Some students may not have a clear understanding of family traditions, especially at a young age. Help your students appreciate their unique traditions by giving them creative writing activities that talk about the traditions they currently have or ones they would like to start when they grow up.
When children practice exercising their creativity while they’re young; it helps build creative confidence that will last for the rest of their lives. Here are three writing exercises to help elementary students not only learn more about their families and who they are as a person, but also build their descriptive writing skills.
3 Creative Writing Exercises for Elementary Students About Family Traditions
Prompt #1 “Traditions in My Family”
Before assigning this writing exercise to your students, give them a background on your family’s traditions or a short lesson on an interesting tradition from a different part of the world.
Your students can write about holiday traditions, like how they celebrate Christmas or Thanksgiving. Students can also talk about a special destination that their family travels to every year or a game that their family plays when they get together.
It’s better if they can share a tradition they think is unique or special to them. Encourage your students to be confident in recounting their family’s established practices, be it extravagant or simple.
PROJECT IDEA
For this project, ask your students to collaborate with their family members, such as parents, siblings, and/or grandparents. Adult members can share stories about how their family traditions started or tell them about traditions that they had when they were little. Hearing fond memories related to a tradition can give students an opportunity to one, hear how a story is structured and two, be more descriptive in their own writing.
Students can add a picture depicting their tradition as a visual aid. Drawing a picture first sometimes helps the student put their tradition into words.
After writing their stories, give your students a chance to share their family traditions with the class. This allows other students to learn about different customs, especially if you have a diverse set of learners.
Then gather all your students’ work to create one, creative classbook about family traditions! This will be something that your students can share with their families someday.
Prompt #2: “Traditions I Want to Create One Day”
Children have a vivid imagination and writing helps stimulate their imaginative nature. Exposing them to different ideas can improve their creativity level as they grow up. Asking them to write what traditions they want to create in the future gives them a chance to use that imagination to come up with unique traditions they would like to have one day.
You can guide your students in making their own traditions by teaching them about the role that traditions play within a family. If your students understand its impact, they might be able to create a tradition that they can one day pass onto future generations.
An excellent way to encourage your students to write their own tradition is through playing “just imagine” games. For example, tell your students to imagine starting a new family custom and then ask them to write what kind of tradition they want to do. This can be something they want to do with their family or one inspired by other traditions.
You can also start by telling your students to draw a picture of a family. After finishing the artwork, ask them to write a description of their drawing and what activities they imagine the family loves doing together.
Let your students come up with different family traditions, however random or out of the box, and ask them about how they came up with the tradition individually or in front of the class.
PROJECT IDEA
An excellent way to encourage your students to write their own tradition is through playing “just imagine” games. For example, tell your students to imagine starting a new family custom and then ask them to write what kind of tradition they want to do. This can be something they want to do with their family or one inspired by other traditions.
You can also start by telling your students to draw a picture of a family. After finishing the artwork, ask them to write a description of their drawing and what activities they imagine the family loves doing together.
Let your students come up with different family traditions, however random or out of the box, and ask them about how they came up with the tradition individually or in front of the class.
Prompt #3: “Write About a Classmate’s Family Tradition That is Different from Your Own”
Family traditions vary from one another due to cultural differences. For instance, Chinese or Korean families have different ways to celebrate the new year and Thanksgiving than American families. It will be interesting for students to see what about their classmate’s traditions are the same and different from their own
Don’t let students limit this activity to just the holidays. Some families, for example, have dinner every Sunday night at Grandma’s house or eat at a certain restaurant after their soccer game. While others might take a ski trip with their family every year at the end of February. Talking about family traditions outside of the holiday season, especially if, for the most part, your class celebrates the same holidays can bring in an array of answers - making presentations more interesting.
This activity also gives your students an opportunity to get to know their classmates better. It promotes interaction between them as they discover similarities or differences in their traditions.
PROJECT IDEA
When doing this activity, pair up your students so they can discuss their family traditions with one another. Encourage them to take notes of each other’s established practices, so it’s easier to recall.
Collaboration between students helps them think creatively and generate more ideas together. Teach your students how to collaborate properly with other students to facilitate an easier project.
After discussing with their partners, your students should describe in writing what their partner’s family tradition is and what they have learned about their classmate’s family values.
Valuing Family Traditions Through Creative Writing
By learning about family traditions, students can develop a respect for what came before them and celebrate diversity. These can also connect them to other people regardless of their age and the culture they have.
When we teach students creative writing, we help them nurture their creative abilities by enabling them to explore different ideas. This, in turn, allows them to seek a better way of solving problems, whether in school or at home.
Mold your students into inspiring creative writers of the future. Check out our online teacher’s lounge to learn more classroom activities that help you motivate and engage your students to write creative and compelling stories ready to be published.
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