Four Kids Writing Projects About Sports

Even at just the elementary school age, kids can start to think of writing as chore. By making writing a fun at-home activity like art or music or sports, you can keep your kids' start to see writing as a creative outlet not a homework assignment. How do you make writing a fun activity? Get some cool paper and pens, clear off a special place and pick a theme the kids will like. Sports, for instance, may appeal to a lot of boys and girls.

Just remember, even if it is an activity that can help them hone important writing skills, "fun writing time" should be just that - fun! So, while you can encourage your kids with suggestions enthusiastic like "What color is it?" or "Tell me more" don't make this a time to worry about grammar, punctuation or handwriting. The kids, once encouraged to get writing, will amaze you - and maybe themselves- with their creativity!

Here are some sports-related writing prompts you can use to get your kids started. You may even want to add a "sports" element to their writing time, like blowing a whistle when they start or using sports stickers to

Writing Project #1 : My Favorite Team
Most kids by elementary school will have a favorite sports team. Ask your kids to write about the team, including details like what sport they play, who's on the team - maybe even who their favorite player is. They may also want to describe what the team uniforms look like. Older kids can be encouraged to expand on the "why" of the prompt: why do you love the Cardinals? If your kid doesn't have a favorite sports team, you may ask them to write about a favorite sport instead, or a favorite athlete like Shaquille O'Neal or Michelle Kwan and follow basically the same prompts.

Writing Project #2: Brand New Sport
You are well aware of how good your kids can be at making up their own games. Some games can be quite elaborate. Ask them to come up with a new sport using that innate creativity. Things they can include are the name of the sport, what the object of the game, what is the gear like? Is there a ball or not? Kids can also writ about where the new sport is played and how many people play it. Other details they can be encouraged to provide are how the game is scored, what real sports it might be like, and even what some names are in this fictional "league."

Writing Project #3: A Perfect Night (or day) At The Game
This project asks your child to recreate - or make up - a great night or day at a sporting event. Things they can write about include the basics of who was playing what sport, with whom they went, what the view of the court or field, etc. was like, and of course, what snacks they had. They can add commentary on their favorite part of the night. Older kids can comment also on funny things that happened that night and try to describe the feeling at the game: was it exciting? tense? Was there a big play that saved the day? Kids, again, can either re-tell what happened on a fun real trip to a game or match, or they can make up the details of "what a perfect game day" would be like. Another version of this writing project

Writing Project #3: How to Play A Sport
Ask your kid to explain how to play a favorite sport as if he or she were talking to someone who's never heard of the game before. Kids can start by explaining the "object" of the game and then move on to things like number of players required, what the players do and how points are score. Older kids can move on to include comments on the skills and abilities a person should work on if they want to be good at this game. Does a player need to be fast, strong, a good "team player"? Your child may also want to suggest some great examples a person could watch to see "how it's done."