I remember having fun writing and making up stories when I was a kid. It was something I enjoyed doing at home on my own free time rather than doing it for a grade at school. It lead to me wanting to dibble and dabble in writing poems until I had a notebook full of them by the time I had graduated high school. My son on the other had doesn't like writing. He's an Aspie so he has trouble putting his thoughts together on paper. He would often get frustrated just writing a sentence because what he was writing didn't make sense so I would make him do it over each time. I told his speech therapist about it and she suggested putting words on some cards and let him choose words to put together to form a sentence. This idea worked out great. He started writing sentences on his own with no trouble. As time goes on he is now at the grade level where it is expected for him to be able to write a journal entry into the form of a paragraph. He went blank again because he wasn't able to keep up with the flow of a story line. It was so frustrating for him and I didn't know what to do, but God once again answered my prayers.
Kim Kautzer and Debra Oldar from WriteShop has a unique writing program to bring fun back into writing. They have what are called StoryBuilders to help children from K on up to 12th grade become better story writers. The ones we tried are the World of People and the World of Animals. I was amazed because once again it introduced the idea of choosing from a set of cards to help give him an idea of what to write.
 
Both of these are in e-book format. You get a set of words you print out on cardstock to make into cards. The cards are separated into 4 categories. You'll have a set of cards for the Character, Character trait, Setting, and Plot. It comes with a set of instrutions for the teacher to get the kids started in writing a story, and ideas for games that can be played with the cards as well. The price of these are $7.95 each.
My son has enjoyed using these cards. Each day he can't wait to pick a new set for a silly story he wants to make up for that day. He gets so proud of his work and I can do nothing but sit and smile. This will definately be something we will continue using because it is building more confidence in him. He used to say "Mom I can't do this". Now he says "I love writing stories!"
If you have a struggling writer or need more ideas to strike up in interest in writing for your kids, I encourage you to visit WriteShop and learn more about their unique products. While you are there check out their other ideas for holidays and activities geared toward specific age levels. | 
