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How to Write Autobiographies With Children

Writing an autobiography can be a helpful way to teach children to relay their own life experiences and tell stories. Writing an autobiography is also a useful tool for teaching chronological story telling as well as sentence and paragraph formation. Choosing an autobiography as a writing task can help you engage students in a project, as it bears a personal connection to them. Younger children may need help with the physical writing involved in the task, but they will still benefit from the story-telling lesson.

Things You'll Need

  • Paper
  • Pencil
  • Photographs
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Instructions

    • 1

      Instruct the children to write their names on a piece of paper.

    • 2

      Instruct the children to write or -- if the children are still new to reading and writing -- write for them about the basic details of their lives. This would include their parents' names, where they were born, the schools they attended, and the names of other family members.

    • 3

      Ask the children to choose three major, memorable events in their lives. This could include their first day of school, a dance recital, their favorite holiday or a family vacation. Write them down on the brainstorming paper.

    • 4

      Help the students craft complete sentences that relay their life experiences as they interpret them, in chronological order, on a separate sheet of paper.

    • 5

      Send the children home to gather family photographs to accompany their autobiographies.

    • 6

      Instruct the students to write captions that correlate to the photos. For example, they could write, "In this photo, I am at Disney World with my family."

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Nonfiction

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