeper?
Night Zookeeper is an award winning creative writing platform that helps improve the writing skills of 5-12+ year olds.
Students create and build their their own night zoo and fill it with magical creatures that they get to design themselves. This is my daughter’s favorite part, as she seems to have endless ideas for new animals! Along the way kids face challenges and play games, to keep their zoo safe.
How it Works
When your child logs onto the platform, they have the opportunity to play spelling and word-building games, complete short writing challenges, as well as many other personalized activities. Everything is tailored to your child’s writing level and is designed to help them learn new skills and progress.
When your child creates a new animal, this opens up a dialogue with the game’s characters. These are essentially writing prompts, asking your child to create an “Animal Report” for their zoo animal.
While writing an animal report, your child will be given goals to achieve, such as “write at least 40 words” or “use two adjectives.” These goals will vary for each animal report and help create good writing habits. It’s effective practice that doesn’t feel like work!
Once your child submits their animal report, it is reviewed by a member of the Night Zookeeper team. They provide feedback to your child and ideas to spark creativity for future writing assignments.
This is one of my favorite aspects of Night Zookeeper: feedback from real tutors, but on your own schedule! Night Zookeeper is self-paced — your child can login anytime and work as much as they like.
On the Night Zookeeper platform, your child can also choose to play daily challenges or games. These might be focused on spelling, word recognition, or learning synonyms, among other topics. Again, all are so much fun that my daughter wanted to play (and learn!)
Night Zookeeper covers the full LA curriculum, so it is perfect for homeschooling, enrichment, or to give your child extra practice to help them keep up with their class.
What is LA Curriculum?
LA stands for Language Arts. Sometimes you may see it written as “English Language Arts” or ELA curriculum. The goal of LA Curriculum is to help students become proficient readers and writers.
Benefits of Using Night Zookeeper
In addition to the fun activities and games detailed above, there are many more awesome benefits to the Night Zookeeper platform:
- Improved Core Writing Skills
- Personalised Feedback from a dedicated team of tutors
- Weekly Lessons that incorporate interactive video elements and games to teach your children key skills.
- Publishing Opportunities and weekly competitions with real life prizes!
- FREE Monthly Educational Printables
- Parent dashboard to view student’s progress
Night Zookeeper has helped over 1 million children from kindergarten on up, to develop their writing, reading and creative thinking skills. The skills they learn as younger kids will carry on and make the writing process easier as they transition into high school. It’s never too late to start!
Turn your reluctant writers into kids who LOVE to write!
I can’t recommend Night Zookeeper enough! But the best way to find out for yourself is to try it, and you can do that for free with the 7-day trial below:
DEAL ALERT: Sign up for a 7-day FREE trial with my link and you’ll get 50% off the yearly subscription if you decide to continue with the program.
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