Princess Halina, Animal Rescuer, has super-powers, a secret cabin, blue hair and her motto is: “Be yourself: everyone else is already taken”…
Here is a simple way to get the imagination rolling, get some writing practice done, and draw and color/paint your very own special superhero. I was surprised at how Captain reacted to this simple prompt: “Create a superhero character. Draw, label, or write about what powers that person has, or can do.” Basically, she thought about it for about a minute before she started spewing out a list of exciting possibilities. I sat on the opposite side of the counter from her, with a paper and pencil ready, and made notes as quickly as possible. She really enjoyed that I was “her assistant note-taker” and felt free to just brainstorm. It was really fun! Afterward, she sketched her character in pencil and then colored her in with markers. She wanted to copy the notes in pen, as she was sure she wouldn’t need to erase a single thing. She was right! We did this activity a couple of days ago, and she is still talking about it and adding to the story. Princess Halina, Animal Rescuer, seems to have empowered her creator and I can’t wait to see where it goes! *On a side note, I believe that an adult offering to just be an “assistant” or “note-taker” for early writers is very valuable. They feel special, and the freedom to just go with their ideas without having to fiddle with handwriting is priceless!
Here is part one of Captain’s Superhero Description:
“My Superhero, Princess Halina, is a girl who saves animals. She wears a yellow dress and crown, and sometimes a yellow cape. Her super powers are to read minds (but only when wearing her yellow cape, dress and crown), shoot lights out of her fingers (to blow things up), and she can make a light so bright that nobody can see except her, when she is wearing her goggles (which magically appear). She also has another secret, secret power that nobody knows about yet…
Princess Halina has a secret cabin where she can hide animals when she’s helping them, and to keep them safe from creepy people who want to steal them. She needs a lot of powers to defeat the bad guys. Ten people have already told Princess Halina “Be yourself: everyone else is already taken” and she really knows it!”
I also feel that creating a superhero can help kids work out some of their fears about things like “bad guys” and “creepy people”. Incidentally, the quote above is from Oscar Wilde and was our family “quote of the week” last week. It was sweet that she incorporated it into her creation.
This one gets a gold star for simplicity and fun. I hope you’ll try it with your own kids, and we would love to hear about it here on Kartwheels.
Powerful, blue-haired thoughts to all,
Karen
Kartwheels 
We do this alot for brainstoroming projects with my son,12, who has difficulties with fine motor skills due to his disability. Although the content would be different from superheros we enjoy the sharing. Its amazing who that little task can be so daunting.
Do you prompt your son with anything to get the brainstorming ideas going and then make notes?
He tends to come up with s lot of great ideas on his own. Sometimes i help pulled the idea out a little more for him by asking question or reading back an idea he had. In my work with individuals with learning challenges I would give them paper and markers. they would draw there ideas versus write them (amazing art work). From that we would discuss the pictures and make our notes. I would ask specific questions about the picture to further pull out the ideas. I use this technique with my daughter sometimes as she finds it difficult to find the words she is looking for right away. She loves art so it makes less painful .
I think you are right that starting with the visual before tackling the mechanics of writing etc is so freeing for kids. How many times will an adult grab a paper and sketch a quick idea before writing out all of the technical parts? To be free with paper and markers to just get ideas going is a terrific idea. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Karen
Captain’s character is pretty cool! I think this prompt would be beneficial for all kids!
I think a prompt about anything that interests or excites kids will get the ball rolling, especially when the assistant does all of the initial writing! š
I like this one! Will try with my kiddos and let you know how it goes. Thanks for posting
Great! We would love to see hear about what they come up with and how it goes. Thanks for writing!
What a creative kid! I really like the idea of the grown-up as the assistant note-taker. I have so many students that struggle with writing and this is a great solution! Thanks for the idea š
Thanks for writing! Captain sometimes tells me that she is kind of “jealous” of how quickly I can write something down and letting he know that I have had a LOT of practice doesn’t seem to help and she will shut down. Being off the “hook” with the initial writing part is kind of freeing for her I think and we will try to do it more often, as she gets enough writing in for now. I hope your students enjoy creating superheroes, I would love to peek in and find out what other kids come up with ! Take good care, Karen
I LOVE Princess Halina’s motto! I might tattoo that on my kids…
Ha ha! I might just have to tattoo it on me! š
First sentence, rewrite…..I love princess Halina! I love her motto and especially the way her feet barely touch the ground….that’s why her powers are so strong….why didn’t I see this before??
This is from Judi
I think you were on vacation š