Summer Writing Activities to Keep Your Student’s Skills Sharp

While summer vacation should feel like a break, it’s important to sprinkle in some educational activities to avoid summer learning loss. Below, we’ve compiled ten entertaining writing activities that you can use to keep your child’s skills sharp. So grab a pencil and some paper and let the summer writing begin!

10 Fun Summer Writing Activities

1) Design a Travel Brochure

Are you taking a vacation this summer? Have your children design a travel brochure that highlights a favorite city, tourist spot, or other destination. Encourage them to use photos, illustrations, and maps. Make sure they include sensory details about the features of the place. What a great, lasting souvenir!

2) Write Reflection Memories

Sort through family photos with your children and have them choose a favorite that has good memories associated with it. Invite them to write a story, reflection, or journal about the photo, focusing on the specific details that made the day or event so meaningful. Pre-writers can dictate their ideas to you while you write them down.

3) Journal About Art

Look through an art book, visit a museum, or browse an online art collection with your children. In particular, look for a painting that seems to tell a story.

Once they find one they especially love, ask questions, such as:

• What’s going on in this picture?
• What details do you notice?
• What do you think the artist is trying to say in this picture?

Have your children brainstorm a list of words, phrases, or ideas that the painting suggests. Then, invite them to write a story inspired by what’s happening in the picture.

4) Write New Endings to Favorite Stories

Gather a few picture books and read them aloud together, but don’t read the last few pages. Instead, have your child write their own ending. If your child is familiar with the story and can’t seem to think of a new way to end it, try reading a book that’s new to them. After they write a new ending, compare their ending with the actual ending and discuss the differences.

5) Make an Inchie Book

Who doesn’t love miniature things? Combine arts and crafts with writing and encourage your kids to turn their tiny stories into tiny books!

6) Design Birthday Cards

Will your children be invited to a birthday party this summer? Plan ahead and gather supplies so they can create a homemade birthday card.

Younger children require little more than construction paper, markers, and your encouragement to write a sentence or two. Older children who prefer pens and cardstock can be challenged to write a paragraph about why the birthday kid is such a special friend.

7) Author a Play

Writing a short play can be a non-threatening activity because the pieces of dialogue are usually just one or two sentences. Have each child choose a character name (“King,” “Court Jester,” “Royal Pet Parrot”), and let someone decide on a corresponding storyline. They can then take turns writing the lines for their characters. When the script is finished, make copies for each child and let the play-acting begin!

8) Send Pen Pal Letters

Help keep those letter-writing skills sharp with real-life pen pal practice! If your kids can’t think of someone to correspond with, consider these ideas:

• Does your child have family members or friends who live in another state or country? Encourage them to develop a stronger relationship through letter-writing.

• Homesick soldiers love to receive and send mail! Do you know a family whose son or daughter is deployed overseas?
• Does your family sponsor a child? They may not be able to write back often, but they’ll certainly enjoy reading a letter from your kids!

You have more contacts and acquaintances than your children do, so don’t be afraid to find potential pen pals and suggest them to your children.

9) Create Book Journals

Since reading and writing go hand-in-hand, we hope reading is on your family’s list of summertime priorities! From time to time, invite your kids to reflect on a book (or chapter) they just read. This activity isn’t meant to be a book report. Rather, encourage them to choose one of these book journal prompts and run with it!

• I can’t believe ­­­­­­­­­______ (character) ­­­­­­­­­______ (did what). I think that was a ­­­­­­­­­______ idea because…
• When ­­­­­­­­­______ happened, it made me feel ­­­­­­­­­______ because…
• My favorite character is ­­­­­­­­­______ because…
• I have three questions about what I just read. First, I wonder why ­­­­­­­­­______.
• I would / wouldn’t like to visit the setting where this book takes place
  because…
• I would / would not recommend this book to ­­­­­­­­­______ (name of friend) because…
• My favorite part of the story happened when…
• I didn’t like the part where ­­­­­­­­­______ because…

10) Try StoryBuilders Writing Prompts

The printable WriteShop StoryBuilders make great writing prompts and set kids off on a story-writing adventure with humorous or inspiring ideas like these:

• A reluctant moose travels deep into the jungle in a time machine. 
• Everything goes wrong for the competitive gymnast on the miniature golf course.
• Disaster strikes while a nervous explorer is in a cave.

This should be a low-pressure writing experience for most children, but younger or reluctant writers may get stressed at the thought of writing more than a few sentences. To keep things relaxing and enjoyable, let them dictate their stories to you as you write or type.