Seven-Day Challenge To Help Your Child Write Their Very First Story

Stories are everywhere. Almost all of us love reading or listening to stories. However, writing a story is not something that comes naturally to all of us. Even more so for children. But like any other craft, it can be learnt and mastered! Here is a simple seven-step process that will help your child write their very first story. 

Are you curious? Let’s get started. 

Seven-Day Challenge To Help Your Child Write Their First Story

This challenge will help your child come up with their first story. It just gives a child a framework they can use to develop their story. Every child is unique and will probably come up with their own process later – one that works the best for them. 

Parents: Important Things to Remember Before Starting

• Ask your child to draw if they cannot write yet. 
• Set a timer for 30 minutes every day when they have to work on their story. 
• If the child is struggling with spellings, ask them to spell words phonetically. Do not criticise them for their spellings initially. It may hamper their confidence. Once the story is written, proofreading and spell checks can be done. 
• Praise them for the beautiful story that they have written, even if it consists of mostly pictures or is incoherent. Find something to praise. 
• Get them a notebook exclusively for writing stories. They can use this notebook to write during quiet time or alone time. 
• Encourage your child to read out the story to all the family members during dinner. 

Basic Seven-day Story Writing Challenge For Children

Here is a seven-day story writing framework for children. Encourage your child to work on their story for 30 minutes every day with the help of a timer. Writing is a skill that needs practise and determination. Please remember to praise your child for the efforts every single day. 

Day 1: Describe the first character. The story takes place between two or more characters. The character is a person in the story. Describe the character in your story. Here are some questions that will help you add more details to your character:

• What is the name of the character?
• How old is the character?
• What does the character look like?
• What kind of person is the character? 
• Where does the character live?
• What is special about this character? 

Day 2: Describe the second character. Now that you have written about the first character, write about the second character. Remember that the second character has to be different from the first character. Here are some questions to help you describe your second character: 

• What is the name of the character?
• How old is the character?
• What does the character look like?
• What kind of person is the character? 
• How is this character different from the first character? 
• Where does the character live?
• What is special about this character? 

Day 3: Why did these two characters meet? People often meet each other for a reason. One of the characters must know the reason. Here are some questions that will help you add more details:

• Why does this character want to meet another character?
• Is there anything this character wants to say to another character? 
• Does the second character know about the first character? Are they meeting for the first time? 

Day 4: Where did these two characters meet? Now that you know who is in the story. Think about where these two characters can meet. People can meet at different places such as the office, school, playground, hotel, etc. Think about your characters and their preferences and then find a place where they are likely to meet. For example: A character that likes football can meet another character at a football practice. Here are some questions that will help you out:

• Does your character like this place? 
• How did the first character decide the place to meet?
• What does this place look like? Sound like? Feel like? 
• What time are the characters meeting? 
• Who all is there at this place? Is it empty? 

Day 5: What happened when these two characters met? The story happens when two characters interact with each other. They say or do something to each other. Think about your characters, things that make them special and then think about what all they can talk to each other about. Here are some questions to help you add details to your story:

• Do these characters like each other? 
• Are the characters having a friendly conversation, or they are discussing something?
• What exactly are the characters talking about?
• Are the characters solving a problem?
• Which problem are the characters solving? Is it solved after talking? 
• What happens after the characters solve a problem? 

Day 6: Write a draft. Now that you have all the different parts of your story ready, put it all together as a draft. Ensure that all the details are mentioned in the draft. 

Day 7: Check spellings and grammar. Publish the story. You can ask your parents or an elder sibling to do the spell check. Present the story to everyone in the family at dinnertime. 

Parents should ensure that every story is presented to the family members and rewarded with ample attention. This can boost the child’s confidence in trying harder to get better at storytelling. Not all children will find it easy to write stories. In that case, encourage children to draw and create picture books. Storytelling is a skill that needs lots of practice. Do this challenge with your child to make it even more interesting.  

Have you tried any such writing challenge before? Are you excited to see the stories that your child will write at the end of the week? Let us know in the comments section. 

Update: Do share your stories in the comments below.