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Varsha Seshan

Playing with Kangaroo Words

March 10, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

When I wrote about using Friends Behind Walls for my online reading programme, the first thing I thought of doing was playing with words. Putti loves breaking words up to make sense of them. Brouhaha = brew+haha, but has nothing to do with brewing tea or being funny. Yesterday, we thought of words like this. […]

Filed Under: Resources, Workshops Tagged With: Friends Behind Walls, kangaroo words, online reading programme, word games, writing activities

Five Writing Activities for Children (and Adults!)

November 22, 2020 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

As I was preparing to launch my online creative writing programme, I posted one writing activity per day on social media, and I loved the responses I received. Writing activities can be so much fun, and not just for children. They work just as well for adults who want to sit down and start writing […]

Filed Under: Resources, Workshops, Writing Tagged With: creative writing, creative writing resources, free resources, writing activities

How to Write a Limerick

October 21, 2020 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

What is a limerick? A limerick is a (usually humorous) five-line poem with a strict AABBA rhyme scheme. It’s fun to write and, usually, fun to read. I’ve always loved limericks by Edward Lear, and over the past few years, I’ve read many, many more. Do you remember the nursery rhyme ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’? That […]

Filed Under: Workshops, Writing Tagged With: creative writing, creative writing with children, limericks, writing activities

Dear Fictional Character

December 3, 2019 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Yesterday, to round off our letter-writing activity, we wrote two more letters. One began with ‘Dear Reader’, and this is an activity I’ve done more times than I can count. I tweaked it slightly this time because of the idea of posting their letters to them. Instead of telling them that what they wrote would […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing, St. Mary's School, The Dictionary, The Duronto Adventure, The Story-Catcher, Writers' Club, writing activities

Letter-Writing at the Writers’ Club

November 27, 2019 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I’ve been waiting to do this activity ever since I thought of it, and it was well worth the wait — particularly because two children said this was the best Writers’ Club session ever! Receiving a letter is lovely. I enjoy every part of it – the anticipation, seeing something in the postbox, seeing that […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing, grammar, Ratna Sagar, skill-building, St. Mary's School, Teacher training, Writers' Club, writing activities

Characters at the Writers’ Club

November 18, 2019 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Excitement is so contagious! The Writers’ Club was full of energy today because of two activities we did based on the idea of how characters come alive to readers. A week ago, I asked the girls to think of a character they would like to present to the rest of the club. We had a […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: activities, character, creative writing, St. Mary's School, Writers' Club, writing activities

Fortunately-Unfortunately

September 20, 2017 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Option 1 “I am going to meet a monster today.” “Fortunately, it doesn’t bite.” “Unfortunately, that means it will just gobble you up.” Option 2 “I jumped into the swimming-pool today.” “Fortunately, the pool was heated.” “Unfortunately, I cannot swim.” “Fortunately, it was not deep.” Which beginning do you find more entertaining? I was very […]

Filed Under: Children, Resources, Workshops Tagged With: creative writing, St. Mary's School, Writers' Club, writing activities