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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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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Roll to Create a Gingerbread House
A fun, hands-on holiday activity using a die and a chart to create a gingerbread house to include in a narrative text.
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Pirate Posters - Captain Calloway and Pirate Pearl B&W
A set of two black and white posters with amazing illustrations of fictitious pirate characters.
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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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Story Ideas - Character, Setting, and Complication Cards
A fun way to help your reluctant writers choose something to write about.
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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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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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My Dream Story - Writing Prompt Template
Dream up some great stories using this creative story-writing prompt.
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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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October Writing Prompts - Lower Elementary
20 writing prompts for October with corresponding writing sheets.
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Bloom's Taxonomy Sentence Starters and Activities Posters
A set of six posters examining Bloom's Taxonomy.
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Journal Writing Prompt Cards
46 writer's notebook journal writing prompt cards.
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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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Spring Writing Prompts for Beginning Writers
Celebrate Spring and encourage creativity with Spring writing worksheets for Kindergarten and first grade.
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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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Ocean Writing Center
Build stronger vocabulary and writing skills with an ocean-themed writing center.
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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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Spring Writing Prompts Worksheet
Explore creative writing in your classroom with these 3 fun story writing prompts for Spring.
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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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Roll to Create a Superhero Comic
A fun, hands-on activity using a die and a chart to create a comic strip story.
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What Happened Next? – Alice in Wonderland Writing Template
A template for students to finish the story of Alice in Wonderland in their own, unique way.
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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 – Upper Grades
Monthly writing calendar with 240 writing prompts for the year.
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Narrative Sentence Starter Cards
Thirty sentence starter cards for narratives.
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Pirate Posters - Captain Calloway and Pirate Pearl
A set of two posters with amazing illustrations of fictitious pirate characters.
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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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5 Narrative Writing Prompt Stimulus Sheets
A set of 5 writing prompt stimulus sheets with a narrative focus.
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December Writing Prompts - Lower Elementary
20 writing prompts for December with corresponding writing sheets.
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November Writing Prompts - Lower Elementary
20 writing prompts for November with corresponding writing sheets.
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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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Narrative Writing Poster
A poster to encourage your students to think about narrative writing.
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Fairy Tales Settings Posters
A set of 6 fairytale story settings background posters.