Imagine a World

What's the foundation of good writing? Ask that question of any educator or perhaps of any writer, and you'll get a host of answers. For example: the 5 W's (who, what, where, when, why), proper grammar, clear organization, or logical analysis. While all of these are surely necessary for successful writing, there is one answer that surprisingly often gets overlooked: imagination.

When examining how to develop strong writers, we believe that it's essential to focus on and to incorporate activities that encourage and promote the use of imagination. This is as much true for fiction or creative writing as it is for academic and nonfiction writing. Why? Because imagination is the fertile soil that nourishes all rich and robust writing.

Here are five techniques that will cultivate imagination in young writers.

1. Draw, color, paint.

Since the roots of imagination live in the right brain, activities built around drawing, coloring, and painting naturally encourage the use and development of imagination and creativity. Additionally, drawing, coloring, and painting are ways to tell a story without using a single word. This is noteworthy, and we'll discuss why a little later. The take-away here is that providing regular time for students to draw or color or paint is key to freely engaging the imagination and, in turn, to supporting writing success. Activities can be simple and free-form (Draw a picture.) or a little more structured (Draw a picture with a dog in it.).

2. Blue sky with a game of What if....

To blue sky is a phrase taken from the corporate marketing arena and generally means to consider all the possibilities. It's an excellent activity that promotes the use of imagination without turning on the left brain's editing mode. Indeed, there is a time for the left brain's editor to step into the writing process; however, that time is not during any blue-skying activity. Blue skying can be easily and successfully transformed into an exciting game of What if..., during which students use their imaginations to describe and discuss a somewhat whimsical scenario, detailing any problems while offering creative solutions.

To begin a game of What if... with small groups, pairs, or as an individual activity, present a brief scenario and then open the discussion with a question that starts with the phrase What if.... For example: Teachers talk when they teach a lesson to their students. What if teachers sang to students instead? Another example that could lead to more complex creative responses may be something along these lines: Clocks and watches tell us what time it is. What if clocks and watches didn't exist?

3. Employ knowledge emotions.

Knowledge emotions (surprise, confusion, interest/curiosity, and awe) are particularly critical to learning, exploring, and reflecting. They are drivers that can be used to easily spark the imagination. Though not the focus of this article, knowledge emotions can serve as gateways into the development of other skills essential for successful writing. Backstory activities often provide innovative and novel opportunities to employ knowledge emotions.

A backstory activity is one in which students imagine how a character arrives at its current situation or how/why an event came to be. Backstory activities can be used in small groups, pairs, or as individual assignments. Giving students a simple set-up and direction usually proves to be the better approach. For example: Jenna is confused. She put her snack in her backpack this morning before leaving for school. Now, it's 10 a.m., and she can't find her snack. Imagine what happened to Jenna's snack.

4. Use sentence or question story prompts.

These can be highly engaging, particularly when they create a brief scene that concludes with a cliffhanger. Essentially the cliffhanger becomes the sentence or question story prompt. Of course, the set-up scene doesn't need to be elaborate; however, the more detailed or creative the scene is, the more fuel there is for the imagination. In fact, for older students, it may be more engaging to establish a style with the sentences that make up the set-up scene. Then ask students to discern the style and any elements that make up the style. After students identify them, they can use the elements in their writing to mimic the style of the set-up scene.

5. Use picture story prompts.

Picture story prompts are similar to sentence or question story prompts in that they offer a place to start when writing (no writer's block that leaves a student staring at a blank page) and they give students permission to use their imagination and creativity. Picture story prompts also provide a few additional benefits for young writers. They validate their lens and their point of view. No one sees the world in the same way, and picture story prompts underscore that message. Young writers can choose whichever point of view they want and develop any story they desire based on the image. This is in contrast to sentence story starters which deliver a backstory that leads into the writing prompt. Picture story prompts also provide learning opportunities to practice making observations and inferences as well as drawing conclusions—all powerful ways to spark and engage the imagination while developing critical thinking skills.

An Engaging Imagination-Building Resource

50 Picture Story Starters: Fun Illustrated Writing Prompts for Kids 7 - 9 uses picture story prompts along with word banks to provide students with hours of writing activities. Inspired by the fun learning movement, this 120-page, large-format activity book uses art-based activities to take the stress out of learning. Students begin by coloring each image, which invites focus and curiosity. Through coloring an image, they develop a familiarity with the scene and start to create a story about what is happening. Once they finish coloring, they can turn to writing their story on the opposite page. A word bank for each image can be used to help build vocabulary and support focus as students write their story.

Click here to learn more about this imagination-building resource. (Note: by clicking on the link, you will be taken to the Amazon product page for 50 Picture Story Starters: Fun Illustrated Writing Prompts for Kids 7 - 9.)