GAMES FOR WRITING: PLAYFUL WAYS TO HELP...

GAMES FOR WRITING: PLAYFUL WAYS TO HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN TO WRITE (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27.50 hardcover, $13 paperback; 213 pp.) could just as easily be titled “Games for Reading”: Any child lucky enough to get instruction from author Peggy Kaye in the former is likely to become a lifelong practitioner of the latter.

Kaye, a reading and math tutor and educational consultant in New York City who has also taught in private and public elementary schools, sets her sights on those beginning the great journey of language, specifically targeting kindergarten through third grade. Have no fear--this is not a dry textbook. Emphatically not. Children will find some or all of the activities delightful--and so will parents and teachers willing to jump in and play.

The games--52 in all--cover the skills children need to master in order to write. They are easy to play/teach/learn, require few materials and are clever yet simple. Kaye characterizes the pitfalls “in three words: spelling, handwriting, fear. Each of these can present horrendous difficulties for a child, yet each can be overcome, with the right approach.” Kaye’s credo:

* “A child who writes with freedom of expression, no matter how peculiar his rendering of words, will develop writing skills more swiftly than a child who crimps his style and limits his ideas for the sake of correct spelling.”

* “Generally speaking, adults should encourage children to sacrifice beautiful letters in favor of a rush of words. You should assure your child that forming graceful letters is a fine thing to do, but getting all his thoughts recorded on the page is finer still.”

* Adults can help a child overcome fear by giving “the child a thousand opportunities to write. It’s not necessary for children to compose full-length stories. Youngsters can write brief lists or scribble stray thoughts. Anything they write will do some good--as long as they get a few words down on paper. . . . In writing, as in everything else, practice makes perfect.””

When I brought this book home to review, my wife Irene, a second-grade teacher at El Sereno Elementary School, immediately pounced and staked a claim to it. Two days later, she brought home the results of her first experiment with it, taken from a suggestion in the “Make a List” chapter. Given the assignment to write down “Five Ways to Make Your Teacher Mad,” her students jumped right in and “were very enthusiastic as they worked.”

The assignments reflect their joy, their glee--and their newfound zeal to get words down on paper. The students had plenty of ideas on the subject; more important for Irene, those who don’t write well wrote as much as those who do: “I will put a cat in her pants.” “I wud put glue on her chair.” “I won’t do my work.” “I will woopie cushian and frog in her cup.” Even less savory suggestions were offered with equal enthusiasm.

Classical education traditionalists need not be put off by Kaye’s games; there is method in her madness. These games--”teaching exercises” if you prefer--are a supplement to traditional teaching methods, not a replacement. The games are designed to foster enthusiasm for learning, to develop the mind-muscle that grows with the pleasure of learning new and challenging things.

The games in this book are meant to be played --emphasis added by Kaye and seconded by me--and be fun for time-pressed families. You can do them while waiting in line at the supermarket or in the few minutes before supper. And as the author writes, “If you don’t enjoy a particular activity, just flip through the pages until you find one more to your liking.” I guarantee you will.