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Getting kids to write can be stressful, but if you have some fun writing activities to help you and get your kids excited, it can be a fun part of learning. We have a list of 10 fun writing activities (plus a bonus!) to that can be a perfect supplement to your writing instruction.
1. Do Some Brainstorming
For many kids (and professional writers as well), brainstorming is the hardest part of the writing process. Sometimes, young writers just need a way to get their thoughts organized on paper before moving on with the writing process.
The Brainstorming Graphic Organizers packet can help kids take all of their great ideas and get them organized. The set comes with six unique designs including a brainstorming page, thought web, mind map, a great ideas page, a notes page, and a eureka page. Each of these pages can be printed with graphing, wide, or narrow-ruled pages to fit how your kid likes to write.
Kids at any grade level can use these pages, and they have a lot of functions. Use it as a prewriting activity, a notetaking page, a project planner, and more. You can also use it for many subjects beyond language arts, like history, science, and STEM.
2. Make a Mini Book
One step of the writing process that we often leave out is publishing. If you’re trying to encourage kids to write, however, they need that sense of accomplishment that comes from publishing their work. Creating a mini book is an excellent way for your child to see his or her work in print and have something to show for all their hard work.
This Booklet Template can help your child create an impressive mini book. The set comes with three different booklet types, and each booklet has six different pages. Your kids can use these to make books of their own, narrative or nonfiction writing, or as an engaging way to present information for other subjects.
3. Fancy Paper
Sometimes making writing more fun is as simple as giving your kids some cute paper. Not only can decorative paper make writing more appealing for your kids, but it can also get their ideas flowing in a way that plain notebook paper can’t.
The Lined Writing Paper with Picture Boxes packet includes 15 fun pages with lines, graphs, blank frames, checklists, and more to encourage your child to write. These sheets are perfect for brainstorming sessions, notetaking, writing and illustrating a finished product, and more. This product can also be used outside of language arts in subjects like social studies as a way to take notes or write a summary.
4. Fun Graphic Organizers for Writing Activities
Graphic organizers can help kids organize their writing and make it easier for you to teach them. Graphic organizers can give you some structure.
Paragraph and Essay Writing Graphic Organizers
Whether your kids are working on writing a five-sentence paragraph or a five-paragraph essay, these graphic organizers can get them on the right track. You will get five different organizers with lined and unlined options. These organizers focus on main idea, introduction, three details, and closing. Your kids will soon nail down the basic structure of a paragraph or essay.
Many kids love to read and write stories but give little thought to the structure. When it’s time to summarize, you may find that your kids are all over the place in their retelling. These story maps can help your kids focus enough to organize their thoughts logically. The pack includes five different graphic organizers. Each contains prompts for title and author, theme, setting, characters, and retelling the story.
Kids often struggle with summarizing nonfiction text, especially when it doesn’t follow a narrative format. Main Ideas and Details Graphic Organizers can simplify this complicated process and is a great first step in writing a summary. The pack comes with five different graphic organizers, each with a lined and unlined version. There are spaces for the topic, main idea, three to six details, and a summary.
5. Make a Newspaper
Creating a newspaper is one of the most fun and engaging writing activities you can do with your kids. It’s a great way to introduce your kids to journalistic writing and gives your kids a really neat publication experience.
If you’re working with only one child or with younger children, this Editable Newspaper Front Page Template is perfect to create an adorable front page newspaper. You can edit it in either Word or Google Docs, and it contains space for two articles, titles, and images. Everything can be customized to make it entirely your own.
If you have an older kid or multiple kids, you can use the Editable Newspaper Template. It contains five pages with spaces for nine articles, pictures, classifieds for fundraising, and more. It is also editable in Word and Google Docs and could be a fun, unit-long project for your family or classroom.
6. Easy Poetry Writing Activities for Kids
Do your kids love to write poetry? Some kids struggle with writing poetry, especially when it comes to formatting and getting ideas. Poetry frames give your kids structure and space to write and allow them to deliver a product that they’ll be happy to share.
Our pack of five Poetry Frames are themed around the four seasons and are perfect for getting your younger kids writing poetry. Seasons are a good theme because kids already have a sensory vocabulary for different seasons. The set comes with sixteen pages, and you’ll get four different frames for each season: fill-in-the-blank, haiku, cinquain, and acrostic.
7. Gratitude Journal
Gratitude journals are great to get kids thinking and writing about the things that are most important to them! This Gratitude Journal pack comes with seven unique prompts with a focus on the people in your kids’ lives. These pages can be a great start to make a gift for a beloved family member.
8. Letter Writing Activities for Kids
Writing a letter is one of the many “adulting” skills we need to teach our children. Letter graphic organizers can help make the process easy by outlining the parts of a letter in an appealing way. You could use these to start a penpal project or to send letters to loved ones.
The Parts of a Friendly Letter pack comes with five different graphic organizers that teach the parts of a letter. Some of the organizers have labels while others don’t, so you can scaffold the process as your kids progress.
9. Roll a Story / Story Dice
Sometimes, the most frustrating part of writing a story is figuring out what to write about. Story dice are one of our favorite writing activities to take away some of that frustration. They can be fun for your kids as it adds an element of excitement. They can be used over and over to create dozens of different stories.
These Story Dice come in three different options: Earth Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Spring Time. Each set comes with three cubes covering different story elements like description, character, plot, setting, and more. The sets also include a story mat and leveled writing paper for use with different grade levels.
10. No-Pressure Writing Prompts
Writing prompts are a great way to get kids’ ideas flowing. You’ll never again have to hear, “But I don’t know what to write about!”
This set of 240 Unique Writing Prompts contains a year’s worth of journaling ideas, grouped and themed by month. Each page has an engaging prompt and some fun doodles to get kids excited about writing. You can use this set in many ways: print out and bind into a journal or use individual pages as needed.
+1 Bonus Idea: Create a Writing Journal for Writing Activities
If you want your kids to work on writing regularly, even daily, a writing journal is a good option. The more you put into this journal, the more your child will get out of it. You can use many of the above writing activities for kids as inspiration for what to add to your journal. Check out our post on how to make a writing journal that is cute and full of fun prompts that will have them begging to write.
For more reading on this topic:
- Writing Prompt Journal: No Pressure Creative Writing Activities for Kids
- Best Homeschool Writing Curriculum for your Struggling Writer
- My Child HATES Writing: Two Tips for Turning it Around
- Teaching Writing at Home with WriteShop Primary: Engaging and Easy!
Hillary is a former teacher who went rogue and became a freelance writer. When not offering support and advice to homeschooling families, she tends to her own garden, family, and cat. You can connect with her on her website, homegrownhillary.com.