top of page
Coming Soon!
A Creative Writing Course for Children.
Suitable for all budding writers
Groups for years 3 & 4 and 5 & 6
This course is designed to get children excited about the power of their imaginations and their own story-making potential.
The course is delivered over 10 one hour sessions, as follows:
WEEK ONE
Idea Catching & the Art of the Daydream
In this session we will explore questions like:
Where do ideas come from?
How do you know when you've got one?
What do you do with one when you've found one?
We find out how famous children's books like Where The Wild Things Are and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory first started out, and what happened to grow them into the stories we know and love.
WEEK TWO
Inventing New Characters & Getting to Know Them
In this session we will find out about ways to dream up our very own unique characters.
Then we will spend some time getting to know them a little, so we can really bring them to life.
We will explore questions like:
What do they look like?
How do they sound?
How do they feel? How do they act?
And most importantly of all...What do they want?
WEEK THREE
The Power of the '"What If" Question
What would happen if. talking cats took over the world?
What if you shrank in the bath and got washed down the plug hole?
What if, on your school trip, your bus got a little lost and you ended up on a faraway planet?
In this session we will explore the story-making power of asking ourselves "What if...?"
WEEK FOUR
The Shape of a Story
In this session we will explore what ingredients are needed to make a satisfying story.
We will find out how people have been telling the same sorts of stories since the dawn of time.
We will find out about some of the best loved plot shapes and discover the ones we each love the most as readers and writers.
WEEK SIX
Words and Pictures
In this session we will explore questions like:
How do you tell a story through words and pictures?
Can you tell a story without any words at all?
What happens when the words and the pictures each tell you something different?
We discuss the differences between picture books, comic books and graphic novels, and explore how visual aspects like colour choices, page turns and layouts can all help us to tell a story.
WEEK FIVE
Wonderful Words
Have you ever noticed that some words are just more, well, wonderful than others?
Funny words like hullabaloo, shenanigans, balloon and wobble?
Tickly words like feather, buzz and whisper?
Heavy words like thud and mud?
In this session we explore the joy of words. We will discover the words that we each love the best, and have a go at making up even more amazing NEW words.
WEEK SEVEN
Turning a Phrase to Catch the Light*
Once we have imagined what happens in a story we need start to tell it.
But there are so many ways we could do that!
In this session we will experiment with trying out as many different ways as we can to express an idea.
We will explore the benefits of messy first drafts and the importance of letting go of our fear of making mistakes.
(*quote from Clive Anderson)
WEEK EIGHT
Plots and Planning
In this session we will explore how writing a story can be like going on a journey, and how mapping out our story before we set out can help make sure we don't get lost in the fog!
WEEK NINE
Writing by the Seat of Your Pants
In this session we will explore how writing without any plan at all, just seeing which way the wind takes us, can result in incredible stories that can really surprise us.
Find out which sort of writer you are - a planner, a writer who flies by the seat of their pants, or a mixture of the two?
WEEK TEN
Reading as Rocket Fuel
In this session we will celebrate our favourite authors and illustrators and find out what the books we love to read tell us about the stories we should write.
We will also be celebrating all the stories we have written over the past weeks, which we will take home in our own 'author portfolio'.
bottom of page