In Bird Watching with Youngsters, I discussed birds and in another post, Keeping a Bird Watching Journal.  One of the journal activities I mentioned was writing a story or poem about the birds you and your youngsters see.  You/they may want to read some bird stories or poetry first to get an idea of the type of writing you’d like to do.
*Poetry – Your poem can be of any type, rhyming or free verse, about one bird or the numbers of birds you see around your home or on a trip.
*Nature Story – I often wrote these for children’s magazines.  …read more

I got my days mixed up this week and published my Writing Tip on Wed. instead of Sunday!  I must have looked at the wrong calendar, when I was putting dates on my posts.
Anyway…here’s the tip, in case you always look for it on Sunday, my usual Writing Tip day: Using “Mysterious” As a Prompt.  I came across a sentence that Marcie used to explain her Word of the Week and thought it was a great writing prompt, or beginning sentence.
You also can take any interesting or fascinating sentence you come across and use it as a prompt.  Or take …read more

When I read Marcie’s sentence accompanying her Word of the Week, “The historian cannot understand the mysterious inscription on the ancient tomb,” I thought: 
Wouldn’t Marcie’s sentence, using “mysterious,” be perfect for beginning a story. Or you could replace “ancient tomb” with another word…gravestone, basement wall, closet door, rock inside the cave.  Also, replace “historian” with boy, girl, or younster(s)’ name.
What a perfect prompt for a story!  You could do this with many sentences you find in your reading.  Use them as prompts, changing to fit your needs.
(Haunted Tombstones image at Amazon)

Writing Prompt
Here’s a writing prompt I used with youngsters when I was teaching the other day.  They had great fun. 
Put a valentine in the mail box.  Think about its journey on the way to the recipient. 

Where does it go?
What adventures does it encounter?
Does it reach its destination in time?
Will this be a fiction or factual story?
Will you develop it into a mystery?

If you wish cut a piece of lined paper into a heart shape and write your story on it.  When finished, paste to a sheet of red or pink colored paper and make designs around the edges.
Have fun!
(Century …read more