Encouraging Writing

Strengthen your child’s writing with the ‘name that action’ game

“He walked into the room.” “He strutted into the room.” “He crept into the room.”

All three of those sentences mean more or less the same thing. Somebody came into a room. But the action words—walked, strutted and crept—create a very different picture. Helping your child think about the action word that best paints a picture is one way to help him become a better writer.

The “Name the Action” game is a fun way to do this. It can work for a group of kids, or for those days when the family is cooped up indoors.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Collect small slips of paper and on each one, write a verb that describes a precise action. Here are some to get you started: skip, hop, stomp, tiptoe, limp, crawl. You might take a day or two to come up with your list. This is a good activity when you’re riding in the car.
2. The first player draws a slip of paper. Then he acts it out as well as he can.
3. The other players try to guess the word. Whoever guesses the word gets to go next.

As kids get older, the words can get harder. How would you show that someone strolled into the room? How would they burst into the room?

When your child is writing, remind him of this game. Instead of writing, “he said,” help him think of other words that would describe that action. Did he whisper? Snarl? Shout? Choosing the right descriptive verb will help your child’s writing really come alive.

Reprinted with permission from the December 2007 issue of Parents make the difference!® (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2007 The Parent Institute®, a division of NIS, Inc. Source: Harvey S. Wiener, Any Child Can Write, ISBN: 0-195-15316-2 (Oxford University Press, 1-800-445-9714, www.oup.com).