How do you teach kids creative writing?

Some people are born with the ability to write creatively, with others this ability can be acquired or taught. When teaching children you have one strong advantage and that is to encourage their natural curiosity and imagination which all children have in abundance. Select everyday phrases that they use and ask them to expand on these phrases. A simple example, a statement such as "it's a nice day" could become "the sun is shining, the birds are singing and I feel happy, what a lovely day it is". I was taught when writing an essay as a youngster to write it in three segments: Introduction, main text and conclusion. The introduction should "grab" the reader's attention, feed their curiosity and make them WANT to read the story! Another simple example: "I went to school early because the Headmaster wanted to see me", a factual statement but it lacks "impact", creatively this statement could read: "I woke up earlier than usual that morning with a sense of forboding. The Headmaster wanted to see me. Why? I racked my brain to think of anything that I had done which had brought me to his attention. I knew my class work had been good, I get on well with my teachers and my school friends. What could it be? None of this could dispel my fears or settle my nerves but nevertheless I had to face up to it and hurried from home anxious to discover whether or not there was any cause for my anxiety".

I have to caution that care should be taken to ensure that a child's writing doesn't become too "flowery" this could detract from the sense of the story and shouldn't be written purely as a way of demonstrating how many big or clever words they know!! As a guideline ask them to read what they have done and ask themselves: "do people talk like that"? If the answer is "yes" all well and good, if the answer is "no" they should be encouraged to "rethink" it!