Young Authors Project Week 1
The YAP summer camp is off to a great start! The Little Storytellers and the Kid Writers learned about different kinds of storytelling all week and wrote their own stories, which they shared with the group on Friday.
Both groups jotted down their thoughts in these handmade journals throughout the week.
The Kid Writers broke the ice on Monday with an “exquisite corpse” exercise that was met with much laughter and inventive writing. It was a promising start, since the kids already knew many of the essential elements of storytelling.
Meanwhile, the Little Storytellers talked about how to tell a great story – especially ones involving outer space and dragons!
Chris, a YAP instructor, helps her campers out with the details as they plan their stories.
All the campers enjoyed a walk to Eben G. Fine park for lunch. Though it was a hot day, the shade was a great place to write, and the playground was a great place for a game of “Groundies.”
The campers kept on writing after lunch, and when they needed inspiration, we turned to Roald Dahl for assistance.
YAP Volunteer Arianna reads The Twits to an attentive audience.
At the end of the day, the campers filed away their works in progress, enthusiastic about continuing the next day.
Tuesday Vani held the campers in a spell of comics, graphic novels, and dialogue!
Everyone loved having the opportunity to express their stories visually; all day they were eager to return to their projects, even asking to come back in early from lunch!
In the meantime, our Little Storytellers were hard at work (and play) on their own ingenious endeavors! There’s something magical about having a whole little room to cozy up in, bursting with light and pictures and creativity. Don’t you just want to be in there with them?
By the middle of the week, the kids had made new friends, learned about the elements of storytelling, and written quite a lot. We spent Wednesday writing poetry and songs at Chautauqua Park. The campers loved the little hike we took to a shaded area of trees, where Madeleine and Vani played songs. We talked about how the music made us feel, and all the poetry that might come out of those feelings. The kids had some unexpected and beautiful things to share.
Taking to the woods can be a great way to become inspired.
On the beautiful walk down. Camper Elliote and intern Madeleine both play the violin!
The kids had fun writing outside, and especially enjoyed Vani’s songwriting exercise. Vani gave them a sample rhyming verse, and then they wrote their own.
Vani plays the blues on a blue cooler.
The campers shared their blues songs, then did some free writing.
The campers work in a peaceful, shady spot.
It was great to be outside the entire day, and everyone got a lot of writing done.
Thursday our Kid Writers took a trek down to Pearl Street, an opportunity for them to put into practice their morning lesson: using descriptive language and including details! They spent the day working on their skills of observation as a way to help enrich their writing.
Pearl was the perfect place for people-watching and journalistic writing.
That afternoon, back at the Studio, we began looking at descriptive writing in other genres and how poems can also tell stories. After a discussion with the campers on what they thought made a poem, they were showed a few spoken word poems online and asked to pick out the descriptive language used, images, and overall story. The kids loved it!
Soon we had them working on their own poems, building step by step off a memory of their’s and specific details about that memory.
On Friday, the Kid Writers talked about fantasy and science fiction, while the Little Storytellers finished up their stories and hand-made planets.
Campers Jaden and Payne had the most fun writing and drawing sci-fi comics.
The promise of a sweet surprise (ice cream!) and sharing their work at the end of the day kept everyone motivated to keep writing.
Camper Naomi loves to write realistic fiction.
After a day of fun writing exercises and discussion, it came time to share. While some were hesitant to read their writing out loud, others were excited to have a captive audience.
Camper Eevee reads some of her writing to the group.
The Little Storytellers had some interesting stories (and accompanying art) to share. They wrote captivating – and often hilarious — adventure stories about dragons and outer space.
Instructor Jamie displays camper Shea’s artwork while Shea reads her story.
Everyone enjoyed hearing what the campers had written. It was a great way to wrap up the week.
What will they write next?
