Story Starters Teaching Resources
Explore story starters for kids created by teachers for teachers like you to encourage creative writing in the primary classroom.
This collection of narrative prompts has been designed by the Teach Starter teacher team to help you help your students as they perfect their narrative story writing skills. Aligned with the Australian literacy curriculum, the collection is packed with options for starting sentences and stories, as well as writing stimulus sheets you can use to encourage young writers to unleash their creativity!
Is this your first year teaching writing lessons? Or maybe you're just looking for some fresh ideas to incorporate story starters into your lesson plans? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Are Story Starters?
The name may say it all — or maybe not! A story starter is a sentence or a short phrase that's created to spark the imaginations of your students and help them kick off a story.
These short bits of text provide students with an example of how to begin their story. They stimulate students' imaginations and help beat back writer's block!
They also go by a number of other names, including:
- Narrative starters
- Narrative prompts
- Story prompts
- Story openers
Is a Story Starter the Same as a Writing Prompt?
Story starters can be considered writing prompts. After all, these phrases or sentences work to prompt a student to continue the narrative.
But not every writing prompt is a story starter! A writing prompt provides our students with ideas that they can use to begin writing, but the words of the prompt do not have to appear within the actual text of the story.
A good story starter, on the other hand, will actually function as the first few words or sentences of a story.
What Makes a Good Story Starter?
When our teaching team sits down to craft a good story starter to add to our collection — and for you to add to your lesson plans — we have a few criteria in mind.
- The story starter should hint at the theme of the story.
- The story opener should not provide students with too much information — the goal is to leave it to students to craft major story details using their own imaginations!
- The story starter should hook the reader by revealing an intriguing element of the story.
Some of the elements we like to include in our story starters include:
- Questions
- An introduction to a particular character or characters
- Descriptions of the setting
- Dialogue
- Action
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Halloween Narrative Writing Prompts — Finish the Story Writing Activity
Use this printable 'Finish the Story' writing prompt and craft to develop narrative writing skills this Halloween season.
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Spring Writing Prompts
Celebrate Spring with Spring writing worksheets for the early years.
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'Pick Three' Writing Inspiration Worksheet
A worksheet to use when students need writing inspiration for a narrative piece.
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Narrative Setting Circularama Templates
A set of circular diorama templates that combine to create three scenes.
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Fairy Tales Settings Posters
A set of 6 fairytale story settings background posters.
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Halloween Roll-a-Story Dice Game
Spark spooky creativity with this Halloween Roll a Story game that helps students generate exciting writing prompts while making narrative writing fun and engaging.
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The Relief Teacher Monster - Halloween Craft and Write
This Halloween, inspire your struggling writers to write toe-curling tales of a day spent with a Relief Teacher Monster!
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Happy Mother's Day Writing Prompt - Super Mum Craft Template
Celebrate the women in your students’ lives with a Happy Mother's Day Writing Prompt and Craft to show them just how “Super” they really are!
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Valentine's Day Vocabulary Cards and Writing Center
Build a Valentine’s Day writing station with a printable word wall and writing prompt worksheets.
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Imaginative Writing Topics for Easter
Inspire creativity with these 3 imaginative writing topics—fun Easter story prompts your students will love.
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What Happened Next? Alice in Wonderland Writing Template
Finish the Alice in Wonderland story in your own words.
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Fairy Tale Setting and Book Characters Classroom Display
Teach fairy tales and narrative structure with a printable fairy tale setting poster and book characters for a classroom display.
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Imagine This! Silly Story Template
A template to use as a fun writing activity.
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My Ideal World – Writing Template
A template for students to use when writing about their ideal world.
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What Happened Next? Little Red Riding Hood Writing Template
Finish the Little Red Riding Hood story in your own words.
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What Happened Next? Cinderella Writing Template
Finish the Cinderella story in your own words.
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Story Spine Porcupine – Narrative Writing Template
A template designed to help students plan their narrative writing structure.
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Narrative Setting Prompts Posters
A set of 2 posters giving ideas for the setting of a narrative.
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5 Ws and 1 H Planning Worksheet for Narrative Writing
A 5 Ws and 1 H worksheet to use in the classroom.
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The 5 Ws and 1 H Questions for Narrative Writing Poster
A 5 Ws and 1 H poster to display in the classroom.
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Grandparents' Day Writing Prompt - The Very Best Day
Surprise Grandma and Grandpa with a special story telling about the Best Day Ever with a Grandparents’ Day writing prompt.
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Halloween Words - Vocabulary and Writing Centre
Stretch your students’ vocabulary and writing skills with a devilishly-delightful Halloween Vocabulary and Writing Centre.
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Objects in the Sky – Writing Prompts
Describe objects in the sky, such as the clouds, moon and sun, with this set of 8 space science writing prompts.
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Easter Writing Prompts - Differentiated Worksheets
Inspire your early year students to get writing with these easy to use Easter writing prompts.
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Easter Writing Prompts for Narrative Writing
Inspire creativity and build writing stamina with these engaging Easter-themed Writing Prompts for Narrative Writing.
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Easter Diary Writing Activity
A cute diary entry writing activity.
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Halloween Writing Prompts - Bats
Differentiated writing activity using bats as a writing prompt.
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Insect-Themed Flashcards and Writing Prompts
Inspire young entomologists to read and write about insects with minibeast writing prompts and word wall cards.
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Farm-Themed Flashcards and Writing Prompts
Build vocabulary and writing skills with this ocean-themed writing activity.
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Grandparents Day Writing Prompts
Combine your writing lessons and Grandparents Day with this set of writing prompt worksheets.
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Curious Creatures Character Spinner
A curious creature character spinner to use during imaginative writing.
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Create and Write – Art Template
A template designed for students to display their writing and illustrations.