Writing is like basketball. First you learn the basics. After a little practice you try more complicated plays. Practice some more. But the most important thing is the rebound.

A rebound in basketball is when a player took a shot and missed and another player grabbed the ball and now has a chance to score. What many people do not realize is that rebounds are nearly as important as points. More rebounds mean more opportunities for your team to score.

And you do it over and over until your achieve your goal. In basketball, you must get off the bench to get better. Same with writing.

Often, parents and teachers pass over writing lessons. One of the main reasons is they say they don't have time. But writing is an invaluable resource. And you don't need that much time! Make a little time for writing each week, even better each day, and you will see results in many areas of your children's lives!

Writing skills are absolutely essential to form a solid educational foundation in children.

Their vocabulary will increase, creating more neural pathways in their brains, which makes them smarter and able to understand more complex ideas and problems. They will have more confidence reading and speaking. And their creativity will increase dramatically- which is good for all aspects of their present and future. Writing even improves hand-eye coordination.

Easy and Quick Writing Prompts

Picture This

Post an image. A person on a bus. A cat on a farmhouse porch. Two kids on a street. Have everyone write the story. This is really cool because each story is different!

Musical Pencils

Play an album and ask them to think about the feelings in the music and write a story based around those emotions.

Hats Off

Write a dozen or more of each of the following on strips of paper and place in a hat or jar: Person, place, animal, emotion, color. When you're low on time pick several and write a short story.

Create Your Own Holiday

Kids of all ages love this! They have to name the holiday, describe what it's about and why, and when it is.

What Does it Feel Like to Be Wrong

This will help them examine this. Most children get defensive and angry when they know they're wrong. If they get in touch with this feeling it helps drastically in that regard.

Autobiographical Biography

Ask them "What if someone wrote a book about you? Someone that didn't know you very well- only what they see? What would they write?"

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Whatever you or your children's reason for not writing is, just pick up the ball. You don't need very much time to play the game. Rebound again and again and you'll make great gains in your writing game.

Images via Creative Commons and Pixabay