How to Make Writing Fun for Kids at Any Level- My 3 Tips

If you’re like most teachers I’ve been talking to… you want to know how to make writing fun for your students. However, you have kids at a WIDE variety of writing levels in your classroom (or if you’re a parent homeschooling with multiple kids, you’re in the same boat!).

You’re just ONE person… and it can feel challenging to plan and meet the needs of every single kid. Some of them may be able to barely write their letters… while others are writing full paragraphs.

This is where differentiation comes in! Here are a few ideas for how to make writing FUN so even struggling writers will be excited (plus tips for differentiation with each tip).

How to make writing fun tip #1: Instead of a “writing” assignment… turn the lesson into something even more exciting altogether so they don’t even realize that WRITING is the goal!

There are so many ways to do this- such as having kids write letters to their favorite celebrity, tell you about their favorite characters, etc. However, my favorite way to do this right now is with our Secret Student Writing Activities.

These secret student writing activities are a fun and engaging way to help your students build their writing skills. The secret student writing prompts also promote kindness and build classroom community while celebrating the holidays and seasons all year round. Each month, students will be assigned another student to write to. The activities each include a new holiday or seasonal theme such as:

• Back To School Introductions Secret Student Activity
• Halloween “BOO” Secret Student Writing
• Thankful Turkey Secret Student Writing
• Secret Santa Writing Activity
• Friendly Snowman Secret Student Activity
• Secret Valentine Secret Student Activity
• Sneaky Leprechaun Secret Student Activity
• Some-“BUNNY” is Looking Out For You
• End of Year Memories and Awards Secret Student Activity

Each kid is assigned another student to write to with writing prompts. The activities are naturally differentiated because the students will write at their own levels. Three differentiated writing pages are included as well, so you can choose which is best for your class or use a mix as you see fit. Like I said, each kid will write at their own level for this activity, but since it’s so fun it will get even the kid who gets the most anxious about writing excited about it.

How to make writing fun tip #2: Having kids fix sentences daily is a great way to get them writing while ALSO improving their grammar skills.

Our BRAND NEW 36 Weeks of Fixing Sentences is a great way to do this with daily practice- and we have a variety of grade levels to choose from so you can differentiate.

With the 36 Weeks of Fixing Sentences, each day of the week will have a sentence to practice correcting. Some sentences can have more than one way to correct them which provides an opportunity for discussion with your students. Everything is already created for you, so all you have to do is print and you’re ready to not only teach but to make your kids more excited to write.

To differentiate, you can either pick the grade levels your students need or join Wife Teacher Mommy Club to have access to EVERY level for differentiation. And for those who aren’t ready for grammar practice yet, we’ve created the BRAND NEW 36 Weeks of Phonemic Awareness, too!

How to make writing fun tip #3: Use Engaging Holiday Writing Prompts

You’ll hear me say this over and over, but it’s true. Adding the monthly themes makes writing so much more exciting for kids. They LOVE holidays! Create writing prompts based on which holiday is coming up next.

Here are some of my favorite prompt ideas to make writing fun for the holidays from our monthly sub plans and monthly homeschool lessons:

• Opinion Writing- “Which Halloween Candy Is Best?” (October)
• Informative Writing- “How to Catch a Leprechaun” (March)
• Descriptive Writing- “My Dream Christmas Present” (December)
• Narrative Writing- “The Valentine Monster” (February)

You can easily differentiate using monthly prompts. For example with the prompt, “Which Halloween Candy Is Best?” early writers can just write the name of the candy and draw a picture. For advanced writers, they could write a full argumentative essay on this topic. Everyone writes about the same topic, but you can assign the version of the activity to each student at their level.

Get started today with these writing tips by grabbing these resources!