You might have heard of the term 'free writing', or you may not know what it is. But this skill is so beneficial to a child's creativity. Unfortunately, it is not utilised as much in schools, but it should be!
That's why the joys of home learning can allow you to explore this skill. But what is freewriting? And how do you get started?
What is freewriting?
Freewriting is when your child is not given any writing prompts or ideas of what to write about from yourself or a teacher.
They just sit and write whatever they like! It is supposed to encourage your child to tap into their stream of consciousness, they may get inspiration from something that happened that day, or an object they can see in the very room they are writing in, they can write about anything!
I have done this activity with my students before, usually, some are excited to write about anything they like, and especially linguistic learners that enjoy writing. But others who find writing difficult can find it quite nerve-wracking to not be given an idea in the beginning.
Also, as a human being, we tend to underestimate our abilities to persevere through a difficult activity and feel we would not be able to accomplish it.
That's why there are so many benefits to using this activity now and then with your children at home:
Top 11 benefits of free writing for your child
- Increase your child's imagination
Freewriting allows your child to start on a blank canvas, so they have only themselves and the past knowledge to reply on.
Your child might find this daunting at first, but after a while, it can allow their imagination to explore and wander.
And that is when they can get the best ideas!!
- Exercise their brain
As we need to exercise our bodies, we also need to exercise our brains. This activity can help cognitive development, as they are using solely their stream of consciousness.
By the end of the writing activity, it is very normal for them to be mentally exhausted. Or maybe energised to write some more!
- Increase self-confidence
Usually, a child's lack of confidence can affect their progress, and that is the same for their writing. This can be a great time to practice their self-confidence and persevering through a writing task independently.
If they use this as practice, this can help them to perform better under exam conditions.
And help them to stop overthinking their writing, and just write!
- Encourage independence and resilience
When they have gained that self-confidence, then they can practice their independence in starting a task on their own and getting through the difficult hurdles, without the need to be spoon-fed by you.
Therefore, teaching them not to give up when things are hard.
- Develop discipline
Discipline is one of the hardest skills to develop, even adults struggle with this from time to time.
Freewriting can teach your child to commit to the task at hand. They are in control and there is no safety net to rely on
- Helps with problem-solving
Problem-solving is another skill that is vital to develop from as young as infancy. Freewriting can give your child the chance to work out how are they going to structure their writing word by word, sentence by sentence.
- Helps you to identify sequences and patterns in your writing
If you allocate free writing into your homeschool schedule, this can help your child to notice patterns in their writing that they haven't before.
They may get embarrassed at first, but it is always good for your child to be self-aware and not to expect you or their teacher to tell them about their strengths or weaknesses in their writing.
- Reveals ideas and thoughts you weren't aware of before
As your child is working from their stream of consciousness, you don't know what may surface in their writing, and it might surprise them also.
Ensure to monitor their work to make sure everything they are writing about is appropriate and there are no red flags.
- Provides an opportunity to release any thoughts or emotions
It can be very therapeutic and a great way to release any frustration your child might have on paper. Also, it can be a great morning ice breaker or end of day settler.
- A great opportunity to be completely honest
Most teenagers find it hard to open up and be honest with how they feel.
So you are giving them the control to do just that! Where they can be transparent and it may release some necessary stress
- Liberates you from making as many mistakes as you like!
It is so important to teach our children that it is okay to make mistakes, and making mistakes is apart of life.
So let them make as many errors as they like! Make it a safe space for them to fail forward!
So to Conclude,
Top 11 benefits of free writing for your child
- Increase your child's imagination
- Exercise their brain
- Increase self-confidence
- Encourage independence and resilience
- Develop discipline
- Helps with problem-solving
- Helps you to identify sequences and patterns your writing
- Reveals ideas and thoughts you weren't aware of before
- Provides an opportunity to release any thoughts or emotions
- A great opportunity to be completely honest
- Liberates you from making as many mistakes as you like