40+ Writing prompts for elementary students

Inspire writing growth in your youngest students. These writing prompts will have students imagining endless possibilities for their writing.

Journal Prompts for kids examples:

  1. What makes your school special?
  2. What would you like to invent?
  3. Have you ever broken something? What happened?
  4. What do you like to do when you're not at school?
  5. Have you ever had an imaginary friend?
  6. What is the best thing on the school playground? Why?
  7. Who is your favorite movie character?
  8. What are you really good at doing?
  9. What do you want to do better?
  10. What do you find annoying?
  11. How do you feel about talking in front of people?
  12. How do you feel about surprises?
  13. What superpower would you like to have?
  14. Write about something special you own.
  15. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? What does it taste like?
  16. What will your grown-up life be like?
  17. What is the best art project or picture you have ever made?
  18. Imagine you invent a new kind of car in the future. What does it look like?
  19. How do kids learn to be kind?
  20. What happens when people can't work together?
  21. What makes a good friend?
  22. How do you cheer up a friend who is sick?
  23. What kind of gift is the best to give?
  24. What makes someone a good babysitter?
  25. Pick someone you love. What does that person look like?
  26. What if you could bring an animal to school?
  27. What if you had a time machine?
  28. What if you grew up to be taller than the school?
  29. What if you were the teacher?
  30. What if you were a baby again?
  31. What if cows could drive cars?
  32. What if you could only see the color yellow?
  33. What if the president were a kid?
  34. What if you had a friend who spoke a different language?
  35. What if you lived in a swimming pool?
  36. Once upon a time, a child woke up as a turtle….
  37. The car stopped in front of my house, and a clown got out….
  38. Three friends went on a trip to the moon. The best thing about it was….
  39. Once, I rode a unicorn to school….
  40. My teacher came to my house for dinner. We talked about….
  41. One day, my mom and dad switched jobs….
  42. I was walking in the woods, and someone called my name. I looked down and saw it was a frog….
  43. A boy had a dream he was a pirate and woke up on a pirate ship….
  44. The teacher's necklace is missing, and only one person knows what happened….
  45. A new kid comes to school and says he is from 1900….

Not every student is comfortable getting their thoughts down on paper

Read&Write is a digital literacy tool that helps students express their thoughts and opinions through words. Your students can use tools in Read&Write like Check It, Talk and Type, and the text and picture dictionaries to help develop their confidence in writing.