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Imagination

Remember when you were a little kid and you could play all sorts of games, fantasies, adventures that you created in your head? I sure do. I can remember playing Charlie's Angels with my friend Jill...there were only two of us, so we pretended a third one was there. We just imagined her. I can also remember going out on riding trails with my friends on our horses and we could create some amazing adventures about cowboys and Indians, and being bad guys...or good guys. We had a blast! I feel grateful that my imagination has continued to inspire me. I may not play dress up with my friends any longer so-to-speak, but I create pages of stories that I have so much fun doing.

Thinking about imagination and writing...and childhood, got me thinking about a program I developed several years ago and worked with kids in schools. With the season's chill upon us and many families finding themselves indoors over the next few months, I wanted to share with you an idea to help any little ones you have in the house that might spark their imagination. If you've got kids who like to create stories, and I think most kids do, then this is a fun exercise you can do with them. This is really geared toward the little ones. I'll add some exercises over the month for older kids who are aspiring writers that you can share with them, or even use yourself.

So, with the little ones I worked grades pre-K-1st I made worksheets that we later turned into a picture book (get out the crayons).  The story I made up was...If I were an animal, I would be a (blank...they'd fill in the blank), and on that page they'd draw that animal in any way they wanted to. The next page was: My name would be (blank). I'd go on an adventure to (blank), and I'd meet a (blank). You get the idea. Each sentence was a page for them to fill in the blank and draw their picture. It opened them up creatively and they were learning how to spell words. It's a lot of fun and if there are so many ideas you can do. You can create a holiday book, an alphabet book, a book about their favorite thing to do... If you want any ideas or further help in doing this with your child, feel free to e-mail me a michele@michelescott.com and I'd be happy to help you and your child(ren) create their own story, which can also be a pretty neat gift to give to their other parent, grand parents, teachers, etc...

On a side note, for your kids ages 8-11 who love to read, I want to share with you that my children's book The Clover Siblings and the Evil of Desmal is now permanently free on iTunes, Nook, Kobo, etc. It's still showing $2.99 on Kindle, but I am working to get that changed to free as well.

I hope you're enjoying the holiday season and that you take time for your family and friends! Many Blessings!

Michele
To check out The Clover Siblings and where you can download for free, visit:

https://www.books2read.com/u/47kNk8

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