Get children excited about writing and descriptive language by creating yummy descriptions of their favorite candy.
Kids will love Hink Pinks—word puzzles that use two-word clues to lead to a rhyming solution. Try one and get hooked yourself: Obese feline? Fat cat!
Children learn how to make a convincing argument—an important skill in school and in life.
Writing stories that imitate a certain genre or type of fiction allows children to explore a book they love by imagining new twists for their favorite characters and plot lines.
In this activity, children look closely at living things in their natural environments and then make books about what they see.
Let children explore an interesting subject—themselves. An online tool will teach them to summarize and organize information as they write.
Use shape and theme poems, or poems that look like the things they describe, as a fun way to introduce children to poetry.
Use recipes to help children practice reading and writing step-by-step instructions. Have them sample the results to see how they did.
Use the online Trading Card Creator tool to have children make cards describing their favorite characters from the books on their reading list.
Encourage children to spend a little time thinking and writing about just what makes a hero and who their personal heroes might be.
Let children practice using different types of words in a fill-in-the-blank-story game before making their own word list for a magnetic poetry set.
Explore fairy tales told in both old and new ways and use an online tool to help children create their own "fractured" version of a fairy tale.
Have children explore the different parts of mystery writing by making a puzzle about a favorite book. They can then invent and write their own mysteries using the online Mystery Cube tool.
While enjoying a book that features a journey, children write postcards from the perspective of the main character for each stop along the trip.
Want to visit a museum without leaving your computer? Virtually dig for famous historical artifacts from around the world found in the British Museum.
After reading about historical figures and other important people that have changed the world, children choose someone that they consider to be "amazing"—either someone they've heard about or someone they know—and create a book page that highlights this person.
Brainstorm popular expressions with friends and family, then explore their meanings through game play and writing/drawing/cut-and-paste activities.
Create a treasure hunt out of word-puzzle clues hidden around the home or yard.
Everyone loves getting a greeting card, especially if it's homemade. Make a funny or thoughtful greeting card or invitation with pictures and a poem, joke, or riddle.