Have A Go !
Ever thought of writing poetry or prose?
Where do you start ? Relax - it could be fun ! 
Here are some ideas to get you going. These can be used as parlour games of course. On a dark & cold winter's evening have some fun with friends and family. Give your brain a bit of exercise after Christmas dinner.
(1) To get you thinking about words - you have 60 seconds to jot down as many words as you can beginning with the letter.... (any letter of the alphabet, but maybe don't be mean and start with X)
(2) You have 2 minutes to write down as many words as you can think of beginning with a 2 letter sound - eg CH.
(3) You have 3 minutes to write down a list of words that you like. They could just be words you like the sound of. They could be long words , maybe the longest word you know. Short words which sound like their meaning, eg BUZZ. Words which are difficult to say or pronounce. Words in a foreign language. Slang words. Rude words. Old-fashioned words you don't use any more. Abbreviations. Words used in text messages. Acronyms.
Phew ! Get the idea ?
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You can try these games as many times as you like. Now you are into words, here's the next stage:
Choose a subject or an idea. You might want to start with something easy and move onto things which need more brain power, or should I say, word power ! Give everyone 5 minutes to write something about it. If they get too good at it, give them a 10 minute slot to write more. It doesn't have to be a poem, or rhyme. Don't think too hard, it should be off the cuff.
Here are a few examples to get you going:
'a knock at the door', 'behind the sofa', 'the January sales', 'a funny experience', 'a disaster' 'at the bottom of the garden', 'guess what happened on Sunday?'...
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