I is for Imagination

Welcome to my 2020 Blogging A-Z April Challenge. Each day, I will post a brief Journal On! Daily Writers’ Workshops lesson and prompt. Teachers, parents, and students may use the material to encourage daily writing practice, spark insight, and embrace mindful reflection.   

Imagination is a beautiful gift. We can bring our thoughts to places we have never been, discover our wishes, and plot how to get to those wishes. Imagination can range from the mundane to the fantastic. We can imagine the absurd, like flying without wings or an airplane. There are practical imaginations, like rearranging the furniture in a room.

Play gives our imagination practice. Young children pretend to be princesses or superstars. The use of capes, tiaras, and other props urge the imaginary world along. As children grow older, exploring and discovering overshadows the pretending. Imagination can flourish in endless directions. Discoveries were born of an imagined spark. If we can imagine, we can do. 

Let’s imagine and journal on.

1. Primary Prompt: What you like to pretend to be? Do you imagine yourself as a race car driver, an ocean sailor, or a jungle explorer? What do you imagine to do and see as this pretend person? Will you win races, discover remote Islands, or save a wild animal? Draw yourself as the imagined character. Include the specialized equipment you may need. Does your name change? Do you have friends helping you, or is there an enemy blocking your adventure? Label the details in your picture. Write about your imagined self.
2. Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate Prompt: Superheroes are fun to imagine. Real life superheroes are all around us. This is especially true now during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our community firefighters, EMTs, doctors, nurses, hospital support staff, grocery clerks, postal workers, and so forth are the essential workers that show up and help us get through this crisis. Perhaps you know one of these people. Let’s imagine our real life heroes in superhero costumes, with superhero skills and gadgets. You may need to draw your superhero first. Describe how the superhero looks and how his/ her extraordinary power affects your world. Don’t forget those cool gadgets. All superheroes have cool gadgets. Let a story flow out of this prompt.

Until tomorrow, Everyone.