70 Printable Creative Writing Prompts for Kids

Engage in writing while using one of 70 creative writing prompts for kids that describe interesting techniques and offer captivating scenarios!

Compose a haiku or an acrostic; learn the use of alliteration, simile, and onomatopoeia; pen a letter to yourself in 5 years; brainstorm, summarize, and draft Venn diagrams; make a list of things to pack for an excursion to an uninhabited island; and many more!

Between handwriting, spelling, and grammar, it is sometimes possible to overlook the very purpose of writing. Why do we write? I think that in most cases we do it to express ourselves. When we compose a letter, a text, or a social media post, we want to express ourselves to someone else; when we work on a diary or a grocery list, we do it for ourselves.

While teaching my children to write, I want to remember that handwriting, spelling, and grammar are means of writing, but it is expressing ourselves that is the goal. With that in mind, I have scheduled two days a week for spontaneous – creative and practical – writing this year.

Some weeks, my children have their own ideas. One time, my son came up with the idea of creating profiles of real-life insects, as seen by imaginary little people. Some insects seemed quite ferocious, and others were trainable! It was a fun project to work on, and he needed very little input from me. Other weeks, we do something related to whatever else we are studying that week. For instance, this week we’re doing a timeline of boats, a cross between our history topic of the month and my son’s current interest in boats. But there are times when both my children and I draw a blank as to what we could write about.

It was during one of these times that I came up with the idea of making a pack of creative writing prompts for kids. I wanted them to be imaginative and inspiring, filling young writers with enthusiasm for writing and offering a variety of engaging scenarios.

But I also wanted them to be accessible to teachers and parents. These printable writing prompts for kids are very easy to use spontaneously! Each prompt fits on one page. All the information needed to complete the prompt is available there as well. Just pull one out of the pile, and you are ready to go.

I thought they would be perfect for those days when my son and I would like to engage in writing for fun, but do not have any immediate ideas. Instead of taking a long time and deliberating what we could do, we could just print one of the prompts. They also work for the days when I want to give my son a task to complete on his own, though it is more fun to involve the whole family in writing.

We have used them for supplementing lessons as well. We have been using Brave Writer as one of our ELA programs this year. When working through the Charlotte’s Web study guide, we used our own onomatopoeia writing prompt and made a comic book page. This month, we were reading The Prairie Thief and, while studying the concept of simile, we completed a complimentary writing prompt.

There is a wide variety of creative writing prompts for kids inside the pack that could work for a variety of situations! There is a free sample of ten prompts in the end of the post.

About Creative Writing Prompts

The variety of activities presented in the pack should appeal to different interests, skills, and learning situations. Some of the writing prompts give students a selection of words to use, while others ask questions. Some are completely open-ended, and others include creative copywork, such as “would you rather?” questions. Some teach students to write poetry, and others acquaint them with literary devices.

These writing prompts were made with the elementary grades in mind, however they can be used by older students as well.

The first kind of prompts involves making lists. It is quite good for beginner writers. Lists don’t require much grammar or writing, but they can inspire some self-analysis, for instance, if a child is making a list of things they are good at. They can also be imaginative! “Make a list of things you would pack for a trip to an uninhabited island” is one of my son’s favourite prompts.

The second kind of prompts is geared toward children who are just beginning to write. These prompts give them words to copy, while offering some creative freedom to make their own choices. There are two pages of “Would you rather do this or that?” That one is just copywork, but because of some funny, intriguing, or downright outrageous choices, my son loves them. Would you rather have a pet dragon or a pet unicorn?

The third kind of prompt gives children sentences to finish. For instance, the prompt below gives them a few proverbs from around the world to finish. It is always fun to see what children come up with in that exercise! The forth type of prompts gives children a topic, then helps them develop their thoughts with a few questions.

Finish the Sentence and Answer the Question Prompts

The fifth type of prompts pairs writing with drawing. First, children follow a step-by-step tutorial and draw a picture, then write a sentence describing it.

The sixth kind of writing prompts introduces the idea of different genres of writing – get-well messages and invitations, wanted ads and advice columns, haiku and cinquains.

The seventh kind of prompts introduces a few literary devices that could enhance the quality of writing. They are also fun to notice while reading books! Children will learn about similes, alliterations, hyperbola, and so on. Writers will also be given a chance to make their own examples, right away.

The eighth kind of prompts combines writing with critical thinking.

And the last type of prompts are simply open-ended prompts.

I should also mention that there are four versions of the same prompt pack. Two different packs are ruled to include “beginner lines” and “standard lines”. You can pick whichever one works better for your student.

Two types of lines available - beginner line and standard line

They are also all available with either British or American spellings for words such as “favourite/favorite” or “colour/color”.

American English and British English writing prompts

In a Nutshell, Creative Writing Prompts Feature

70 creative writing prompts with a variety of subjects (make-a-list prompts, use-the-words prompts, draw-and-write prompts, finish-the-sentence prompts, answer-the-question prompts, prompts based around studying literary devices, prompts introducing different genres, prompts encouraging critical thinking alongside with writing, and open-ended imaginative prompts)
tailored towards elementary grades
two separate versions with beginner lines and standard lines
two separate versions – British English and American English
blank pages, in case your students need more space