55 Creative Elementary Writing Prompts for K-5 Classrooms

70

There will always be reliable and relatable topics that K-5 students want to write about. From the tried-and-true “my favorite animal” to the classic “what I do in my free time,” these common topics are successful for a reason. Encourage deeper thinking and advance writing skills by adding a new layer of creativity and skill-building with this list of unique elementary writing prompts, which can help turn your go-tos into gold! 

10 Creative Writing Prompts for Elementary Students 

Creative writing helps students understand the importance of point of view and voice. Even though creative writing isn’t typically found on standardized tests, it shouldn’t be overlooked in the classroom. Try these creative writing prompts to encourage the development of point of view and voice:

• Imagine you are a raindrop. Describe your journey from the cloud to the ground.
• Imagine a conversation between two lost puppies. Write their dialogue.
• Write about a sporting event as seen by the ball.
• Imagine you are a new crayon in the box. Describe your first day of coloring.
• You are a texture. Describe how you feel. 
• Write a persuasive letter from a pet asking for more treats.
• Write a diary entry from a student having a bad day. 
• Write a short poem from the perspective of a lost sock. 
• Describe a birthday party from the perspective of a balloon floating around the room.
• Tell the story of a lost set of keys trying to find their owner.

Ignite imaginative storytelling with picture prompts 

Picture prompts are a fun way to get students writing creatively. Worded prompts can be restricting, so use pictures to unlock a wider range of imaginative possibilities!

Writing Center: Build-A-Story with Creative Writing Picture Prompts
By Teacher Gems
Grades: K-3rd
Subject: Creative Writing 
Standards: CCSS.W.K.3; CCSS.W.1.3; CCSS.W.2.3; CCSS.W.3.3

Supercharge creative writing with this engaging center! Students pick from 30 settings, characters, and events to build unique stories on the wipe-off mat. With color-coded cards and a descriptive word bank, even reluctant writers will engage independently. Includes optional recording sheets and a drawing page, aligning with key ELA standards.

Anytime Writing Prompts with Pictures & Word Bank
By Primary Planet by Hilary Gard
Grades: 2nd-4th
Standards: CCSS.W.2.1, 3, 5; CCRA.W.3, 4, 5, 10

Have a reluctant writer (or a few)? These writing prompts with pictures have fun choices that will get even your most reluctant writer writing! These picture writing prompts include a writing checklist, writing journal covers, and word collectors. They are also useful for ELL/ESOL as they offer a lot of writing support with word banks!

10 Journal Prompts for Elementary Students

Beyond improving writing skills, journaling is a growth mindset activity that can play a big role in how students approach learning. Use these elementary journal prompts to instill in them that learning and personal growth are journeys that never stop! 

• Is there a special place you like a lot? Why is it special?
• Is it ever okay to tell a little story that’s not exactly true?
• What did you learn today that was super interesting? Tell me!
• What are three things you are happy to have?
• Is there anything you’re thinking about that makes you a little worried?
• What was a super happy day for you? What happened?
• Do you have a favorite room in your house? Tell me why you like it.
• Did you help someone today? How did you do it?
• Can you think of a time you made a mistake and what you learned?
• What’s one new thing you want to try to do this week? 

By having students journal, you are helping them get the hang of narration and self-reflection, two important skills that align with CCSS. As a bonus, it’s a great way to incorporate gratitude activities for elementary students into your classroom! 

Maintain your students’ writing stamina with daily journal prompts 

Writing should be a part of students’ daily routine to improve their stamina over time, but it’s important to keep the prompts fresh to maintain their engagement! There’s a lot you can do to keep things exciting, such as offering choices, bringing in visuals, and even incorporating a theme for every day of the week.

Daily Journal Prompts | Print & Digital Writing Activities | Google Slides
By Create Teach Share
Grades: 3rd-5th
Subjects: Creative Writing, Writing

This product includes 40 weeks of writing prompts (with a total of 200 prompts). Each day of the week is a different theme: Make-Believe Monday, Top 10 Tuesday, Words of Wisdom Wednesday, My Thoughts Thursday, Flashback Friday. This product also includes a cover, divider tabs, reference sheets for students to use with the journal prompts, and scoring sheets for grading student journals. 

12 Quick Writing Prompts for Your Elementary Classroom

Have only three minutes left of class time? Don’t let it go to waste! With this collection of creative quick writes, you can ensure students use every last second to boost their writing skills! 

• Something that inspires me is…
• One thing I think everyone should know is…
• If I could change one rule at our school, it would be… 
• One thing I am really good at is…
• The best way to spend a rainy day is…
• The best thing about being in 1st/2nd/3rd grade is…
• A question I have about the world is…
• The best way to cheer someone up is…
• Something different you might see in another country is…
• A cool name for a dinosaur could be…
• One way we can help take care of the Earth is…
• A quality that makes someone a hero is…

Quick Writes Narrative Opinion Journal Picture Writing Prompts 3rd 4th 5th Grade
By The Little Ladybug Shop
Grades 3rd-5th
Subjects: Creative Writing, Writing

This collection is designed to make quick writes engaging and effective, whether you need a quick write to kickstart a lesson or a task for a seamless transition between activities. This resource includes 50 anytime quick write prompts, 50 seasonal prompts, and photos with a free-write option to give students an opportunity to choose their own direction.

12 Narrative Elementary Writing Prompts

Like any writing skill, students build the ability to narrate over time. By providing increasingly complex narrative prompts throughout elementary school, you can help prepare them for writing prompts for middle school, high school, and real-world writing situations they’ll come across.

Try these narrative writing prompts to help your students sharpen their storytelling skills! 

• Imagine if your pet could talk for a whole day! How would your day be different? 
• Tell a story from the point of view of your pet on the day they came to live with you.
• Make up a funny story about a contest for your favorite hobby.
• Pretend you’re something in your classroom, like a desk or a pencil. What would a school day be like for you?
• Tell a story about your family, but tell it from the perspective of a family pet.
• Write about a time you were really sad, but then something happy happened out of nowhere!
• What if all the food in your house could talk one day? Write down what you think your breakfast, lunch, and dinner would say to you.
• Imagine you woke up and you were your teacher! What would you do all day?
• You find a teddy bear in the park that’s lost. Pretend it had a secret life before it got lost. What was it like?
• What if the people from your favorite book just appeared in your house? What would happen next?
• Pretend your toys could have a secret meeting when you’re not around. What would they talk about?
• Imagine you found a time machine that only goes to funny moments in the past. Where would you go?

These engaging prompts are perfect for helping students learn to develop sequenced events and settings, an important Common Core ELA writing standard for K-5. 

Unlock the power of narration through scaffolding 

You can often pick out the storyteller in your class from day one — that student with bubbling enthusiasm when talking about their pets, family members, and hobbies. But for those who aren’t natural storytellers, you might need to give them a little push!  By scaffolding writing prompts using techniques like pre-teaching vocabulary and providing outlines, you can help students build confidence in their writing.

Narrative Writing Kindergarten – First Grade Personal Narrative Writing Prompts
By Keeping My Kinders Busy
Grades: K-4th
Subjects: Creative Writing, Writing

Standards: CCSS.W.K.3, 5, 6, 8; CCSS.W.1.3; CCSS.W.2.3; CCSS.W.5.10; CCSS.L.K.1, 1a, 1c, 1e, 1f, 2, 2a, 2b, 2d; CCSS.L.5.4, 4a, 4c, 5c, 6; CCSS.L.6.4, 4a, 4c, 4d, 6

This comprehensive narrative writing unit is perfect for teaching the kindergarten and first-grade writing standards. With its focus on scaffolding, teachers and students love using the personal narrative writing journals, picture word banks, sentence starters, writing prompts, anchor charts, graphic organizers, and so much more!

11 Informational Writing Prompts for K-5 Students

Focusing on what elementary students are most interested in, these informational prompts are twists on classic elementary themes and encourage deeper thinking. With this extra challenge, students may find difficulty organizing their thoughts. 

To help with organization challenges, you might first introduce goal-setting activities for elementary students. For example, they could aim to write at least five descriptive sentences or focus on constructing a clear beginning and end.

• Pretend you’re an old, wise squirrel and you have to tell a baby squirrel how to find the yummiest nuts. What would you say?
• What does it mean to be a really good owner for a dog? Tell me what they need.
• What if our whole town were made out of your favorite food? What would it be like to live there?
• You get to make up a brand-new class for school! What would it be called, and what would you learn in it?
• Imagine you are telling someone how to play your favorite game, but you forget to share one important rule. What would happen?
• Pick something you use every day. How would a cat or a bird or a bear use it in a totally different way?
• What would you do to get ready for school in the morning if your school were on an island?
• Teach someone how to build the coolest fort ever! What materials would you use, and how would you do it?
• Tell someone the steps for teaching your pet rock a trick. What trick would it be?
• Imagine you had to explain to someone from another planet what a playground is and how we use it.
• Write instructions for how to share your favorite toy with a friend. 

Differentiate writing prompts to engage and challenge students

Writing success is not one size fits all, and differentiating the content is key. By providing elementary writing prompts that vary in difficulty, you can make sure students stay engaged and are challenged appropriately for their skill levels. 

Differentiated First Grade Informational Writing Prompts
By Kiddos and Crayons by Jordan Piacenti
Grades: K-2nd
Subjects: Writing
Standards: CCSS.W.K.2; CCSS.W.1.2; CCSS.W.2.2

These informative writing prompts cover a variety of engaging topics that 1st grade and 2nd grade students will already be familiar with from their daily lives, no research necessary. This resource features a comprehensive collection of 129 no-prep prompt pages, offering 43 engaging informative writing topics tailored to three differentiated levels. 

Paragraph Writing Prompts, Essay Writing Prompts, Writing Checklists and Rubrics
By Rockin Resources
Subjects: Writing

Do you need a huge variety of highly engaging writing prompts to get your reluctant writers motivated? This resource provides 180 writing prompts that are color-coded, labeled with the type of writing, and numbered for easy organization. The prompts come as cards or a whiteboard display and cover informative writing as well as five other types of writing. 

Explore TPT’s ink-credible elementary writing resources 

Elementary writing prompts are perfect for getting those fine motor skills in motion, but that’s only the beginning! Check out TPT’s collection of elementary writing resources to help your students with sentence structure, vocabulary, paragraph writing, and more foundational skills.