The Writing on the Wall: Getting Kids to Love Words

Do your kids love words? I’ve been working on ways to encourage my kids to explore vocabulary outside of reading books. Yes, we do read books, but literacy extends beyond that. Let’s not forget about making sure our kids enjoy writing, too. I love finding new ways to encourage them to create on their own.

(Note: Affiliate links are included in this post.) In her book, The Write Start, Jennifer Hallissy mentions that it is important not just to think of writing as words in books, but to include writing in playful ways around the home. What could be more playful that writing poetry with words on a wall?

Kiddo received these wonderful giant magnetic words as a gift and then I my dad installed three large magnetic boards in Kiddo’s bedroom. They are great for word play, poetry and other random thoughts. Sometimes I even use them to leave messages for the boys.

Kiddo loves to create silly sentences. One day I found this, which is my favorite so far:

I’ve mentioned several times how much I love Hallisy’s book. I’ve written about a few of her ideas, such as:

•  keeping a ledger
• writing in secret code
• keeping a writing box.

I highly recommend the book and you can read my full review here.

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