A fun way to build your child's imagination

Writing is still one of our major forms of communication as well as a great way to express ourselves. Creating a storybook with your child is a fun way to introduce him or her to creative writing. You will also get to spend a few hours of quality time together and the end result will become a family treasure for years to come.

All you need is a notebook, a pen, and anything else you and your child would like to use to illustrate a story. You can draw pictures together, or make a collage out of old photos and magazine cut outs. Of course you can also add stickers, glitter or anything else you can come up with.

But let's start at the beginning. The idea is to come up with a story and to write it down in the notebook. If your child has never made up a story, she will need some guidance and help from you. Think about what she is interested in right now: dinosaurs, ponies, ballet; characters from a particular book or TV show, etc.

Ask your child to name the main characters and encourage them to describe what they look like, what clothes they are wearing and where they are. You'll be surprised how quickly they will come up with a story line from there. Encourage them along the way.

If your child is old enough to write, have her write the story herself as you go along creating it. Offer to take turns if she is still new at writing. Otherwise, write it down for her.

Have fun decorating or illustrating the story.

Start your next creative writing afternoon by reading some of the stories you have already created. Give your child the option to either continue with the same set of characters or to come up with some new ones. Before long you will have an entire book of stories that you will both treasure for a long time.

Susanne Myers is the founder of www.kinderinfo.com, the one-stop online children's resource center. Here you will find all kinds of answers to help you with your family, including information on child care options and locations, educational resources, sports and recreation, home-based activities, party and event planning, even quick and easy recipes. We seek to answer all kid-related questions!