For a while now, people have been asking me to do story ideas for kids.
This year, more busy teachers and homeschoolers are looking for easy creative writing lesson plans, and some of them have used my summer writing prompts and my Christmas writing prompts.
So I put together this list of writing prompts for kids. They include some story starters, some funny writing prompts, and some mystery and adventure ideas. I hope these are helpful for parents looking for creative writing activities, too…so their kids can learn how fun writing can be. Then again, maybe they already know!
STORY STARTERS
The writing prompts in this first section are “finish the story prompts”…kids start with the first sentence given, and take it from there.
1. Once upon a time, there was a girl who did something that nobody thought she’d be able to do.
2. Once upon a time, a boy found a suitcase with his name on it and fifty thousand dollars inside.
3. My family’s camping trip didn’t go the way we planned.
4. I packed my suitcase to go on my dream vacation.
5. I packed my suitcase because I was moving with my family to another country.
6. An odd family moved in next to us.
7. George was a friendly snake, and he wanted people to stop being afraid of him.
8. Lila was a duck who hated getting wet.
9. One morning when I woke up, I was invisible.
10. One morning when I woke up, I was only six inches tall.
11. I was so surprised when I realized my new skateboard could fly off the ground.
12. A boy met his guardian angel.
13. A girl met the President.
14. I met a person from one hundred years in the future.
15. I opened the huge birthday present.
16. I was standing in the middle of a dark forest.
17. There once was a boy who painted his horse to look like a zebra.
18. There once was a girl who loved hats more than anything else in the world.
19. I was asked to star in a movie.
20. I got a robot to help me with things.
MYSTERY STORY IDEAS
21. You get an invitation to a secret party.
22. You find a strange map tucked inside a book.
23. You find a fancy key in your backpack.
24. Someone stole your bicycle, and you want to find out who it was.
25. Someone keeps eating all the cookies in the house when everyone else is asleep.
26. There’s glitter all over the living room floor, and nobody knows why.
27. There are animal tracks in your backyard, and you follow them.
28. There’s a house on your block that’s been empty for years, but at night, you can hear music playing inside.
29. At the beach, a bottle washes up on the shore with a mysterious note inside.
30. A girl keeps insisting she’s your sister, but as far as you remember, you’ve never met her before in your life.
ADVENTURE STORY IDEAS
31. You were chosen to be the first kid astronaut and you go into outer space.
32. You wake up on an island. You don’t know how you got there, and you’re the only person there.
33. You and your best friend explore Antarctica.
34. You and your best friend explore a volcano…avoiding the lava.
35. You walk into a store and find yourself in a whole other world.
36. You sail on a sailboat to a faraway place.
37. You go on a cruise, and pirates attack the ship.
38. You take a hike in the rainforest and meet some interesting animals.
39. You travel across the desert on a camel.
40. You explore a cave and make an amazing discovery.
OTHER STORY IDEAS FOR KIDS
41. You’re not allowed to have pets, but you’re secretly taking care of a baby unicorn in your room.
42. Your new babysitter is a talking elephant.
43. A puppy tries to go to school like human kids do.
44. An ice cream company hires you to invent new flavors.
45. Your homework assignment is to interview a Disney cartoon character.
46. Someone from your favorite TV show shows up in real life and wants to hang out with you.
47. You get to design your own bedroom. You can have anything in there you want.
48. You become the king or queen of the world. Where would you live? What would you do?
49. Aliens visit Earth and believe you are the king or queen of the world, even though you keep telling them you’re not.
50. You dress up as something for Halloween, and everyone thinks that’s what you really are.
If you liked my story ideas for kids, please share them on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter—I really appreciate it! And if you don’t want to miss future posts, be sure to subscribe to the blog. Thanks so much for reading, and have a great rest of your week!
These are great. They could work for adult stories too.
You know…now that I think about it, you’re totally right, Darlene! I hope you have a good week!
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Hi Bryn,
Thanks for this post. I think this is a great idea. Since my grandson always wants me to tell him stories and he always adds to them, I can simply give him one of these and let him create the stories. Also, I have several friends who are teachers. I will share your post with them. I’m sure they will appreciate these.
Hi Cheryl! Aww, I love it that your grandson loves stories…he takes after you! I would so appreciate your sharing. 🙂 Have a good week!
Hi Bryn, Just what I needed and at the perfect time! How did you guess? Tomorrow morning I am giving a Zoom meeting through Nepris for a class of 4th-graders. The topic is writing fiction. Since I am a Discovery Writer, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to present “how to write fiction” till I remembered your index card plot illustration from Blank Page to Final Draft page 61. I simplified it a bit. Haha. I’ll bet you didn’t think it could be simpler than what you created. (Don’t worry, I give you credit) I feel confident now, that I will be able to help the students “see” the structure of a story. And then the BIG FINISH. We can let them choose an idea from your list to write their own story. It’s Perfect! Thank you so very much not only for this post, but also for all the tips, ideas, encouragement, and (OK I admit it) LOVE you give and are willing to receive.
Jessie! You’ll probably be done teaching by the time you read this, but that’s so great that this was helpful! I love it. Lucky kids, getting you for a guest teacher! Thanks so much for the kind words…you made my day. 🙂
I love your prompts! So many wonderful ones! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Andrea! You’re so kind. Hope you have a great week!
YES! This is perfect timing. Both my kids have expressed interest in writing, and the youngest is getting a word processing machine (a Neo2) from Santa (he asked; how can I say no??) so I might have to print out this list for them. Thank you, Bryn!! <3
Hey friend! Ahh, that’s awesome…they’re writers like you! I hope they like these. 🙂
wonderful prompts. shared.
Aww thanks Denise! Hope you have a great week. 🙂
Hi there! Thank you so much for this incredible prompts! I have a little cousin who doesn´t like to write, she says that she never gets good ideas and that she gets bored when she’s writing, so I’ll try to use this prompts to increase her writing. There are so many funny and cute ideas in this post so I am sure that she will find something she would love to write about.
Thank you so much! :3 :3 :3
How nice that you’re helping your cousin be creative! I hope she likes one of the ideas. 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
This is a very generous list! Thank you. Also , it reminded me that my dad always used to make up a story when he tucked me in at night, so good for this too.
Naomi, that is so sweet about your dad. 🙂 What a great memory!
I’m a retired teacher (thirty-one years in grades 2-6), but I would have used many of these prompts.
Hi Pete! Ah, I’m glad I’m hitting the mark here. Hope everything’s going well with you!
I’m using one of your prompts to write a story for my granddaughter! Thanks so much!
thank you for all of these amazing prompts I am planning to enter this years BBC 500 words writing competition