Journaling Tips for Kids
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Have you ever considered giving your kids a journal? When we say journaling is for everyone – we mean it!
If you have young kids that are learning how to write and put their thoughts onto paper, journaling can be a great practice for them. My husband and I did this for my son. We bought him a bound journal at the beginning of each school year and he was supposed to write in it every day.** The number of words increased with his age until middle school.
Here are some tips to help your kids get started with journaling.
Make Journaling Fun for Kids
If you want your younger kids to write in a journal, it helps to make it fun for them. It is going to seem like a chore at first since writing isn’t the most enjoyable thing for kids to do. But not only will it help them make sense of their young thoughts, but it is an amazing way for them to practice their writing skills.
To make journaling fun for kids, it all starts with the materials they use. Get them some colorful journals or notebooks with their favorite characters, and let them pick out whatever pens or writing utensils they want to use. Using colored pencils and adding coloring pages to their journals is another great option.
Provide a Small Desk or Area of a Table
While teens and adults might be ok sitting on the couch to write in their journal, kids have a harder time focusing like this. To get them into the entire journaling process, provide them with an area used for this purpose. This might a desk they use for their schoolwork or just a corner of the dining room table or dinner table.
You can even set it up with some fun things to make them excited about the routine, such as putting on some of their favorite music, getting fun placemats for beneath their journal, or adding different coloring supplies to use.
Give Them Child-Friendly Prompts
It also helps to give your kids something to write about in their journals, especially in the beginning. Some kids don’t like the diary style of daily journaling and instead need a little push. You can find journaling prompts specifically for kids of different ages that will get their minds thinking about something specific.
In many cases, they are just simple questions or statements to write about. Here are some examples:
- What is your favorite subject at school?
- What is the earliest memory you have?
- Where do you like to eat?
- What are you excited about?
- What is your favorite thing about the holidays?
- Who are your friends at school?
- What do you want to do on summer break?
Writing in his journals helped my son’s writing skills a lot. Looking at them also gave us (and him) some insight into what was important to him. You should consider giving it a try with your child!
**Disclaimer: We never made his journal private. Our plan was to read each daily entry and check his grammar. He was aware of this so no privacy was violated.
Loving Life — The Reboot!
Dominique
14 Comments
Renee
Cant wait to share this with my kids!
Jhon William
Great content! Super high-quality! Keep it up! 🙂
Raksha N
Such great tips. Yes journaling is important and it is best to make them a habit when they are little.
Prakhar Kasera
I have a niece who loves all these stuff, will share this post with my sister for her.
Ting
Journaling is a great habit to have. Thanks for sharing!
Maysz
I love do journaling actually teaching journaling for kids is a great idea to teach them how to set their goals in their young age and also they improve their creativity
Fransic verso
Developing this habit will help kids to be better in writing and getting busy from tablets and phones.
Amanda
I think all of my kids could benefit from journaling in their own ways. Great tips!
aisasami
What great ideas to have children starting journaling. Writing is such an important craft!
remo
This is really informative. I learnt something new today:)
Ty
Journaling is great for a child’s mental development ! Definitely great to start while they are young !
Joanna
These are great tips on how to get children interested in keeping a journal. Prompts such as stickers, labels and colored pencils definitely help in boosting their creativity as well.
Ch. Nikhila
Journaling is a great habit for kids. Great tips.
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