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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Narrative Writing Prompts Worksheets
Download these engaging narrative writing prompts worksheets that spark creativity and make story planning easy for your students.
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Winter Writing Prompts for Beginning Writers
Celebrate winter and your growing writers with Winter writing worksheets for Kindergarten and first grade.
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Roll to Create a Groundhog Story
A fun, hands-on Groundhog Day activity using a die and a chart to create a narrative text.
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Narrative Story Starter Worksheets - Writing Prompts
Use our printable narrative writing prompt worksheets to boost your students' imaginative writing skills.
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Groundhog Day for Kids - Writing Prompts
Celebrate Groundhog Day and write imaginative stories using a collection of Groundhog Day writing prompts.
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Narrative Writing Lesson: Story Leads to Hook Readers
Hook readers with this narrative writing lesson that introduces your students to eleven story starting strategies.
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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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Adapt a Short Story – Write the Ending
Get your students to write the ending of an existing story with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet.
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Adventure Story Starter Task Cards
Print and use these Adventure Story Starter Task Cards to inspire adventurous narrative writings.
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Easter Bunny Craft for Preschoolers
Celebrate Easter while encouraging imaginative storytelling with this bunny craft for preschoolers.
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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? – Jack and the Beanstalk Writing Template
A template for students to finish the story of Jack and the Beanstalk 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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Daily Writing Prompts Calendars - Upper Grades
Inspire your students and encourage them to write regularly with a set of printable Daily Writing Prompts in calendar format!
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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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Narrative Writing Poster
A poster to encourage your students to think about narrative writing.
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Finish the Story - Pirate Writing Template
Turn boring old narrative writing practice into a writing adventure with a printable Finish The Story Pirate Writing Template.
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Storytelling Cubes
Roll our Storytelling Cubes to generate fun narrative writing prompts to use in your classroom.
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Genre of the Month - Writing Prompt Grids (Upper)
Introduce your students to a variety of writing genres with our printable genre-specific writing prompt grids.
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Magical Story Starters Task Cards
Get your students writing magical stories with this set of story starter task cards.
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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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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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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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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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Write a Short Story – Overcoming Obstacles
Get your students analysing and writing overcoming obstacles short stories with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet.
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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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Adapt a Short Story – Change the Narrative Setting
Explore the role the narrative setting plays within a story with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet for elementary students.
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Write a Short Story – The Quest
Get your students analyzing and writing a quest story with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet.
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Write a Short Story – Adventure in Space
Get your students analyzing and writing adventure in space stories with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet.
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Adventure Storytelling Cubes & Writing Templates
Use our Adventure Storytelling Dice templates to create an engaging Narrative Writing Station in your classroom.