“Kids have the most imaginative ideas, but turning them into stories can sometimes feel like hard work. It shouldn’t be. Bringing amazing ideas to life should only be fun. At this difficult time, I wanted to give kids a fun story writing challenge and at the same time, offer them a few tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way, to turn their fantastic creations into stories that hat everyone can enjoy.”
You can access the course here.
You can find out more about all of the courses offered by BBC Maestro here.
With that in mind BBC Maestro, the online learning platform from the BBC has a free online course for children aged 7-12, specifically created as an additional resource for parents, teachers and children to help inspire kids to get writing.
There are other courses available for a fee and future courses will be presented by Malorie Blackman and Julia Donaldson to name just two.
• For children aged 7-12
• Entries must be no more than 500 words max
• All submissions will be entered into a draw.
• 20 children (split into two groups of 10 aged 7-9 and 10-12) will be selected at random from the entries.
• Winning entrants will be invited to a special creative writing session with David.
• As a keepsake, each winner will be given an illustrated book cover of their story, framed and signed by David.
• Deadline for entries: 31st of March 2021
• Prize draw winners announced May 1, 2021
The course is made up of 12 mini video lessons, giving a step by step guide to creating your own story. With a full course time of under an hour it is perfect to keep young mind engaged. There’s also a downloadable 15 page activity book to help spark ideas.
20 entries will be selected at random and their authors will have the opportunity to attend a writing session with David Walliams and will be given an illustrated front cover for their story, framed and signed as a keepsake.
BBC Maestro said:
Children who take the course can submit their one-page stories to www.bbcmaestro.com and each week a random sample will be showcased on BBC Maestro social channels over the coming weeks.
Key Information
Hosted by David Walliams, the Mini Maestro course is designed to entertain and inspire children to create their own stories, and give parents and children a valuable resource to keep young minds engaged.
David Walliams had this to say about the course:
“David’s BBC Maestro course is such an incredible, inspirational and hugely entertaining tool for aspiring adult writers, we asked David if he could find a way to create a version for kids, to give them something fun and inspiring to do during lock-down. David’s Mini Maestro writing course invites kids into David’s amazing world of writing through his fantastic child friendly lessons. We want it to be something hugely compelling for kids and hopefully helpful to parents and teachers as a free resource, at this challenging time.”
As we all know, lockdown has been a challenge for everyone. Those with children will know the challenges they have faced and that the children have had to deal with. Home-schooling has become something that children have had to adapt to and keeping them engaged has become a full time job for parents everywhere.
