Winter can often cause kids to feel restless — the temperatures outside are cold, inclement weather is seemingly around every corner, and little ones are stuck inside. Restless kids have often run out of ideas of how to keep themselves entertained; parents and educators can help by stimulating their imagination and creativity.
Providing children with activities that require creativity through literacy help make dreary winter days fun and educational!
Check out these 3 winter themed writing prompts below!
Snowballs
This prompt offers a fun way to express a playful, snowy day.
- If there is snow outside, take the children out and let them play in it for a little bit.
- Once everyone is back inside, ask the children to explain to you what snow is like.
- Encourage their exploration further with prompts such as “what do snowballs look like?” “What do you do with snow?” “What do snowflakes look like?” “How do you roll a big snowball?” “What does a snowman look like?” Have them write all of their responses.
Ice Castle
No matter where you live, children can create a fantastical tale about an ice castle.
- Show the children images of ice castles. (search “ice castle images”)
- Early Writers can draw a picture of their own magical ice castle. They can add special details by adding labels, captions, or descriptions with scribbles, letters, invented spelling, or words.
- Ready Writers can create stories about the castle and the characters who live there. Guide the children by encouraging descriptive details.
My Snowy Day
Make sparkly snow-day stories!
- Materials needed:
- Blue paper
- Bowls
- Glitter
- Plastic tablecloth or plastic place mats
- Shaving cream
- White glue
- Writing tools
- Make snow paint by mixing together equal parts of white glue and shaving cream. Stir in glitter.
- Spread generous amounts of the sparkly snow paint onto your plastic tablecloth or place mats, and give the children time to play in the “snow.”
- Early Writers can paint a snow scene, it will dry puffy and velvety. Encourage them to write snow stories using words, drawings, and invented spelling to describe their snow scenes.
- Ready Writers can create snow scenes and then write their snowy-day stories. They may wish to write a narrative based on a real-life experience or an imaginary snow story. Encourage them to include a beginning, middle, and end, as well as detail words.
For more story starters check out Playful Writing by Rebecca Olien and Laura Woodside.
