Using PLAY to improve Writing - The AMERICAN GIRL

Writing seems to be a tough skill for most children. Actually many adults would confess to not being great writers either. And teaching writing can be an even bigger challenge. I’m not talking the mechanical act of writing… I’m talking about getting words into the form of sentences, paragraphs, dialogue, and pages, with a cohesive feel that accomplishes your purpose and reaches your audience.

 I have found writing is less painful when it is associated with something FUN. Thus I promote writing from PLAY.  (I am in the middle of a series called “Using PLAY to improve Writing.” You can find the videos on my FB page .)

 I know what you’re thinking. How do I use PLAY to address writing?

 First, let me clarify what I mean by writing. It’s any way that I, the writer, communicate what I understand OUT to an audience. It could be a paragraph, a data table, a graph, a visualization, a video, a script, a poster etc. And writing could be informational, story, or persuasive.

 Now, let’s take the specific context of American Girl PLAY and explore writing opportunities from there. This kind of play is most common for girls age 5-10, although I know some boys are now engaging. So, the focus is K-5th writing.

 Before I jump into tons of ideas, let me share that this is some of the work I do with my clients. We use the PLAY of their son or daughter and consider writing opportunities that will develop their specific writing skill needs.

 OK - time to brainstorm

• Mini-books for the AG’s library (stories, informational, procedures etc.)
• AG doll Journal (did that day, events, feel about something)
• Letter or invite to other dolls (address something specific, confront a conflict, invite to a tea party)
• Plan an AG dream vacation (where will she go, how will she get there, what will she do, what will she see etc.)
• Directions on how to care for the AG doll
• A graph showing how the AG doll spends her time (requires understanding of her hobbies and responsibilities)
• Song Lyrics
• Observation Journal
• A speech one of the AG may give at a conference or rally
• Story with AG as the main character (picture book, chapter book)
• Book review of an existing AG book
• Fashion show plans (including outfits and script for the doll’s runway walk)
• Fashion show review
• A poster promoting an AG performance
• A science experiment that her AG performed and what she found
• Discussion between two dolls about a topic
• Dialogue between two dolls where one is convincing the other of something important
• Compare 2 dolls (what they like, how they act, their hobbies)
• Backstory for the AG doll (including family, friends, trips, school etc.)
• Word lists 

This list is a great start. But how do I use it?

You select which you think would interest your daughter… or better yet, ask her which one(s) sound interesting.

Then consider your writing goals for your daughter i.e. improve using descriptive language, increase her range of adjectives, introduce the idea of a thesaurus, write multiple paragraphs, improve writing dialogue, address the concept of audience, address the concept of perspective, increase use of models to understand the type of writing, introduce persuasive writing, pre-writing strategies, moving writing from summary to comparison etc.

Then you put them together and plan a mini-project where your child does some research and planning (different for each kind of writing) and then write. Remind them…

1. All good writers use tools. What tools will help them write for this mini-project?
2. All good writing is revised, so this is just a first draft (which may be all they write and that’s OK). But the concept that writing is revision needs to be planted early.

Writing from a place of PLAY can inspire our children to write. And since writing is so much bigger than just paragraphs and essays, this allows them space to find words, ideas, and kinds of writing they most enjoy.

Try writing from a place of PLAY and come share with us how it went. The good and the frustrating. We can ALL learn from both and then build an even better writing experience for next time. Homeschooling HUB. 

Jill