Looking for some ideas to engage children in writing? Check out some of our favourite, fun writing activities for KS1 children!
Salt trays are a great alternative to writing on the traditional pencil and paper and supports early writers in letter formation. Start by laying out some trays on a table, then line each tray with coloured paper and cover with a generous layer of salt.
Lay out letters or words on the table for children to choose and challenge them to write the words in their salt tray. These word cards could be linked to a particular subject or topic, or even tricky words that children need to practise.
An easy but fun activity that will get children active and moving around the classroom. Choose the words you would like children to find, these could be words that when used together can make a sentence or link to the genre of writing you are teaching at the time, such as time conjunctions for instruction writing.
Hide the words around the classroom and set children to work. Can they collect words and use them to form a sentence?
Give children different story dice to support them in writing their own story, including where the story is set and what characters they might come across.
Give children different settings such as the rainforest, Santa's grotto, a fairground or a swimming pool. Ask children to describe the scene and write what they would see, hear, smell, feel or touch in the setting. Children could be challenged to guess which setting the person next to them chose based on their senses description.
What would happen if Winnie the Pooh entered the story of the Gruffalo? Or if Winnie the Witch entered the story of Peter Rabbit? Think of some stories that are familiar to the children and tell them that the characters have wandered into the wrong storylines! Can children write an alternative storyline for each character?
Give children a variety of scenarios and ask them to write a description of what they would do in each situation. What would you do if you found an alien under your bed? What would you do if your cat started talking to you? What would you do if you bumped into the Queen in Tesco?
Ask children to write a poem with rhyming words that make no sense.
I had a cat who ate a hat
upon a mat inside my flat
with my tall rat who swung a bat...
Ask children to think of their favourite book character. Challenge them to write an invitation asking them to come to tea. Children’s invitations should include when and where the tea party will take place, what they might eat and activities they might do together.
For more writing activities check out this FREE KS1 writing activity bundle!
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