Write a Spooky Story

By exploring various writing techniques, such as descriptive vocabulary and foreshadowing, your child is expanding his writing repertoire. Here’s a fun at-home activity that will help your child exercise his creativity and strengthen his analytical skills.

What You Need:

• two colors of index cards
• pencils or pens
• thirty second timer
• two or more story creators (this could be you and your child, or a few kids together)
• a little spooky imagination
• optional: video camera

What You Do:

Step 1.  Explain to your child the purpose and meaning of descriptive vocabulary and foreshadowing. Here's a cheat sheet:

        Foreshadowing- when an author hints at something that will happen later on in the story.

        Descriptive language- descriptive language is all about the use of rich adjectives which employ the use of the senses:

• sight: including colors, sizes and shapes, such as round, green, large
• sound: including types and volume, such as quiet, grating, and banging 
• smell: including scents and strengths, such as flowery, foul, strong 
• taste: including flavors and strengths, such as tart, spicy, weak
• touch: including textures and temperatures, such as silky, damp, hot

Step 2. Using some of that juicy figurative language, have your child brainstorm ten different sights, sounds, smells and objects that we associate with Halloween.  Encourage your child to use specific, concrete words and plenty of adjectives.  Have your child write each image on one color of index card.  Some examples might be: "gooey eyeballs," or "flowing, groaning ghost," or even "cheerful candlelit pumpkin head."  Now have your child brainstorm ten creepy names that a person or animal might have, and write each name on a card of a different color.