Thinking outside of the box and outside of the book

I LOVED this book! I think that a lot of student writing either has writing from a personal nature or writing that often doesn’t connect with a student. While the prompts in this book are often disconnected from students in terms of subject, they allow a more creative side to come out-- or at least a more relaxed side.

I read this book out loud in front of my family, while we were in the midst of finishing dinner, doing dishes, getting ready to go to a Girl Scout meeting, and preparing to pack for a business trip. Some of them intrigued us; others felt a bit more perplexing. But, I noticed that my 9-year-old daughter, who doesn’t always enjoy writing, was becoming more interested in each prompt. Perhaps I will use them with her already, and I am seriously considering using some with my Girl Scouts, connecting them to a writing badge we are working on.

I enjoyed the prompts that involved thinking more creatively about something that is common or ordinary. For example, Prompt 8,”How many ways can you say No? Write ten sentences that say no in various ways, but without using the word no.” Right away, I thought of five ways, and my daughter said, “Ooooh, Does that mean we could use how you always say ‘not right now’? Two little sentences got her thinking. Yea!! She’s thinking outside of the box.

My kindergartener liked the prompts relating to rhyming (ex. 3, 60,62). She even likes to make up words to add to the list. I notice that doing things like this spark her imagination or spark a conversation about a topic we wouldn’t normally talk about. (Why do bees live in trees?) (Why do we have geese, but not meese?)

I personally like the prompts that can have any answer possible, such as number 145: “What would blue taste like if you could chew it?” This could have any answer possible. I would hope that some students would think outside of the ordinary, and not pick things like blueberries, raspberries, etc. When I said that I thought blue would taste like creamy chocolate and cherries, my daughters stared at me. They first told me I was wrong, and when I asked how they knew I was wrong, they couldn’t answer. It let them know that there are not always right and wrong answers to every question.

There were a few prompts that I thought I would get frustrated doing myself. The first was to “write a paragraph consisting of only six-letter words” (#159). I would really have to think about all of the words I know, and I think I could find myself getting frustrated with that one. The other prompt that I was trying to write in my head over the last few days was #46 :”Write a sentence in which the first word is one letter long, the second word is two letters long, the third word is three letters long, etc.” So far I got to I am two days older.

Overall I think this book has great ideas to use to get students out of the writing doldrums. Some make little sense, but get thoughts from anywhere put on paper. Others make you think, but to have fun doing it. I can’t wait to try these out on my own kids, my Girl Scout troop, and my eventual class.

Note: Another good place to find some thinking/writing prompts is Highlights magazine. They have the “Brain Play” section that can get the wheels turning.