Many young children remember language more easily if learning is subtly combined with creative activities, such as drawing and role-play.
Creative activities are especially good for motivation. When children can create something that is important to them, they are more likely to work hard and take control of their own learning.
Any language ‘work’ you do at home that is fun, varied, attention-grabbing or creative will help your child prepare for their exams and develop their skills in a natural, stress-free way.
Creative learning activities
Creativity is about having new ideas and expressing ourselves in our own way – whether that is singing songs, writing stories, creating videos, or thinking about how to solve a problem.
Our website is full of fun, creative activities. You might like to start with some of these activities:
Learn English through drawing
Learn English through songs
Learn English through games
Learn English through outdoor play
Learn English through stories
Developing imagination
A key part of creativity is the ability to imagine, to see things not just as they are, but as they might be.
Imagination provides children with lots of contexts, themes and ideas for using language. Using language in ways that are interesting and meaningful is great for motivation.
One of the best sources of imaginative ideas is storybooks. Your child can follow a reading session by creating their own adventures. This provides lots of opportunities to practise all four language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening).
Learning tips
Reading activities:
- Read the title of a storybook and look at the picture on the front cover. Ask your child to guess what the story is about. Then read the story together to see if you were right.
- When you’re reading a story or practising vocabulary, remember that many words can be practised creatively through role-play, movements and facial expressions. For example:
- Read the story and ask your child to invent actions, e.g. ‘Fred is flying a kite’.
- Can you walk like a ‘lion’? Swim like a ‘shark’? Eat like a ‘monkey’?
- Show me a ‘happy’ face. Show me a ‘sad’ face. Show me a ‘frightened’ face.
- After you’ve read a storybook, ask your child to draw their own story picture. Then label it using English words and phrases.
Writing activities:
- Many children enjoy creating their own stories. There are lots of different prompts you can use to inspire creative writing. For example:
- Pictures: Ask your child to find a picture that interests them, such as a favourite photo, cartoon or picture in a storybook. Ask them to write a 20–30-word story about it.
- Music: Play a song and ask your child to draw whatever comes into their heads. Then ask them to write a story to go with their picture.
- Objects: Hide some objects (for example, some small toys) in a bag. Ask your child to put their hand into the bag and guess what the objects are. Ask them to choose one or two objects and create a story around them.
Speaking and listening activities:
- Show your child a picture that you know they’ll like. Ask them to tell you something about the picture that only they know (they will need to invent these details), such as what someone’s name is, what’s going to happen next, what’s behind a tree – creative thinking!