Understanding and recognising metaphors is one thing. Designing your own is another. Until you have a working knowledge of how metaphors function, they can often obscure a literary image, rather than paint a vivid picture for the reader. These worksheets introduce students into effective metaphors and break down their effects. Then, they show you how they can be made and how you can do the same. There is also an extra worksheet on the ways metaphors can become messy or confusing if not used carefully. In four simple steps, these worksheets will give you and your students the confidence and experience to use beautiful figurative phrases with ease.

The right title can make all the difference to inspiring writing in children. Here are three pages worth of playful composition prompts for both narrative and descriptive writing.

How best to learn/teach the correct uses of colons and semi-colons? Possibly the most confused and misused punctuation of all! Here’s how: the LinkyThinks videos and worksheet guides. They use emoji faces to give a simple, funny explanation of where these pesky punctuation parks should go. The winking eyes represent the semi-colon and give a clue to their job. The staring eyes represent colons and tell you what they are looking out for. Use these videos as classroom presentation tools or fun, playful revision at home.

How best to teach the many confusing rules of the apostrophe? This video compares it to a bumblebee, landing on different sides of a letter for different reasons. As with all LinkyThinks resources, the playful approach makes the topic easier to learn, easier to teach and easier to remember. The video can be used as a classroom presentation tool or gentle revision at home. Worksheet included.

A really easy ‘life-hack’ for mature writing, is to think about rhythm. By simply varying the lengths of each sentence, being mindful of how each differs from the last, a piece of writing will go from stale to stylish. This resource contains a simple demonstration of the concept, with a fun, cutting-and-sticking activity to go with it. This allows for some top-standard modeling before students apply the concept to their own work.

A beautifully illustrated activity for developing visual, descriptive writing skills. By comparing boring and interesting sentences, this tool connects writing with the concept of ‘painting a picture’ in a reader’s mind. Each sentence comes with a corresponding drawing; one which is basic, boring and lacking detail. The other, vibrant, intricate and memorable. This activity combines drawing with writing to motivate more ambitious description. Perfect for creative kids who struggle to express themselves verbally.

Ever get stuck on coming up with interesting, unique characters to fit into a story? There are many ways to design a note-worthy protagonist, whether it’s something unexpected, something noble, something spooky or just something as ordinary as can be. Here is a fun, illustrated guide, for display or a classroom activity, that will inspire and provoke.

A story can be simple, as long as it takes the reader on some sort of emotional or imaginative journey. Think of it as changes in temperature throughout the narrative. this flow chart shows the many ways of progressing a story, with reasonable starting points and curious endings. Story ‘mountains’ are limited and only describe one type of narrative arc. Writing hot and cold takes you wherever you want to go, while keeping the reader intrigued.

Not all kids love to read. Perhaps the ipad is more appealing. As much as you try, there are helpful ways and unhelpful ways to motivate a love of literature in your child and here is a free, compiled list of helpful ways.