Improving student writing skills is an important part preparing students for their future education. Use these writing exercises to develop writing skills.

Creative writing tasks are a necessary part of developing good writing skills. Try these simple exercises to improve students ability to express themselves clearly.

Short Creative Writing Activities

Ask students to write a description of themselves. This could include physical appearance, likes and dislikes, hobbies and interests and family information. The descriptions should be sufficiently detailed for someone to identify the student.

Write a letter. The recipient could be a friend, family member, celebrity or public figure such as a politician, sportsperson, actor, singer or author. The letter should be set out correctly and should include an explanation of why the student chose to write to this particular person.

Ask students to write a short description of the action of a novel from the perspective of one of the main characters (but not the narrator or central character). For example Templeton the rat in EB White's Charlotte’s Web [Harper Collins, 2001] would make an interesting character study.

Essay Writing Activities

Write a story about a historical figure appearing suddenly in modern society (eg Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin, Captain Cook, Leonardo da Vinci). Write a dialogue where modern words and items that would not be recognised are explained (mobile phone, computer, television, photocopier etc).

Provide one to two sentences as a springboard for a creative writing exercise. Some examples are:

• He was already tired, but he knew he had to keep running.
• She couldn’t believe her luck. This was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
• I looked up into the sky and noticed that the first star had already appeared.
• We met on the first day of kindergarten.
• The smell of chocolate-chip cookies fresh from the oven always makes me think of...
• The decorations were up and the food was ready. It was time for the party to begin.

Mix and Match Stories. Have a selection of 10 – 15 options each for the main character/perspective, location/time, challenge/complication. Each option can be written on a piece of card and placed in a box for students to draw out or each option can be given a number and students are to randomly select a number for each category. Once they have their three criteria, the can begin their story. Category selections might include:

• Main Character: old lady, nurse, teacher, alien, journalist, artist, teenager
• Location/Time: dawn, school exam, birthday party, lunchtime, forest, shopping centre, spring,
• Challenge: someone is upset, making a decision, someone needs to apologise, someone is missing, someone has been falsely accused, a milestone has been reached, a misunderstanding between friends

Use a photograph, picture from a magazine or newspaper or postcard as inspiration for an essay. Write a description of the setting, why the photo was taken, about the people in the picture etc.

Words to Avoid in Creative Writing Tasks

Students should be reminded that some words are best avoided when writing descriptions because they are too general and imprecise. An excellent class or individual language task is to brainstorm alternatives for the following words:

Said – called, shouted, laughed, cried, chortled, asked, questioned, moaned, whispered, whined, replied

Good/Nice – excellent, appreciated, well-behaved, polite, great, appropriate, well mannered, enjoyable

Bad – disrespectful, naughty, inappropriate, ill-mannered, rude

Like – enjoy, love, prize, care for, respect, approve, agree with

Went (ie I went there) – ran, raced, walked, strolled, meandered, drove, rode

Essay and general creative writing skills improve with practice and perseverance. Varying writing tasks will help students maintain focus and effort as they develop their skills.

Related articles: Word Games for Children; Antonym, Synonym, Homonym, Acronym