How To Share the Magic of Science for 900 Mini-Explorers
And beat the AI itch
“Hey man do you want to write on these kids to work day map blurbs? I was going to use AI, but I know you’re a writer so go for it”.
Absolutely I did. There were 11 opportunities, and 10 were published for the public. It wasn’t as easy as it seems, however, and I had strictures coupled with my own structure to make things particularly interesting. I loved every second of it.
First off, “absolutely no going over three lines. However many characters you can cram in there is fine, and the 310 Fire Station is fixed information for public safety. Everything else is up for grabs. I need this in a day.” First, I wrote basic summaries of each location based on situational recall. Easy enough. After that I scoured each location’s website for juicy clues on things kids might fight interesting. That to me was what this whole assignment boiled down to, is what I’m describing awesome in every sense of the word? Is it a magical must-see?
After finessing every finer detail, I then stress-tested my work under Mr. Rogers’ nine rules of writing for kids:
“State the idea you wish to express as clearly as possible, and in terms preschoolers can understand”
“Rephrase in a positive manner”
“Rephrase the idea, bearing in mind that preschoolers cannot yet make subtle distinctions and need to be redirected to authorities they trust”
“Rephrase your idea to eliminate all elements that could be considered prescriptive, directive, or instructive”
“Rephrase any element that suggests certainty”
“Rephrase your idea to eliminate any element that may not apply to all children”
“Add a simple motivational idea that gives preschoolers a reason to follow your advice”
“Rephrase your new statement, repeating the first step”
“Rephrase your idea a final time, relating it to some phase of development a preschooler can understand”
With that done, I had a solid foundation of writing to play with. I then wanted to bring on the rhymes, keeping in mind that language can at least by easy to read, and that kids are always bending words to entertain themselves. Sing-songy, alliterative, and phonetically fun were my guiding principles. I’ve written a musical or two, so I knew that the more I enjoyed reading these blurbs, so too would my audience.
And what a success it was, as hundreds of these guides were printed for about 900 young explorers, and 7 of the 10 persisted into the next year, a testament to my expert analog approach beating out the AI itch.
