Fun With Mad Libs

Do you remember Mad Libs? You had to think of adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverbs and other parts of speech and at the end, you had a hilarious story that was sure to end in a fit of giggles. Not only is it lots of fun, but its one of those educational activities when they don’t actually realize they are learning something or enforcing something in their minds. Did you know that you don’t have to actually spend the money on the Mad Lib books from the store? You can actually create your very own using paper and a pen, or … Continue reading →

Acrostic Poem Fun

Here’s another writing activity that children love – because it’s all about them. It’s good for increasing vocabulary and making decisions and getting to know yourself and each other. It’s also easy, quick and fun. Acrostic poems are a word written vertically, so that each letter has its own separate line. An example for a child named Danny would be: D A N N Y Then, the fun starts as you try to think of a word for each letter in that name. Ideally each word would describe that person. “D” could be Danny, or Dinosaurs or Darling. You can … Continue reading →

Blogging Your Baby

In 2005, I received a beautiful journal, complete with leather covering, as a Christmas present from my wife. She bought it for me because I mentioned that I wanted to write a bit about my experiences as a father and have a conversation with my daughter. I did not begin to make entries until May of 2006, and they were sporadic at best. Then within a month or two I had stopped completely. I stared at it every day on my dresser, but the guilt was not enough to pick it up and write. How lazy can I possibly be? … Continue reading →

That’s Good – That’s Bad Writing Game

Do your kids ever tell each other those “that’s good – that’s bad” jokes? My kids love them. I found 100 dollars! That’s good. It was only Monopoly money. That’s bad. Here is a writing game based on those jokes. You start with a sentence like “I went to the zoo” or “I found an alligator” or “I lost my penguin”. Once you give the starter sentence, then you and the kids take turns coming up with either something that is good, or something that is bad. You can use a spinner or dice from a board game to make … Continue reading →

Writing Fun

Writing projects can be a fun thing for a family to do together. Writing skills are something that schools test for and emphasize these days. My boys are all supposed to keep journals for school. They also have to write papers, book reports, essays and short stories. Here’s a few ways to help writing time be fun. Sometimes coming up with the ideas for stories is the hardest part. I like to use story dice. You can either build your own paper dice, or put stickers on extra dice. On each side of the dice the kids can write people, … Continue reading →

Writing Letters: Is it a Lost Art Form?

Few people take the time to write letters or even notes any more. Since we have so much great and handy technology, it’s just simpler to communicate in real time via cell phones, email, and the like, as described in “Do the Holidays Make you Homesick?” This article mentioned how nice it is to also receive letters in return. Two of my girls have pen pals, friends from school who moved away. One has been writing faithfully for 3-4 years, which impresses me. I haven’t kept up as well with my own friends, at least not by letter. My other … Continue reading →

Send Secret Messages

Every child likes to pretend to be a spy and send secret messages. The idea that what you are writing can only be read by someone else who knows the secret is too hard to resist. As a child we often sent each other secret messages or mailed them to our cousins. It was as fun to write the message as it was to receive it. So try these cool ways to send secret messages with your kids. Invisible Ink To write it you will need: Lemon juice Bowl Paper Paintbrush or Q-tip Directions: Pour some lemon juice into a … Continue reading →

Insane Writing Prompts

Do your kids lag in the area of writing? When I was little, I remember my father getting out the ruler and a stack of clean paper. He’d painstakingly line the paper with spacious, straight rows, then hand me a sharpened pencil and ask, “Now, what would you like to tell Grandma today?” Okay, I’m a professional writer, so he must have done a good job, even though I was sure at the time he would warp me for life. However, my kids would buck like wild donkeys if I made them write more than one or two letters a … Continue reading →