Fun Writing Prompts

If you're looking for some fun writing prompts to inspire students and bring out their creativity, you're reading the right article.

It can be challenging to get kids一especially young ones一interested in writing. It's an activity that often requires a lot of consideration, patience, and concentration, which aren't always children's most developed characteristics... This is why creating fun writing prompts for students is a must.

Keep reading to get some great ideas for daily writing prompts and writing topics for students to help them get in touch with their creative side. Below you will find short story writing prompts and other creative writing prompts for students of every grade level that will encourage them to kick their imaginations into high gear and put their thoughts on paper (or the computer screen).

Time to get started!

Fun Writing Prompts: Elementary

Writers of all ages get writer's block, including children. Kids often experience writer's block when they have an assignment that's too broad or open-ended. This is why writing prompts for kids should be fun, easy to understand, and relatively straightforward. Taking the time to make fun writing prompts for elementary students will get their creative juices flowing and inspire them to write freely. 

A great way to integrate story starters for kids into your everyday lessons is to let the students select one new writing prompt each day. If you want to make the activity more challenging, encourage them to attempt writing for at least five minutes without stopping. Once they get used to that timeframe, start increasing it bit by bit.

Remember to reassure your students that there's no right or wrong way to write! For example, incorporating first grade journal writing prompts into your daily lesson plan gives students a starting point while allowing them to write whatever comes to mind. Any writing is good writing, especially at such a young age. 

If you're looking for free writing prompts for 1st grade students or lacking ideas for creative writing topics for grade 5 and below (elementary level), take a look at the following suggestions:

• The strangest dream I ever had was…
• When I become an adult, the first thing I want to do is…
• Describe your most unusual talent.
• My biggest goal in life is…
• Dear teacher, I would like to know…
• The happiest moment in my life was when…
• The person I admire the most is…
 • Describe the best present you have ever received.
• What is your favorite animal, and why?
• If I could change one thing about the world, it would be…

These social emotional journal prompts for elementary students will help improve their writing skills while encouraging inner reflection.

Fun Writing Prompts: Middle School

Writing skills are essential for building a solid educational foundation in children. However, if you're a teacher, you already know that! If you want to get your students to write regularly, you must show them that writing is not a dull, slow process but rather a fun and exciting activity for the imagination. One way of doing this is introducing them to journaling.

When creating engaging and fun writing prompts for middle school students, try giving them subjects that they can elaborate on and write about in a more advanced, detailed way. Often, middle school is when kids start discovering who they are and begin developing a deeper understanding of the world around them.

This is why regular journaling is an excellent practice for middle school students, as it allows them to wade through their thoughts and feelings. Of course, daily practice will also improve writing skills, which is a huge plus! Wondering how you can get your students to start journaling? Here are some quick writing prompts for middle school students:

• Describe a time when you helped someone. Why did you help them?
• What does it feel like to be wrong? What does it feel like to be right?
• Tell the story of the first time you did something. Examples: The first time you tried a particular food, the first time you went swimming, the first time you got sick.
• How would you describe your best friend? 
• If you could end one problem in the world, which one would you choose and why?
• Who are you in a group: the first person to speak up or the last one? Why?
• Write about something that your parents always tell you. Explain how you feel about it.
• Create a short story about two friends going on an adventure. It can be a real story from your life or a made-up story.

When you implement short story writing prompts for middle school students, it can also be fun to set up a “sharing hour” or a special place on Google Classroom where students can comment on their peers’ work.

Fun Writing Prompts: High School

The journey to self-discovery doesn't happen all at once, but high school-aged students certainly go through a lot of transformations. Students in this age range are often beginning to seriously consider what they want to do in life, their opinions and morals outside of family, and their view of the world. This is why philosophical and creative writing prompts are often the way to go for high school students.

By the time students enter high school, they've done their fair share of writing assignments. They have probably already answered basic questions about themselves and the world and are now interested in more speculative and conceptual topics. This is especially true for older students that are headed off to college soon, meaning that writing prompts for high school seniors should be considered even more carefully.

If you need some ideas for prompts, consider the following thought-provoking journal topics for high school students: 

• Think about your worst family vacation. Write about it from one of your family members' perspectives. Try to understand what they were feeling and thinking, and tell the story from their point of view.
• Choose an environmental or social justice topic that you feel passionate about. What do you think the main issue is regarding this topic, and what do you think the solution is?
• Write to someone that lives in a country you know nothing about. What would you ask them?
• In your opinion, which of the following traits is most likely to lead to success in life: Intelligence, Discipline, or Motivation/Passion? Explain your answer in-depth.

Fun Writing Prompts: College Students

Though college students are technically adults, being a 19-year-old in college is not the same as being a 30-year-old with a career and, possibly, a family. Regardless, college students have had enough life experiences to think critically about themselves, the people around them, and the world.

Furthermore, a college student's life is often turbulent, stressful, busy, and exciting. They always have new experiences, and many are wholly independent for the first time. In other words, it can be hard to get college students focused on and invested in writing with so much else going on, but they should certainly have a lot to write about. 

Fun writing prompts for college students might include topics surrounding philosophy, global issues, self-discovery, short story writing prompts for adults, interdisciplinary questions, and more.

Here are some daily creative writing prompts for adults that you might want to share with your students: 

• Describe a part of your identity that is essential to who you currently are. Try to pinpoint where this part of yourself came from and why it developed.
• Tell the story of your biggest failure. Consider the following: How it affected you, what you learned from it, and how you would react to the same situation now.
• Write about a time when you questioned your worldview or realized that a deep-rooted opinion you held might be wrong. What led to this occurrence, and did you end up changing your mind? Why?
• Describe the moment that made you realize you had shifted from childhood to adulthood. Describe your reaction to this realization.
• Write about the last time you were presented with a choice to take a risk or play it safe. Which option did you choose and why? What was the result of this choice? Would you make the same decision again?

Fun Writing Prompts: Fiction

Until this point, most of the prompts have revolved around self-discovery. However, writing fiction can be an excellent activity for personal expression and exercising imagination. If you're looking for some inspiring fiction writing prompts for middle school students or fiction writing prompts for high school students, take a look below at some fun fiction story ideas:

• Write about a character that accidentally gets transported to a world just like ours except for one major difference: _____. Explain how your character handles this and write about some of their adventures.
• Share the story of an astronaut that just found life on another planet. What does the planet look like? What do the life-forms look like? Are they friendly or not?
• Write from the perspective of an animal of your choice. What do they see, think, and do?

When it comes to creating fun writing prompts fiction-related, you can give as much or as little direction as you want, depending on the amount of freedom you want your students to have. For example, you could also use micro-prompts that tell the writer three things to include in the story while the rest is left up to them. Here are some examples:

• A stubborn old man, an owl, and a chance meeting.
• A golden cup, a restaurant full of hungry patrons, and an unusually foggy day.

Remember that writing is not just a skill to be developed with worksheets and assignments but a fun way for students to learn more about themselves and connect with the world around them. So have a blast with your students, and keep writing!