Writing prompts can help engage kid's creativity and jumpstart the writing process. Oftentimes it can be difficult to begin writing without a specific idea already in mind, and this can lead to writer's block and frustration. Writing prompts can be broad, such as "write about a dream you once had," or more specific, such as, "write about being at a dinner party with Shakespeare, Helen Keller, and your favorite musician." You can design your own writing prompts or select one from a writing prompt website, such as Creative Writing Prompts or Seventh Sanctum's Story Generator.
Rhyming dictionaries, such as the one found at the Rhyme Zone website, groups words by their rhyme schemes. This can be a useful resource for aspiring poets and help kids become familiar with the rules of poetry. Whenever kids become stuck on a line in a poem, they can access the rhyming dictionary to find a slew of words for inspiration. For example, typing "rose" into the rhyming dictionary yields words such as "blows, pose, and clothes." The search engine can be organized to include phrases along with the word and to find words with the same amount of syllables.
The A Game a Day website provides a free word game, puzzle or teaser for every day of the year. These fun, quick games encourage kids to think about the intricate patterns of words and can be used as quick warm up exercises to engage their brains before working on writing assignments. Games come in both easy and advanced versions.
National Novel Writing Month, or NanoWrimo, is an event in November in which writers attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. The NanoWrimo Young Writers Program operates under a similar concept, except that kids in the Young Writer's Program can set their own wordcount goals for the month. Attempting to write a novel in a month can help kids to gain confidence in their writing abilities and learn to create a creative manuscript that they can be proud of. Kids can register at the NanoWrimo Young Writers Program website for free and track their word count goals online.