National Writing Day 2023

National Writing Day is an annual celebration of writing for pleasure and self-expression — wherever you and your little people like to write, it's a great opportunity to reflect on the power of writing and words.

 

Why words? A little background research

The National Literary Trust have done some brilliant research into why writing - be it using a pen, pencil, laptop or WhatsApp - is such an important part of our lives. Not only are words and writing such an integral part of communication and self-expression, but writing for enjoyment or as a hobby has been shown to improve mental health, inspire creativity and help children (and adults) to effectively express their feelings and emotions.

Despite writing being a pretty common and everyday activity, 1 in 3 children currently leave primary school without the writing skills they need to succeed in life. So if we as parents and carers can provide a bit of extra support at home and help encourage writing for fun then we will be bolstering our little peoples' skills for life. 

Interestingly, the National Literary Trust found that during the school closures in lockdown, when children and young people had more time, they found themselves writing for enjoyment more, and that the activity of writing helped to ease feelings of anxiety related to the pandemic. We love how this demonstrates writing and creativity to be a therapeutic and stress-relieving activity! 

Story Jar creative writing activity

We would love for you and your little people to discover some of the joy of creative writing with our 'Story Jar' activity - created for us by one of our all-time favourite authors, Rachel Bright.  It is a super simple but fun & effective way to get those creative juices flowing. We guarantee you'll have a laugh! Follow this link for instructions.

Rachel Bright signed book giveaway

To celebrate the wonderful power of writing, we teamed up with one of our all time favourite authors, Rachel Bright to giveaway a signed copy of her new book! On Thursday 22nd June, Rachel released another brilliant picture book, The Wobblysaurus. We've a whole library of Rachel's books at home and we love their insightful tales that highlight the importance of friendship, love and acceptance. We're very excited to be adding The Wobblysaurus to our bookshelf!

Here's a little bit about it....

"The Wobblysaurus is a funny and reassuring tale about perseverance and resilience. When Wobblysaurus gets her very first bicycle, she can’t wait to go and ride with all her friends. But every time Wobblysaurus sets off on her new wheels, she wibbles… wobbles… and falls! This little dinosaur is just about ready to give up, but then a word from a wise Grannysaurus reminds her that when you really want something, it’s always worth trying again."

Happy writing x