Writing with Monsters

(Daddy inks)

Last Sunday, our blog had the privilege of being the event partner for a Creative Writing workshop at The Arts House. It all began with my Sherlock Sam book review - one of the co-authors of the book, Adan Jimenez, is also working with local creative writing school Monsters Under the Bed and he sounded me out about the possibility of organizing a workshop for my boys and my blog's readers' kids. 

Naturally I was game and the rest was history.

The turnout was rather healthy and for that, I have to thank all our readers who had turned up for the workshop on a Sunday evening. The focus of the workshop was 'The Importance of Imagination' and founder of Monsters Under The Bed, Eugene Tay began by sharing with us parents on various tips to encourage their child's imagination through everyday happenings.

But the real fun started when all the kids present got to get their hands active! They were tasked to draw a picture - anything that they wanted. And quickly got down to work, they did.

And when all the beautiful drawings were completed, Eugene hung some of the pictures on a line and proceeded to narrate a story instantaneously. The idea behind this activity is to stimulate a kid's imagination through story-telling on the spot. And we parents can all try this at home as well. 

All we have to do is to have each member of the family doodle a drawing and then lay them side by side. Everyone will then have a go at trying to tell a story by linking the pictures. The challenge is to narrate the story without thinking and just let the story flow.

The next activity would have us joining in the action. Together with our kids, we had to create our very own characters from scratch and then connect them together in the end to make a story.

I definitely picked up load of useful pointers during the 2 hour workshop and I hoped that all those present did pick up useful ideas on how to stimulate imagination with their children at home too. In fact, I had the opportunity to speak to some parents during and after the workshop, and they mentioned that they were impressed with some of the unconventional teaching methods that Monsters under the Bed had imparted.

Hopefully, there will be more such workshops in the pipeline. Until then, here are some highlights from the workshop.

Thanks once again to everyone who dropped by, and Monsters Under the Bed for organising the workshop!

About Monsters Under the Bed
Monsters Under The Bed is a creative writing school, that encourages children to imagine and create characters and stories. Run by published writers, the staff of Monsters Under The Bed are made up of industry relevant professionals who knows what it takes to be a good writer. For more information on the programmes they offer, visit www.mutb.com.sg/in-house-programmes.