These writing center ideas for first grade are great for inspiring lots of creative writing fun! This pretend poem shop is an imaginative and educational way to spend a rainy day. Not only will your first grader work on developing important writing skills, she can also work on beginning math skills by adding up the cost of the poems sold and calculating change. Once the poems are complete, mail them off to faraway friends and family for a special and unique surprise!
To make a pretend poem shop of your own, you will need:
- Magnetic Poetry Kit — we love this Kid Genius Edition
!
- Metal Baking Sheet
— makes a great magnetic surface.
- Typewriter (optional) — I frequently see these at yard sales or thrift stores.
- Writing Paper
- Pencil
- Play Money Set
- Open / Closed Sign
(optional) - Various art materials: Colored Pencils
, Crayons
, or Markers
. (optional)
- Play Cash Register
, or small pad of paper and pencil for adding.
Setting Up Your Pretend Poem Shop
This pretend poem shop is a great way to introduce your child to various forms of poetry. For those just starting out, I recommend haiku poems because they are short and simple to do. The magnetic poetry kits help to make this process even more fun, and together you can experiment with various poems!
Once the magnetic poetry is formed the way your child would like, you may want to encourage your child to use a pencil and paper to write up a rough draft of his poem. Lightly edit it together, then invite your child to type up his poem on a typewriter or print out a copy on a computer, if possible.
Provide art materials for those who are inspired to illustrate their poems! This is a wonderful way to foster your child’s creative expression!
My kids loved writing poems upon request! I requested a poem about Spring blossoms, for instance. Once I provided them with a subject matter, they would go off to work on drafting up their poem. However, your child may want to create poems of their own choosing, and that would work well too!
Set up the shop with a small table to display the lovely poems, illustrations, play cash register, and play money. Pretend to purchase lots of poems! You may want to display these poems proudly in your home, or mail some to faraway family or friends.
More Creative Writing Center Ideas:
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What a great idea, I will definitely try this for my 1st graded.
That makes me so happy, Emma! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Oh my goodness, this looks like so much fun! I love everything about it. Magnetic poetry kits are so fun to create poetry.
Thanks so much, Jodie! We are big fans of magnetic poetry around here. <3