The best writing prompts will get the developing writer off to a great start.

What are the best writing prompts to inspire a budding author? The best prompts are related to their own interests. What topic do you think would most inspire a young athlete? Or a musician? Ever known a child to go through a dinosaur-phase or other craze? Certainly their hobbies and activities are easier to write about than abstract concepts and unknown historical characters.

As a generally rule of thumb, it helps to start a new writing skill by prompting students to write about their own experiences. As they master the writing skill, they can build by writing about less familiar content.

Writing Prompts for Young Writers - Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd grade

Below are simple writing prompts that young writers enjoy, and examples of how they can be used as a writing activity. For each prompt, there could be multiple ways this could be used. Examples of student writing are in italics.

1. Feel a texture. Describe it. I am soft. I am sweet. What am I? (Marshmallow)
2. Science Experiment or Project. Two drops of food coloring of different colors are dropped into a bowl of water and observed. A blue drop and yellow drop were in the water. The colors mixed and made green water.
3. Food: Decorate an ice cream sundae. I put colored sprinkles on my ice cream. Whipped cream was added. There was a cherry on top.
4. Accident: These aren't planned (I hope!) but a fire on the stove or a broken window can make great writing starters - the next day. Bang! My brother's baseball went through the window.
5. Read a good book (fiction or non-fiction.) Act it out. The snow fell all night. Big trucks took the snow away.
6. Medical: A trip to the dentist, an injection, etc. The eye doctor asked me to read the letters on the wall. I read them all. I do not need glasses.
7. Seasonal: The trees leaves turned red, yellow, and orange. The nights are getting cold. The birds flew away. Fall is here.
8. Holidays: The fireworks were red, yellow, and blue. Fire crackers are loud. I like sparklers best!
9. Play: I dressed my doll in a yellow dress. She has yellow shoes and a yellow purse.
10. Animals: Watch a pet or wild animal for several minutes. Snowball was curled up on the rug. When Aida came in she jumped on her lap. She likes us to pet her.
11. Insects: I watched a bee crawl on a red flower. He flew to a yellow flower. Then he flew away.
12. Computer games: My car was red. I went fast on the track. Yeah! I won!
13. Neighborhood: On a routine trip in your neighborhood, notice and name all the things passed. There are houses and stores and a post office on my street. People drive cars and trucks. Trees and plants are everywhere.
14. Daily Routine: After my bath, I put on my warm pajamas. Dad read "The Cookie Tree" to us last night.
15. History Lesson: Read, discuss, and act out one of the history lessons. Lewis and Clark lead a group through our state before there were any towns.
16. Make something: Do a craft recipe, or build a model. We mixed eggs and butter and sugar. The flour was added. Then we put in chocolate chips and baked my favorite cookies.
17. Trip: Sonya and I played in the sand on the beach.
18. Describe a room or garden: We have a bunk bed. The walls and carpet are blue. My toy box is under the window.
19. Describe an object: My teddy bear is yellow. He has brown eyes and blue buttons. He is a soft teddy.
20. Give the rules to a game. Draw two lines each way to make a tic tac toe box. One person is X and the other is O. Each person takes a turn putting their letter in a box. Three in a row wins the game.

Writing Prompts for Older Writers

In 3rd to 6th grade the student will develop more abstract ideas.

All the writing prompts listed above for younger children are still appropriate. However, the older student should write at a deeper level and produce paragraphs instead of sentences. Even an adult working on writing abstracts can further develop their writing skills and voice by writing a paragraph describing the distant sound of a woodpecker. Therefore, the older student, too, can write about simple experiences, both common and unique.

However, the student also needs to write about abstract concepts and events. Here are some additional topics to consider for writing prompts:

• Historical characters
• Events in history
• Science subjects or natural phenomenon
• Current events
• How to articles
• Books reports
• Pros and Cons
• Planning
• Business Letters

WRITE ON: The Kid Friendly, Mother-Pleasing, Gentle Way to Learn To WriteThis user-friendly curriculum is filled with writing prompts and ideas to enhance your student's writing.

Writing Prompts for Mature Writers (Secondary and above)

If you haven't, read the writing prompts for younger writers above. The same writing prompts for younger students can be used in one of two ways. First, creative writing to develop style and voice can be achieved using simple writing exercises. Second, as an academic writing exercise, these topics can be developed at a deeper and more abstract level. For instance, instead of a paper about the Civil War, they may write about a specific battle in that war.

In addition, writing assignments focus on the ability to:

• describe
• explain/inform
• persuade
• compare and contrast