30 creative writing prompts for kids
All children love listening to stories and as they get older their urge to tell their own stories grows too. For some kids (often those we call ‘born writers’) this is an easy thing to do. They grab a piece of paper and a pencil and off they go. For others, it’s a little trickier. They know they have the words inside them, but gettting their ideas out can be hard going.
Writing prompts are a simple way to squeeze all the goodness out. They are simply ideas that start a story or outline a story and the child. They can be a picture (story stones are good for this), paragraph, sentence or just an idea. Think of them as a kick-start to creativity.
- Writing prompts take the terror of the blank page away – even just writing out the prompt on that blank sheet can be enough to get a child going.
- They are fantastic for bring new ideas to life for kids who tend to write about the same things again and again (many children get fixated on their favourite characters).
- They are a great way to get into a regular writing habit. Keep an exercise book just for stories based on the writing prompts. It’s fun to look back, especially when you receive the same prompt more than once.
- Writing prompts are a fun way to spend an afternoon and not just writing one story. Set a timer, write like crazy and see what comes out. You can churn through a few prompts in an afternoon and it’s a great exercise to speed up slow writers.
I’ve made a printable sheet of 30 creative, thoughtful writing prompts for you to print out and cut out. Put them into a drawstring bag and ask your child to pull out a prompt. Talk about the prompt or just get straight to it, it’s up to you. If your child is just starting out with writing, use the prompts to help them write a sentence or even just a word.
Click on the image below to download your pdf to get started.
