Use shape and theme poems, or poems that look like the things they describe, as a fun way to introduce children to poetry.

Children learn how to make a convincing argument—an important skill in school and in life.

Use recipes to help children practice reading and writing step-by-step instructions. Have them sample the results to see how they did.

Encourage children to connect words and pictures by having them write their own captions for family or magazine photos.

Children watch the nighttime sky come alive as the read a book about fascinating elements in the night and write a poem/story about the things they learn!

Can't make it to a zoo? After reading a book about apes, observe animal habits and habitats using one of the many Webcams broadcasting from zoos and aquariums around the United States and the world.

While enjoying a book that features a journey, children write postcards from the perspective of the main character for each stop along the trip.

Sort through your junk mail and talk about what you find for a fun literacy activity before recycling it!

Using published comics and cartoons as examples, children can create their own while playing with images and language.

Playing board games or card games can be a fun activity, so why not make your own?

Children will draw on their knowledge of story structure and fairy tales to write their own.

Let children explore an interesting subject—themselves. An online tool will teach them to summarize and organize information as they write.

In this activity, children look closely at living things in their natural environments and then make books about what they see.

After reading about historical figures and other important people that have changed the world, children choose someone that they consider to be "amazing"—either someone they've heard about or someone they know—and create a book page that highlights this person.

Create a treasure hunt out of word-puzzle clues hidden around the home or yard.

Brainstorm popular expressions with friends and family, then explore their meanings through game play and writing/drawing/cut-and-paste activities.

Everyone loves getting a greeting card, especially if it's homemade. Make a funny or thoughtful greeting card or invitation with pictures and a poem, joke, or riddle.

Let children practice using different types of words in a fill-in-the-blank-story game before making their own word list for a magnetic poetry set.

Have children explore the different parts of mystery writing by making a puzzle about a favorite book. They can then invent and write their own mysteries using the online Mystery Cube tool.

Explore fairy tales told in both old and new ways and use an online tool to help children create their own "fractured" version of a fairy tale.