Archive for the ‘Activities’ Category

Try It: Powerful Descriptions

Try It Powerful Descriptions

That’s amazing!

Imagine you’ve just seen an astonishing sight like a dolphin flying through the air.

  • How would your body react? Try it! 
  • How would you express that physical reaction in words?

Powerful Descriptions

Today’s Try It prompt is from Week Four of Just Beyond the Very, Very Far North Dart. Duane the polar bear and his friends are astonished at the actions of their friend Handsome!

Eyes widened as mouths and beaks fell open all at the same time.

(Oh, my! I could not believe what Handsome did either! I gasped!)

Choose another emotion to experiment with—keep it light and get bodies moving.

  • Ask: How does your body react if something makes you angry or delighted or scared?
  • Act out the feeling, noticing what your body does.
  • Find words that capture that physical response. (Write them on a whiteboard—then play with them.)

The Complete List of Try It Activities


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Try It Activities: The Complete List

Brave Writer

Sometimes, the best way to learn something is to TRY IT!

This collection of posts offers short activities you can do right away with your kids—with little to no prep!

Engage your kids in writing mechanics (grammar, punctuation, spelling) in a whole new way! The Brave Writer way!

Just Try it!

Bookmark this page! Try It activities will be added as we share them.

Brave Writer Natural Stages of Growth

Try It: Clever Combinations

Brave Writer Try It

Wordplay is a great way to make grammar concepts stick! 

When two words team up to create one, you’ve got a compound word. And compound words offer a lively opportunity for active wordplay.

Let’s make some clever combinations!

This activity is from the Arrow (ages 11-12) for the book It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas.

Encourage your kids to combine an everyday noun with a food item, then let your imaginations soar!

EVERYDAY OBJECTS

mail
cat
glass
book
daisy
poodle
wool
chair
keyboard
straw
pencil
desk

FOODS

pizza
steak
mozzarella
anchovy
artichoke
onion
banana
kiwi
popsicle
lemonade
granola
cookie

Print this chart and cut out the words or write them on index cards for easier mixing and matching.

Ask your child: Do you want to

  • smoosh the words together to make a closed compound, 
  • leave a space to create an open compound word, or
  • include a hyphen to hook up a hyphenated compound word?

How would it feel to receive pizza mail? Is kiwi-wool green yarn or a sign of mold?

You can even turn this into a game!

One person acts out the word (charades-style) while the others try to guess the creative compound word.

Wordplay for the win! 


Brave Writer Literature Singles

Try It: Free Writers

Brave Writer Try It Free Writers

Liberate your young writers with freewriting!

See thoughts and ideas develop right on the page with this core writing practice for young and old! 

Veteran freewriters, keep scrolling for a fun ranking activity! (And get some neat insights into your kid-writers!) 

New to Freewriting?

Here’s a quick guide:

  • Hand out pencils.
  • Hand out scratch paper (you might wrinkle it first so it’s clear it’s not meant to be perfect).
  • Give this writing prompt: If I had all the money in the world or all the time in the world, I would… (Or pick a prompt from our blog or write whatever comes to mind.)
  • Set the timer for three minutes.
  • Everyone writes (including YOU!) for the full three minutes.
  • Punctuation and spelling errors are welcome.
  • Write “I’m stuck” if you run out of things to say.
  • Stop when the bell dings!

Don’t read your child’s writing! Invite them to read their own freewrite aloud (if they want to—not required).

Celebrate the content and the effort.

Write again on another day!

Already Freewriting Regularly?

Play with freewriting in new places

  • under the table
  • in a tent
  • on the floor next to the dog
  • in the hammock with a clipboard 
  • on the big rock at the park
  • in a blanket fort
  • under a beach umbrella 
  • in the car

After a few playful writing sessions, encourage each child to rank the spots and share what they liked best about writing there! 

All ‘Try It’ Activities


Brave Writer® programs teach writing using your child’s body, mind, and heart.
Discover why writing is the key to all of learning!


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Try It: Interview at 11:00

Brave Writer Try It Interview

Think of a bookish character!

Got one? 

  • What made you think of them?
  • What do you like about that character?
  • What do you loathe (if anything)?
  • Would you want to have dinner with them?
  • What would you ask?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Research involves knowing the content so well that you can ask and answer questions accurately. 

Try interviewing your character!

If the answers to the questions below aren’t given in the book, imagine the answers based on the character’s personality, preferences, and experiences. Feel free to reread parts of the book for help.

Interview at 11:00

Imagine you’re sitting across a table from your character now and ask directly:

  • What’s your favorite color?
  • What series are you binging on your streaming service?
  • How do you feel about vegetarianism?
  • If you could get away with it, would you steal an item you wish you had?
  • What dream do you have for the world?
  • What would you change in your life if you could?

Justify your possible answers to someone who has read the book!

Now, encourage your kids to do the same.

That’s right—YOU go first, then have them try!

All ‘Try It’ Activities


Brave Writer® programs teach writing using your child’s body, mind, and heart.
Discover why writing is the key to all of learning!


Brave Writer Get Started