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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Christmas Writing - December Writing Prompts
Inspire your students to write creatively with a set of 30 Christmas writing prompts for kids.
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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 Story Starter Worksheets - Writing Prompts
Use our printable narrative writing prompt worksheets to boost your students' imaginative writing skills.
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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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Monthly Writing Prompt Calendars - Lower Grades
Encourage your little learners to write with fun writing prompts for kids in early elementary school.
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What Happened Next? – The Gingerbread Man Writing Template
A template for students to finish the story of The Gingerbread Man in their own, unique way.
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Roll an Adventure Story - Storytelling Dice Game
Roll and write an adventure story using our Roll An Adventure Storytelling Dice Game.
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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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New Year's Flip Book Template
Celebrate the coming of a new year by creating this flipbook with your students.
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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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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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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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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.
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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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Sentence Strip Activity Cards - Simple Sentence Starters
Encourage conversation and writing with our Printable Story Starter Sentence Strips Activity Cards.
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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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My Monster Story Template
Use this simple story template to get your students writing simple narratives based on a sequence of events.
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Story Ideas - Character, Setting, and Complication Cards
Help your students choose a topic to write about with this set of 36 character, setting and compilation task cards.
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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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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.
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Halloween Narrative Writing Prompts — Finish the Story Writing Activity
Develop narrative writing skills this Halloween season with a printable “Finish the Story” writing prompt and craft.
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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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Roll to Create a Haunted House Halloween Activity
Have some spooky Halloween fun with a Roll-to-Create Halloween Art activity.
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Easter Writing Prompts - Dear Diary
Encourage imagination with a fun set of Easter writing prompts!
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Easter Writing Prompts- Story Starters
Create Easter-themed stories using these Easter writing prompt cards.
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Easter Bunny Craft for Preschoolers
Celebrate Easter while encouraging imaginative storytelling with this bunny craft for preschoolers.