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Quick Ideas To Supercharge Creativity.

Parent help guide.

Date : 03/10/2017

Author Information

Paul

Uploaded by : Paul
Uploaded on : 03/10/2017
Subject : English

Writing is a complex task that requires a range of different skills. Whilst procedural skills, such as spelling, grammar, vocabulary and punctuation can be easily quantified, measured and taught, creativity is less easily defined. 

The procedural elements, as outlined above, are of course essential, but without being underpinned by creativity, your child will still lack the imaginative landscape upon which to apply them successfully.

Here are a couple of quick ideas that can help you to improve your child`s creativity and imagination, that require little if any equipment or preparation. I have lots more of these, many of which I use during my sessions and give to parents to try out with their children:

  1. Mute the television. Sit down with your child and watch a short film extract, or other programme. Try to find one that features real characters interacting, rather than an animation. Turn the activity into a game with your child. Try to guess what each character might be saying based on their facial expressions or body language. Ask your child to justify their ideas. For example, if they say the elderly lady is angry, get them to articulate clearly why they thought this. Model this yourself too. You will find that this translates really well when your child needs to think up or describe characters in their writing. Rather than simply stating "The old lady was angry," which is quite a weak descri ption, they might say "The old ladies lips were pressed together in a straight line and her eyes were narrowed in anger."
  2. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe. Legend has it that when C. S. Lewis first wanted to write his now famous children`s book, he flicked through a dictionary and randomly chose one or more of the three nouns in the title. Why not do the same with your child, in this fun activity. Sit together and take turns to randomly flick through a children`s dictionary, choosing three random nouns. You then challenge each other to think of a very short story or long sentence that incorporates each of the three nouns. For example, I just did this and came up with `Pencil,` `Car,` and `Trousers.`  So my story is about a man who hears an annoying squeak when he drives his car. The squeak is driving him crazy as it only happens on certain days. Every time he hears the noise, he writes down the time and place in his diary using his pencil. Eventually he looks at his notes and notices that the noise only happens when he is wearing a certain pair of trousers. He goes and gets the trousers and discovers the brass buckle on the belt is what is making the annoying noise! The challenge of this game is to use the words you are given without making it too obvious which ones they are. As an exciting twist another adult or member of the family, who doesn`t know which words were selected can listen to the story and try to guess. Adding a time limit really helps to sharpen focus and is great to simulate exam pressure.

This resource was uploaded by: Paul