The Forest: Quick oral tasks to help with 11+ creative writing

11+ Creative Writing home revision tasks needn’t be loooooooooooooooooooooooong or even written! 

Short and snappy verbal exercises can support the development of writing. 

They can help your child to think on their feet. They can help your child orally rehearse an idea before putting pen to paper (great if your child’s writing often has missing words or sometimes doesn’t make sense).

So, over the next few weeks, I thought I’d post some ideas for weekly verbal tasks — all nice, short, and easily manageable in a busy schedule. Each week will be a different type of setting.

All three tasks use the picture on this post, and there are vocabulary suggestions below the tasks to help.

So, here goes…

Task 1

Say (or write) a sentence starting with the word ‘Whenever’.

 Example: Whenever the marshmallow softness of the forest settled over Bill, he shuddered in anticipation as he knew something magical was about to happen.

Task 2

Say (or write) a sentence explaining the smells and sensations of this forest.

 Example: A loamy fog hung over the forest; its haunting weight began to suffocate Bill.

Task 3

Say (or write) a sentence using a metaphor to describe the forest. Include colour and sound in this description.

 Example of a sentence: The forest was a fortress of emerald greenery and clacking boughs fought with dense and angry foliage.

Vocabulary suggestions

Sound: creaking trees, clacking boughs, crispy grasses, mumbling, murmuring, hum

Animal sounds in the forest: snuffling, screeching, scampering

Smells: earthy, loamy

Sensations: marshmallow softness, heart-warming, soul-soothing, velvet-soft, haunting, unsettling,

Metaphors: the fortress, the tower of, the guardian, a paradise

Colours: bamboo-green, emerald, conker-brown, oak-brown, heather-purple, crystalline-white, feverish-yellow, ghoul-grey

I hope you enjoy the challenges. Share any ideas in the chat if you can!

Anna