Football Writing Activities - Raising Lifelong Learners

Need some help in motivating your boys to get their writing done? Try these great football writing activities.

I’m not really that much of a football fan, but my husband and kids are very excited when it’s time to watch the big game. I try {often unsuccessfully} to get in the spirit and integrate the kids’ interests into our homeschool — and football season is no different.

Events like this can be an excellent opportunity to draw boys into academics they dislike without them realizing it. Let’s face it, young boys are not always interested schoolwork. They would rather be outside building forts, throwing balls or playing with worms.

And rightfully so…

With fall sports upon us why not integrate football into their homeschool with football writing activities? Your kids will be excited to write about their favorite football player, and you’ll have some great buy-in for your writing lessons.

Football Writing Activity

Ask your kids to choose their favorite football player.
Head to the library and find a short biography about that player. Even if your kids are in junior high, let them read an easy book for this project. This is not a reading lesson — it’s a writing lesson.
As your kids read their biographies, have them take notes on things that are interesting to them. You may not think their choices are interesting, but that’s okay… this isn’t about you. It’s about motivating them to write.
Let your child choose five details to include in a one-paragraph paper. This encourages critical thinking because they need to decide what to keep and what to get rid of.
Have your child put the details they choose into a cohesive order that flows with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Now that your kids’ thoughts are organized, have them pull it all together into a rough draft. Remind your kiddos that they need to make sure their paragraphs have a topic sentence. Then, they need to make sure they have a conclusion that repeats key information from that topic sentence.
Set it aside for a day or two.
Depending on your children’s ages and abilities, have them go back and edit their work, then write or type a final draft. You may want to help them with the editing and revising process.

Photo Credit: Pam at edSnapshots

Some Other Football Writing Activities

Need other ideas for super bowl writing prompts? Try sharing these with your kids:

You’ve just inherited ownership of a professional football team. You have the opportunity to choose some of your favorite football players in free agency. Write about your first year as a team owner.
What is your favorite football memory? Why do you think this memory has stuck with you?
You are planning the best Super Bowl party ever! Describe it. Who will come? What will you serve? How will you make it epic?
You have won tickets to the big game — on the 50-yard line! Yo get to meet the players and coaches before the game. How does it go? What was your most memorable experience? Describe your day.
All of your friends and family are coming over for the biggest and best game of backyard football there has ever been. Describe it. What were the teams like? Was it a fair game? Who won? What was the game-winning play like?
You are the coach of the worst professional football team to ever take the field. You have one year to whip them into shape and change the reputation of this team. What do you do? What are the day to day practices like? Who do you enlist to help you? How does your team perform at their first game of the season? What is the season’s outcome?

How Well Does This Work?

What do you think? When you are interested in an activity, project, or book, do you take more pride in what you are doing?

I know I do. It’s so much easier to write about topics that I love. It’s one of the many reasons I’ve recently written about creative kids’ activities and have so many books about hands-on science.

Your kids are like that, too. No matter what the subject is, they are more likely to buy into it if it’s based on their interests. The elementary and middle school years are the perfect time to let your kids write about topics of their choice. High school comes so quickly, and it will be more important then that they write on assigned topics related to their studies.

What are some of the ways you motivate your boys to work on subjects they might not like, such as writing? Share your tips in the comments.