Inspiring children to write

Children are wonderfully creative.  It is inbuilt in them given the chance.  Just turn off the TV and give them a few cushions, a blanket and a sofa and suddenly their world is transformed into a treacherous sea filled with piranha fish or crocodiles.  They become brave sailors discovering a  mysterious island and evil sea pirates seeking revenge. Within this imaginative world, the floor is the sea, the sofa the island and the cushions the crocodiles and they jump and laugh and suggest new ideas to each other and the game evolves with ever more exciting inventions and they become caught up in it and time flies until, as a parent, you have had enough of the noise and mess in your living room.  But in that time, they have learnt how to listen and cooperate, they have been active and physical and they have been totally absorbed by their creativity.  A child's world can be an exciting place when we let it.

I am an English teacher who loves writing, particularly creative writing, and a mother with 3 children.  This is my first blog.  I want it to be a creative writing blog.  I'm not sure at this stage what the content will be yet, perhaps it will just evolve.  There may be book reviews open for comments. There may be short stories or extracts of longer pieces of writing.  There may be points of view about different aspects of writing.  Or it could simply be a forum for other people to write anything creative or anything about creative writing.  I hope it will be open and non judgemental.

The reason why I started this with a description of children and their creativity, is that they do have a wonderful imagination.  As an English teacher, I have read some children's creative writing and have been impressed by their ideas.  However, sometimes it can be hard for children to get those ideas down on paper, just as it can be hard for me too.  We write things when we feel motivated and inspired, then it flows and it's exciting.  So, here's a question.  How can we as teachers or parents help children who find it hard to write, get their imaginations down on paper?

Something to mull over for next time.