A Fun Writing Exercise

This can be fun if you are doing a unit on poetry and want to encourage your students to think descriptively. Chances are the end result will be silly but that is what makes it fun.

Have your student(s) cut a blank sheet of paper into approximately 25 slips. Next they will write short phrases on the papers. For example: The spotted dog, The fluffy pillow, The short boy with brown hair, etc.

Next have them make up about 15 slips of paper with verbs and adverbs such as: swang the bat wildly, ran after the ball, jumped from the swing carelessly.

Now, this is more fun the more children you have adding to the creative pile. All of the slips get turned face down and each child gets to choose until all are gone. Making sure that they get equal amounts of descriptive phrases and then everyone getting verbs.

Have them write a poem or paragraph using the papers they have chosen as the base. They are allowed to add a word here and there to smooth it out but you must be able to tell that it came from the papers that they have chosen.

It is good for a laugh every time and helps to break up the monotony of daily writing exercises.

This helps your child develop the ability to naturally use adjectives and look at the things around them differently.

Hope you have some fun with this. If you do it let me know. I would love to see some of the things your kids come up with.

Becky K.