Here are suggestions and ideas on ways to inspire your child to enjoy writing in its various forms. We start with emergent writing and move on to more advanced planning up to writing about Shakespeare. Most of the early writing skills will progress from colouring, to pencil skills, and then to pen. Children should use computer skills to enhance their work at all stages. At the bottom of the writing page we have added some fiction ideas as the reading of books and poetry helps stimulate the imagination, increase vocabulary and gives ideas for the different forms of story writing needed as children approach secondary school and beyond.

The worksheets featured are examples of the wide range of English advice and guidance available to members of Parents in Touch.

Emergent writing

Emergent writing refers to a child's early attempts to use print in a meaningful way. It helps children master some of the skills needed to learn to read and write.All these pages arise from adults and children talking together about a story or nursery rhyme. Reading stories to your child helps their concentration and imagination. Your child's vocabulary and writing skills can be improved by creating a different story on a theme.

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	Ideas for start of writing and literacy	Cafe menu	Weekend activities

Development of reading, writing and understanding

Here are some ideas to help you inspire your child. It is often a good idea to spend some time to discuss ideas before they put pen to paper. This can be fun and the children need to feel very proud of the outcomes.

	Patterned language	KS1 English revision paper Dragons	Winnie the Pooh	Tom's diary-writing
	How to stimulate your child to write stories	Learning to write in sentences	Fish in the sea-Key stage 1 writing task Free Download	KS1 writing task Patch's diary
	English ideas for Year 1	Writing - teaching	Writing tasks at KS1	Big writing Free Download
	Christmas writing for Years 1 and 2

Story ideas

The story ideas below are included to encourage the ability to describe and convey feelings, emotions and imagination through different forms of creative writing.

	Write this story about a cat	The fireman story	Party stories - story writing	Up in the sky storyboard
	Mind maps and how to use them	Jungle adventure writing	Under the sea storyboard Free Download	Thank you letter
	Write a pirate story	The story board of animals	Storymat 5	Little Red Riding Hood Free Download
	Helpful, helpful, helpful - KS 1	Happy, happy, happy - Key stage1 creative writing	Eating, eating, eating - story writing	Laugh, laugh, laugh - writing story
	Writing ideas for Year 2

English exercises

	KS1 exercise in English	A shorter writing task with guidelines	Shorter writing task Year 3-mice	KS1 English longer writing task 2
	KS1 Longer writing task 2 - the best game	The thunderstorm	Brighten up your writing	Writing a book review Free Download
	Year 3 English practice	KS2 English comprehension and essay revision

Poetry helps writing skills too. See our poetry worksheets.

More story writing ideas

Below we have included a selection of ideas, headings, and beginnings of stories to encourage use of imagination, increase your child's range of vocabulary and to enjoy story writing.

	My space journal	My amazing journey -story writing	Story starter 5-the inventor	How shopping habits have changed
	Story starter 2	Story starter 3	Story starter 4	Planet Dartius-story writing
	Revision English KS2 story writing	Story ideas for 8, 9 & 10 year olds	KS2 specimen English exam 2007	A longer writing task KS2 with guidelines
	Key stage 2 shorter writing task	Year 3 optional English reading paper	A Pacific island	Mercury and the axe-comprehension
	Working with others	KS2 English SATS-type Animals	Revision tips on story wrting	Letters from around the world Free Download
	Creative writing: stories with a moral	Descriptive writing - characters

Some children think logically and therefore find factual writing easier than creative. It is necessary to be able to do both, so we have included some factual writing examples below.

	Thank you letter	Letter writing	The Egyptian Echo	Book review 2
	A shorter writing task with guidelines	How to make a cheese sandwich	School match report
	How to make a cup of tea	Letter writing topic	Magazine for teenagers

Children often enjoy writing postcards and actually posting them!

	Postcards for you to send	Postcard about new pet	Postcard for school trip	Postcard on Camping trip
	Postcard to Grandmother

Fiction

Here are some passages from well known fiction books which can be used to encourage reading and understanding.

	Harry Potter	The machine gunners	Lord of the flies	Charlotte's web
	The wreck of the Zanzibar	Bill's new frock Free Download	Charlie and the chocolate factory Free Download	Cliffhanger
	Jabberwocky	Katie Morag	Grandpa Chatterji	Goodnight Mr Tom
	Tom's midnight garden	The wind in the willows	Roald Dahl activities	Street Child
	The midnight fox	There's a boy in the girls' bathroom	The angel of Nitshill Road

 Click here for KS3 English pages