With the release of movies like ?Madagascar?, children have become all the more keen to travel through exotic and adventurous destinations. While Madagascar is not considered to be the most popular family destination, a trip to other places like Costa Rica or Kenya can prove to be an invaluable fun-filled learning experience, well within your budget. Costa Rica serves a dual purpose as your children can learn Spanish as they explore the lush green rain forests or erupting volcanoes. Even Kenya can be a good option, as the family can learn to speak a little Swahili while exploring the rare glimpse of the mass migration of the wild beasts. You can enjoy your vacation with children listening to the sounds from within the rainforests, as well as relaxing under the star-studded sky on a safari that would be certainly more interesting for the whole family.

Eastern cities like Beijing, Seoul and Bangkok are also part of the list of favorite destinations with children, in terms of adventure. The holiday can prove to be a learning and entertainment experience, as one can see the Great Wall and learn about different cultures. Different food, different money and an altogether different way of life can be highly entertaining for you. But, entry to the country could probably take a considerable amount of time, so plan your trip well ahead of time to ensure a smooth trip to your chosen destination.

European cities such as Italy have also gained tremendous popularity over the years, but a trip might be a little too expensive. However, the Western Europe country trips generally come with discounts and amenities. You can experience a different culture. You can explore the ruins of Pompeii and go on a Gondola ride in Venice or taste delicious Italian sweets in Florence. Most Western European families enjoy vacations to countries like Italy. This gives them an opportunity to explore their ancestors.

The Caribbean is the next best holiday spot with children. Basking in the sun, playing in the sand and swimming in the deep blue water are the local indulgences that also form the basic reason for a number of families visiting this place. The holiday spot is blessed with plenty of sun, sand and water. Jamaica is full of fascinating natural beauty that is breathtaking. With white sandy beaches, black volcanic mountains and deep red sunsets, the island has evolved into a tourist?s paradise.

Hawaii as a holiday destination is also very popular with a number of children visiting the place every year. It also offers sun, sand and water in abundance, along with all kinds of summer and water sport activities ranging scuba diving to swimming with the dolphins. You can also go whale watching. Besides having fun with your family, you can also acquaint yourself more closely with the volcanic geology of Hawaii.

No matter where you plan to go for your next family vacation, do not limit yourself. Always try to explore the place to its fullest and get as foot loose and fancy free as possible. Select a destination that will be stimulating and fulfilling for your entire family. But, do not forget to plan your trip properly, as a trip to the most fascinating destination too can be very stressful without proper planning.

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So, let’s take a look at children as characters.

In picture books, no description of the characters is necessary. Picture books are highly visual and therefore all characters are obvious from the illustrations. When writing picture books, you have a limited number of words to work with and you can’t afford to waste words on unnecessary description.

The same can be said of easy readers and chapter books. These books still contain a lot of illustrations and a limited word count. Description should be restricted to what is essential to the plot.

For example, if you’re writing about a child who is bothered by their appearance - wearing glasses or being too small - then a limited amount of description is necessary.

A general guideline when writing these shorter books for young children is to only include what is essential for the story to make sense.

To make your character seem real to the reader you must think of him or her as a real person. People are around us every day. It’s useful to take bits and pieces from the people we know to create our characters. Be careful to always mix and match. Never use an entire person in a novel. That person may not appreciate it.

Always avoid stereotypes. They are boring and unimaginative. They are an example of lazy writing. Be creative.

A character comes alive through their actions and dialogue. Actions, in particular, will show a character’s personality. What they do and how they react largely depends on their personality, background and experience.

For example, a child who has been bitten by a dog will react differently when confronted by a strange dog than a child who has never experienced this trauma.

Believable characters always act consistently.

For example, in my book Working Like a Dog, Lucia wants new rollerblades. Her parents won’t buy them for her. She must save the money herself or go without. So Lucia decides to start a dog-walking service to earn money for new rollerblades. Later in the story Lucia loses two of the dogs. She worries about the dogs and spends a lot of time searching for them.

The action in this story shows Lucia’s character. She’s a likeable responsible young lady. She is prepared to earn the money to buy new rollerblades. She could have stolen the money or rollerblades. She could have bullied other children for their lunch money. She could have nagged her grandmother into giving her money or rollerblades.

When she loses the dogs, she could have left them to find their own way home. She could have lied to the owners about losing them.

Lucia is responsible when she decides to earn money to buy her own rollerblades. When she loses the dogs she is responsible and searches for them until she finds them.

Lucia acts consistently and her behaviour is believable.

Imagine if Lucia decided to lie to the dog owners about knowing what happened to their precious pooches. She could say that the dogs were missing when she went to walk them. This element of the plot would probably be hard to swallow considering what we already know about Lucia. She would suddenly seem unbelievable.

It is essential to know what your character wants - their motivation. And why they want it. Your character’s goal must be something that readers can relate to and care about.

Your readers must care about your character and be interested in their plight. Otherwise there is a good chance they’ll put your book down and never return to it.

You, the writer, must care about your character. If you don’t care about him or her then you can’t expect your readers to care either. To care about your character you need to know him or her well.

Sometimes writers use a habit or habits in an attempt to make a character appear real. Habits can take the form of action and dialogue. Maybe a character chews their nails or adds the word “like” to the beginning of too many sentences or wears a particular type of clothing.

Be careful when giving your characters habits. Too many habits can distract the reader from your story and become an annoyance.

Characters should be kept to a minimum in children’s fiction. Too many characters can confuse our young readers.

As children’s books become longer and your audience older, there is more room for character development. But it is important to remember that every word in your book should be essential to the plot.

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A very important element in the construction of a piece of creative writing is a strong beginning. If the opening is not catchy, then readers will fairly rapidly lose interest.

Children tend to have a short attention span and want to be quickly engrossed in a story.

This can be difficult for the author when they are introducing characters and storyline.

One option for a catchy opening could be a flash back paragraph which promises more exciting things to come.

I also find that opening with a conversation is quite a good maneuver.

You want to get the children turning pages. You do not want to lose them on the first page!

The body of the creative writing piece should intrigue and excite the reader.

Every chance to create drama should be seized. In fact, once you have written about an incident, go back over it several times, each time adding extra drama. If you are writing a fantasy children’s book for example, anything goes, so dig deep into your imagination and bring out the most fantastic thing you can think of. The idea is to excite and intrigue. Drama involves conflict to make people care about your characters and your story.

Lead up to dramatic and suspenseful situations with care. The right mood has to be created and the timing has to be spot on. The reader wants to be tantalized, but not bored. The priming of the reader for the dramatic event makes the event even more exciting. Afterwards there should be a lull in the pace as the story moves towards the next dramatic development. All the time there should be a promise of more exciting things to come.

For more exciting creative writing, put in a variety of moods.

Children respond very well to humor. Humor in the right place can relieve tension and make a character more likeable. Of course, care should be taken with the use of humor (unless you are actually wanting to confront the reader) to ensure it is not inappropriate.

Sad situations have their place in a children’s book too. However, sadness should be followed by something positive and optimistic - a lesson has been learnt and/or the characters have had some sort of spiritual awakening. Both the characters in the story and the reader can smile once again.

Your children’s book concludes when all the loose ends have been tied up. Read the story through several times to make sure that nothing remains that is unexplained.

The ending should be strong and leave the reader satisfied. The reader should be wondering about the lives of the characters and hopefully wanting to meet them again. That of course, gives you the opportunity for the sequel!

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Not all ideas are equal.

Some ideas work well and become books. Some ideas fail to develop.

So how do we take an idea and develop it into a plot for a children?s book? How do we work out what to write once we have the initial idea?

Here?s a basic plot outline:

1. A main character is introduced.
2. The main character?s problem is revealed.
3. Obstacles stand between the main character and their goal.
4. The main character reacts and new obstacles arise.
5. The main character reacts again and new obstacles arise. The tension is mounting.
6. All seems lost. But wait!
7. All is resolved as the story is brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

It?s important to remember that a plot is supposed to help the writer and reader. Don?t adhere too closely to the above plot outline if it hinders your writing.

Some writers prefer to work with a plot outline. Some writers don?t give plot a thought until they?ve finished the first draft. Do what works for you.

Let?s look at some important elements of plot.

The best plots come from characters. It’s a character’s personality, background and experiences that determine how he or she will react to certain situations, events or people.

As a writer, you can come up with an idea. Where your idea goes - the plot - depends on your characters. Every idea can go off in many directions. More on this in a minute.

A plot needs conflict or a problem to be interesting and entertaining. Sure, I can sit here and tell you the “plot” of my day. Ho hum! No one cares, other than me, and possibly my dogs.

However, if I go outside and find a lion in my backyard, you’d probably become interested in my day. My day has a conflict or problem. What am I going to do? How am I doing to solve this problem? Can I solve this problem? Or will I become lion lunch?

Okay, back to the character. Me. Imagine I’ve been abusing my dogs? Huh! They’re asleep on my bed. Anyway, imagine that I’m abusive to animals. You’d probably be rooting for the lion, hoping that I get my just desserts. Or hoping that the lion gets its just desserts. Me!

Now imagine that I’m a little old lady who takes in poor orphaned children and cats. Er small, domestic cats. You’d probably be rooting for me (and my brood), hoping that the nasty lion goes away hungry.

The direction this plot takes depends on the main character - their personality, background and experiences. Animal abuser or little old lady with orphans? The animal abuser might feed her dogs to the lions then try to escape. The little old lady would probably feed herself to the lions to save the orphans ? as a last resort.

Every character has motivation ? a reason to be in the story. The main character has motivation that the reader cares about i.e. the little old lady saving herself and her poor orphans from being lion lunch.

Sometimes it?s the motivation of other characters that become obstacles to the main character reaching his or her goal i.e. the next-door neighbour wants the old lady and orphans to move out and therefore tries to assist the lion. He probably put the lion there in the first place.

The best plots have tension. It?s the tension that keeps a reader involved in a story, that keeps them turning the pages. Most of us have had the feeling ?I need to know what happens next?.

The little old lady is about to be eaten. No, she?s not. Yes, she is. No, she’s not.

Keep building the tension. Your main character has a problem. They try to fix their problem. But the problem gets worse. They try to fix their problem. But problem gets worse. They try to fix the problem. Yay! They finally solve their problem.

As you can see, every scene in a plotted story follows logically from the previous one. Plot makes the scenes appear connected.

A picture book has simpler plots.

For instance, “Tom is afraid of water” then took that idea off in many directions. The plot of this children’s story comes from the character - Tom.

How Tom will react to being afraid of water depends on Tom’s personality, background and experiences. Other characters can become part of his problem or obstacles to resolving the problem.

I thought about water and related topics. Then I asked myself questions - to give me ideas.

I followed each of these ideas to see what could happen next. Hopefully, one of these possibilities will appeal to me and I?ll choose that one to work on.

Remember a plot is about a character with a problem. Make that problem BIG. And if your story begins to snooze, then give your character more problems.

As I mentioned earlier, one idea can go off in many directions. You may prefer to work with a list. This happens. Then this happens. Then this happens. You may prefer to work without a plot. Give your character obstacles, not yourself. Do what works for you.

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? Birthdays
? Graduations
? Christmas presents
? Religious occasions such as christenings, baptisms, dedications, confirmations, communions, bah mitzvahs
? Other occasions.

The Internet opens a wealth of opportunities to shop online. Take advantage of online reviews to read about what children?s gifts and toys are popular to help you decide on what to buy. Children can even create their own gift registry so that you can find out exactly what they want and are in need of. Here are some popular children?s gift and toy options that are a hit with the kids and are also readily available online:

1) NFL lockers
2) Floam
3) TV dance mat
4) Pool shark

When shopping for children?s gifts and toys, look for something with a good return policy incase the child on your list receives a duplicate. NFL lockers are a great gift for any boy?s bedroom or playroom. They feature the logo of the favorite team and a nameplate in a locker that can be a great tool to help organize the football fan?s bedroom. He?s going to love being able to look at his name on the official looking locker name plate and have a place to hang his things, store his football and other items as well as put things away in the compartment. This is a great gift!

Floam is a fantastic item for a crafty kid. This stuff is made of small micro beads that you can shape and play with. You can wrap Floam over other things, create shapes and animals and easily express artistic talent. It is removable, colorful and best of all, non-toxic. This is great children?s gift and toy for girls, especially.

The TV Dance Mat is a hit for kids and adults. It connects to your television set and lets everyone play the popular dancing arcade game right in their living room or playroom. There are several games and songs and you can get really competitive while doing a great cardio workout! Many parents complain that video games keep their children sedentary but this game encourages calorie burning for anyone who plays it.

The Pool Shark is another popular children?s gift and toy that can create a laugh at the pool or beach when the shark chases all the swimmers out of the water.

Children?s Gifts and toys are everywhere. They?re not hard to find but you do want to find an age appropriate gift that that child on your list will like you can do a little bit of online research to find the perfect gift. If you are aiming to surprise someone with a gift and don?t know what to get, speak to other kids that age for some hints and tips.

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I can remember, as a child, when we would have the childrens book of the month club in our school. Ever month we would go home with an order form that would be chock full of the latest and greatest books for children. When that order came in we would absolutely devour those books. It was always an exciting time. I feel sorry for children that do not have that same love for books as I did when I was a youngster. Fortunately some people are not allowing that to happen to their child, or grandchild.

There are plenty of services out there that now offer a book of the month club that is specifically geared toward the younger reader. If you have young children or perhaps know someone that does they can really benefit from having such a subscription. Giving the gift of reading is a very precious thing, and when you watch a child grow up loving books it adds so much more to their lives than when they only have the video games and TV to fill the quiet moments.

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Writing children?s literature is a great way to break into the writing market. There is an opening for a wide range of topics because the readers range from toddler to young adult. It?s up to you to figure out what best suits your writing and your ideas. You just have to figure out what you want to write about.

Magazines

Magazines can be the perfect place to break in with your short stories. When you write in magazines it?s the perfect way to build your writing credentials and it also helps to establish you as a professional writer. You don?t just have to publish short stories either. You can publish poetry, verse, puzzles, fiction or non fiction. Books can take for ever to hit the market but with magazine articles you can have your work published in months if not weeks sometimes.

Magazines are a perfect place to get specialty pieces published. As we all know most magazines limit their focuses on specific content.

Magazines aren?t only limited in their content. The intended audiences of most periodicals are limited to particular age levels and genders. Babybugs intended audience is toddlers while the Keynoter is aimed at high school students. Boys Life is geared to boys and Hopscotch is a magazine for girls.

Some magazines devote entire issues to a focused topic or theme. It?s in your best interest to read a magazine that you intend to publish to. Make sure your familiar with the magazine and what kind of content it will accept. Make sure you understand the publisher?s contents. You also want to make sure you know when the magazine publishes. This way you can plan ahead with your stories.

Many writers have gotten their start by writing in magazines. Writing for children can definitely be the easiest genre to follow if you want to follow your dreams.

Dale Mazurek

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Children hate it when they can?t check out the book they want because it?s going to be too hard for them to read. That as why as writers we write what?s called easy readers. There for kids that are in the in between stage of reading. There still developing their skills but they want to read. So we have to get them reading a good story through easy readers and then we will have them reading for life.

Easy readers are books that are a step up from picture books. Even though adults are still the primary buyers of easy readers the books themselves are intended for children in kindergarten to grade 3. An easy reader usually runs about 64 pages long and is formatted very differently. The story is usually divided into sections that are meant to resemble chapters.

There are some pictures in easy readers but they don?t mean as much as they did in picture books. Plots are kept simple by focusing on one main character and only one event. It is important to know that the characters must be children and children will always solve all conflicts. Kids at this age don?t mind reading cross gender stories.

You have to use humor, suspense or action to keep the children interested and keep the stories moving. You have to remember that these kids are just starting school so there is a whole new world opening up to them. There are so many topics to write about at this point. All you have to do is open your eyes and you can write about what you see.

Dialogue is used very freely when it comes to easy readers. Dialogue is a very important way to keep the story moving. It also helps to keep a lot of whit space on the page thus making it easier for the children to get through a page. You have to still use proper sentence structure but you have to keep them simple. There are no specified vocabulary lists because children are learning how to sound out words at this age. However you don?t want to make things too difficult.

To sum it up while developing an idea for your story make sure you keep the plot simple and limit your main characters to no more than 2. Once you are done your manuscript should be 20 to 25 double spaced pages.

Dale Mazurek

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Most children that are given a teddy bear when they are young keep them for many years. It means a lot to kids, when they are given something they can hold on to for years. Many times children have tattered bears on their bed and in their rooms. These are the bears that mean the most!

Some parents try to throw out the bears, but most children are upset by this. This stuffed animal means a lot to them and most if able will dig the teddy out of the trash. Tattered as they are and some with stuffing coming out, they still love them and sleep with them.

Some nameable teddy bears are Thatcher and Tennyson. These two bears are the perfect gift to give a small child. They are between fourteen and eighteen inches in length, a great size for them to hold and play with.

Thatcher is a smooth soft cuddly bear, while Tennyson has fur that looks to be curly. Tennyson is not quite as soft as Thatcher, but all in all they both are cuddly in their own way.

There is no greater joy than seeing a face of a child when they open a gift of a teddy bear. Teddy bears can be given any time. You do not need a reason to give a teddy bear. Giving a teddy bear as a ?just because? gift is the best, the surprise is greater on the face of a child.

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Stuffy words create a resistance in the reader. Avoid the use of grandiose words in your creative writing - ?use? is preferable to ?utilize?. If you are writing a children?s book, you can be sure that if a child has to consult a dictionary too often, they will soon lose interest in your book.

Avoid using excessive words. After you?ve written a scene, go back over it and ruthlessly chop out words that do not add anything to the action. Think carefully if what you?ve written really enhances your story or detracts from it.

Know who your readers are and the words in everyday life. Be careful of using jargon not appropriate for your readers. When writing for children, know the language of your readers. Expressions can quickly lose fashion, and expressions that were in vogue when you were young are quite likely ‘out? now. Words can date your writing e.g. authoress, air hostess are now author and flight attendant. If you use cool words to be right up to date, you risk dating your work so that in ten years time it sounds old-fashioned. If we were to read the word groovy in a book today, we would know that it comes from the 1960s era.

On the other hand, children quickly spot a fraud. If you do not feel comfortable using the jargon of the day, then do not! It is no use throwing in the expression ‘fully sick’ if the rest of your writing does not have the same tone.

Beware of dangling clauses.

For example: After eating all over America, that restaurant is my favorite.

In this example it reads as if the restaurant has been eating all over America. In every scene there should only be one witness. Beware of head hopping. It makes for very untidy writing to have more than one person per scene giving their observations.

For example: James wondered if Martha would really eat the strange fruit. He watched as she picked it off the branch and as she studied it intently. She took a big bite. Purple juices ran down her chin. James was astonished to see that her face was changing shape.

In the above example we see the scene through the eyes of James.

The use of active voice makes your work more dramatic. Active voice has more authority than passive voice because the verb becomes stronger.

Example of Passive - I was hit on the head by a giant pod.

Example of Active - A giant pod hit me on the head.

The use of onomatopoeia in children?s books is always well received. Children love words like sizzle, boom, bang and splatter - hence the success of the cartoon series Batman and Robin.

The above ideas are just some of the ways you can spice up your creative writing. However remember, in children?s books less is always more.

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