Creative Writing Activities for Kids

I believe that most children want to write before they want to read. That was certainly the case with both of my children - they would scribble write from an early age and ask me to read it for them :)

There is something magical about putting pen to paper and making your words appear. It is such a real and concrete way to communicate with others.

But when inspiration doesn't strike and you hear "I don't know what to write!", you need to find some creative writing ideas for kids. That is what this page is for!

I have put together this list of creative writing activities for kids in the hope it will help your teaching!

Writing Projects for Kids

Homeschooling is wonderfully flexible - and there are some great ways of encouraging your children to write.

Newspaper Story

A great way to get your kids writing is to make use of your daily newspaper.

Find a newspaper article or magazine article that may be of interest to your children. Get them to write more about the characters of the article. What happened to them? What did they do afterwards?

Or try the same thing just using headlines cut from the newspaper.

Cut out some headlines and stick them at the top of blank (or lined) sheets of paper. Keep an eye out for really funny headlines that you think the kids will like.

If your newspaper headlines are boring, mix words from several headlines until you get something unusual! For older children you could choose political or current affairs headlines.

Ask the children to write a story to go with the headline. And don’t forget that all good newspapers need pictures too!

Write a script

Write and perform a puppet show, play or animation. Want to know how to make an animation?

Make a Journal

Journals don't have to be about 'What you did at the weekend'! You can use them to explore all sorts of topics. Find out more about journaling for kids. For a book on Journal prompts try this one.

Who are they?

Cut photographs of people from magazines and ask the children to pick two or three of them.

Write about who the people are, what their lives are like, and how they might know each other. It would also be fun to place the pictures of people in a geographic location and ask the children to write about what they are doing there.

A variation on this theme would be to go out to a park or cafe and do some people watching. Pick some people and make quick notes about them - how did they look, what were they wearing. Then write a story about them when you get home.

Comic Books

These are fun to write (remember to let them read lots of comics as research!). There are several online programs for making comic books.

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Make an ideas jar

Cut out slips of paper and write a word or two on each - blue/smooth/frosty/loved. Get the children to pick three to five words and make up a story using them.

Design and write an online Blog

It seems to motivate children if their musings are to be read by lots of people. If your children are homeschooled then invite them to join the Homeschooled Kids Carnival.

Write a Movie Review.

Show the children some reviews by movie critics, then watch a movie for them to review. If you are looking for movie ideas, see my page teaching with movies.

Write a Haiku or Limerick

Or try writing some found poetry

Do a scavenger hunt

Make a bag filled with items you find either on a nature walk or around the house. You could set a theme such as ten blue items, or items that weigh less than a certain amount. Gather the items together and try to weave them all into a story. More details here

Ideas Daybook

Start an Ideas Daybook to keep track of your creative homeschooling ideas.

More Writing Ideas!

There are several sites that provide ideas for creative writing activities for kids. Some I have found useful (or fun!) are ;

Lets Get Creative - Fantastic site by Bruce van Patter. Lots of activities and ideas.

Writing Fix - interactive writing prompts for children.

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