Camp Creek Blog

As the twig is bent, so grows the tree. Or so the saying goes.

In our home we want to encourage reading, writing, and drawing as daily activities, so we purposefully have several spaces that are very inviting for curling up with a book, drawing a picture, or writing a letter. (Or, this week, drawing a comic book.)

In the preschool and Kindergarten classroom (and sometimes, if you're lucky, older grades), there are usually "writing centers". Sometimes these areas are a bit school-ish (institutional) and perhaps big enough for several children.

We've devised small, personal writing centers in classrooms -- big enough for perhaps two children to work side-by-side. The best ones are the most home-like, utilizing a thrift-store or garage-sale wooden desk, with all the things you would find in a desk at home: stationery, envelopes, stamps (blank labels cut into squares, to be decorated by the sender), address book, etc. We've used old-fashioned rubber stamps and small canvas bags for delivering mail. And writing isn't only about mail -- we always stock our writing centers with small mini-books with decorative covers, clipboards for taking surveys and doing pretend office work, etc.

Even the smallest classroom (or home) can find a tiny corner for a desk that will beckon to children to sit down and write a letter, a poem, a book .. or a comic book. Even a large classroom (or home) could benefit from a small writing space. There is just nothing like a cozy nook to draw children in, whether it's a single floor cushion half hidden behind a curtain for reading or a tiny desk for writing.

soulemama's corner of my home: his desk

geninne's studio/homeschool

israel's desk

little birds' new drawing corner

maisie's desk

syko's drawing corner

duchamp blinks' desk