We went on a fun scavenger hunt the other day that was perfect for Spring. And it was absolutely teeming with writing and reading too!
One of my little ones, who shall remain nameless but is 7, is really struggling with writing currently. He has developed a huge distaste for it. We do a bit of writing every morning as part of our learning time, and lately it has become the least favourite part of my day.
And the least favourite part of his day too.
I remember my older son going through this phase as well. I DO recognize that this is just a phase. So I am trying really hard to think of fun and creative ways to encourage him to practise his writing slowly but surely. I am not going to entirely put it aside, but I am definitely putting it on the back burner for a bit.
One writing activity that WAS a success and a big hit was this Rainbow Writing Scavenger Hunt.
I did a similar activity when the boys were young – a rainbow scavenger hunt where we went around the house and collected items of all the colours of the rainbow. We then laid these out on our floor int he shape of a rainbow! If you have toddlers or preschoolers, that one is a great one for you!
I took a piece of paper and drew arcs on it in black to make a rainbow. I made 6 arcs for the 6 colours of the rainbow (we chose to do purple instead of indigo and violet): Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple.
I then got out markers for each of those colours and our clipboards (clipboards make everything more fun!!)
The task was very simple, my little ones were to walk around and find objects around our house that were all the different colours of the rainbow.
My little anti-writer decided to write the word “marker” in each of the arcs using his different coloured markers. Rather brilliant … and sneaky.
With a bit of encouragement he ventured on and kept on hunting for more coloured words. He did not do his rainbow in order, but I was picking my battles.
My kids are using phonetic spelling for the very most part. This means that they sound out the words and write the letters they hear. We do practice some sight words and words that are tricky to sound out, but for the most part I have found their spelling gets better and better the more they read. We are a BIG reading family, so instead of focusing on spelling drills, we read wonderful books!
This hunt went on for quite some time filling in those arcs with all different coloured words. It was a great way to start our day – much better than sitting at the table and getting frustrated over writing.
Getting those little ones on the move, adding in some bright markers, and of course – a clipboard. That was my recipe for writing success on that day!
I will keep on sharing ideas that work for us in our homeschool, hoping they are helpful to you and yours as well.
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