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.