Story Starters Teaching Resources
Explore story starters for kids and printable worksheets created by teachers to spark your elementary and middle school students' imaginations as they learn all about narrative writing.
This collection of curriculum-aligned teaching resources has been carefully reviewed by our expert teaching team to make sure every resource is classroom-ready — so we can make your lesson planning easier!
New to using story starters in the classroom, or just looking for new ways to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Are Story Starters?
A story starter is a great tool to help students begin a narrative writing piece! These prompts can help your students unlock their creativity and inspire them to explore more graphic elements in their writing — everything from imagery to figurative language.
For new writers, a blank page can be daunting, and it's easy to get frustrated or develop a serious case of writer's block when you're not sure where to begin. Using a story starter can prevent that frustration from setting in and help your students develop their writing skills.
What Are Good Story Starters for Kids?
The key to a good story starter for students is relatability! Story starters that can inspire kids to put pencil to paper are age-appropriate and relatable to their experiences. After all — the goal is to make writing easier for kids, not present new challenges.
A good story starter for kids can be anything from a question, a statement or even an interesting image such as a photograph. It should be open-ended and allow for multiple interpretations. This encourages your students to think critically and creatively.
You also want to be mindful that the story starter you're presenting should capture kids' attention — simply being relatable isn't enough if it bores them! The more engaging the starter, the more engaged your student and the more engaging they can make the resulting piece of writing.
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Write With Your Senses: Daily Descriptive Writing Prompts
Inspire your students to write descriptively using our 20 daily descriptive writing prompts slide deck and graphic organizer.
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Seven Sensational Story Starters PowerPoint
A 10 slide editable PowerPoint template of story starters to use in narrative writing.
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Choose Your Own Destiny - Writing Template
Students use a template to help them write stories with alternative pathways for their friends to read.
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Spring Writing Prompts for Beginning Writers
Celebrate Spring and encourage creativity with Spring writing worksheets for Kindergarten and first grade.
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What Happened Next? – The Three Little Pigs Writing Template
A template for students to finish the story of The Three Little Pigs in their own, unique way.
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Goldilocks and The Three Bears - Finish the Story Writing Prompt
Finish the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story in your own words.
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5 Narrative Writing Prompt Stimulus Sheets
A set of 5 writing prompt stimulus sheets with a narrative focus.
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Sloth Story Starters - Animal Writing Prompts
Help students get over writers’ block with these cute sloth-themed writing prompts.
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Summer Santa on Vacation - Christmas Writing Prompts
Inspire hilarious Christmas narratives with a printable set of Santa on Vacation writing prompt worksheets.
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Christmas Paper Bag Puppets
Make paper bag puppets for Christmas fun with a printable paper bag puppet template.
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Disguise a Turkey — Thanksgiving Activity
Save Tom the Turkey with a Disguise a Turkey project template for Thanksgiving time in the classroom.
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Build a Sandcastle-Writing and Craft Activity
Excite your students for the upcoming summer with a narrative writing and craft activity.
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My Nobel Peace Prize – Upper Grades
Encourage students to think about how they could make the world a better place with our Nobel Peace Prize writing template.
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New Year's Flip Book Template
Celebrate the coming of a new year by creating this flipbook with your students.
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Narrative Setting Craft Templates
A set of circular diorama templates that combine to create three scenes.
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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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April Writing Prompts - Lower Grades
20 writing prompts for April with corresponding writing sheets.
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Writing Prompt Jar – Cut and Assemble Kit
A set of labels and prompts to create a writing prompt jar.
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March Writing Prompts - Lower Grades
20 writing prompts for March with corresponding writing sheets.
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February Writing Prompts - Lower Elementary
20 writing prompts for February with corresponding writing sheets.
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Story Leads To Hook Your Readers
How to hook your reader: 11 techniques to open your story with a bang and grab your reader's attention!
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Assorted Writing Prompts Calendar - Lower Elementary
Monthly writing calendar with 240 writing prompts for the year.
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November Writing Prompts - Lower Elementary
20 writing prompts for November with corresponding writing sheets.
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October Writing Prompts - Lower Elementary
20 writing prompts for October with corresponding writing sheets.
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May Writing Prompts - Lower Elementary
20 writing prompts for May with corresponding writing sheets.
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What If? Materials Template
A set of 6 templates to use when investigating the properties of materials.
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Plan Your Own Adventure - Writing Template
Students use a template to help them plan stories with alternative pathways for their friends to read.
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Inspiring Story Starters - Task Cards
Get your students writing during Read Across America week with this set of inspirational narrative story starter task cards.
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Roll to Create a Christmas Story - Writing Prompt
Roll the die to generate a fun Christmas writing activity with a roll-to-create Christmas worksheet.
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Haunted House Worksheets - Descriptive Writing Activity
Draw and write about scary Halloween houses with a printable Halloween descriptive writing activity pack.
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Halloween Creative Writing Prompts - 4th and 5th Grade
Develop narrative writing skills this Halloween season with a set of printable Halloween writing prompts for 4th graders and 5th graders.
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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.