Creative Writing Workshops

I have been holding Creative Writing Workshops and courses for children since several years.

Why are creativity workshops so imp for children?

Creativity has been proved to be the spark behind not just the greatest literature, music and art in the world, but also path breaking scientific inventions and medical discoveries. A fresh, creative approach to life is inborn in all children but unfortunately, dies away as they struggle with a demanding curriculum and regimented activities in their school life. Add to this the impact of passive entertainment like TV, and you a have a generation of children growing up who can think, but not imagine, who can solve Math problems but not every day challenges, and who can write a factually correct essay, but not spin an enchanting story…

In these workshops, the children are taught to think out of the box and write poems and short fiction on their own.  We always start with some warm-up exercises. There are a number of mind tools used to rake up the creative process such as picture cues, word play, word relay, brainstorming, etc.,

Then we go into the actual creating/writing process. The children are taught the basics of writing short fiction, science fiction, fantasy, nonsense poems with rhyme and rhythm, free verse, etc. Every session ends with the children reading out their work to comments from the rest. This completes the process of communicative writing…that is, to write, to be read, and to get feedback.

Over a series of summers doing these workshops, I see the same children not only growing in height and maturity, but also turning out more and better original writing, working independently and most important, taking joy in the writing process…