Your older child will be able to create their own stories with these fun and simple writing activities. They have been designed so they can do this with just a little help from you. All they need to do is read the prompt, consider the questions and start their story.
Top tips
- If your child needs a bit of help to get started, work with them to create a mind map of all their ideas.
- Now they can use their mind map to figure out a very basic structure. Help your child to think about which ideas should go at the beginning, middle and end. Now ask them to underline each idea with a different colour to represent beginning, middle or end.
- If your child is just starting out with writing, here is a storyboard template that they can use to draw pictures and write smaller amounts of text along with the pictures.
- To make this more challenging, you could ask your child to draw pictures for each main scene and set them a challenge that has to be worked into the story e.g. the alien reveals later on that it was actually born on Earth, why was this and how did they end up in space?
Story starters
Grab a pen or pencil and some paper and share the below story starters with your child.
Write a story about a day that was really fun
- What happened on that day?
- Who were you with?
- Why was it fun?
Write a story that starts: One day, I was playing outside and an animal came up to me and said “Hello”.
- What is the animal?
- What does the animal want?
- Think about what adventure will you go on with the animal
- Why did the animal come to you in the first place?
You have been kidnapped by a pirate. Describe your adventure.
- Where are they taking you?
- What is their ship like?
- How will you escape?
You have been asked to plan the Queen's birthday party.
- Who do you invite?
- What fun things are there to do?
- What could go wrong?
Write a letter to someone important to you
- What will you ask them?
- What do you want to share with them?
- Think about whether you'll include a drawing, gift or poem with it.
- Who is the letter to and from?
Write instructions for a new game or food recipe
- Who it is for?
- What is in it?
- Why is it enjoyable?
You are a famous author and a spaceship has landed by your house. Interview the alien that comes out of the ship and write a story about it.
- What questions will you will ask?
- How you make the interview interesting to the reader?
- Make sure to include a quote from the alien or picture to go along with the story