Fun Writing Prompts!

I know many, many parents struggling with distance learning, also known as the worst type of homeschooling ever. I wanted to make something for them, for when they just do NOT have time. Here are a list of story starters and writing prompts that you can adapt. If they're typing, just give them a word count: "Pick a topic and write at least X words on it." If you or they aren't feeling decisive, just have them pick a number without looking, and that's the one they write on.

If you or your kids have further ideas, please comment! I'll add ideas.

1. I woke up and my dirty sock started talking to me.

2. I didn't mean to do it!

3. I never would have believed it could happen, but it did.

4. They said it was haunted but I didn't believe them until...

5. The island was totally deserted.

6. I started getting used to the pirate life after a month.

7. I opened the door and...

8. My parents wouldn't let me use screens today so this is what I did instead.

9. The most annoying thing that happened to me today was...

10. Write a story that uses ketchup as a main character.

11. Describe your left shoe.

12. Bob was the richest person in the world.

13. Everyone talks about good fairy godmothers, but there can also be very, very bad ones.

14. One day, everything I touched turned to guacamole.

15. Instead of money, my country decided to use donuts as currency.

16. You woke up and you were 100 years in the future.

17. If you were in charge of all schools, what would change?

18. I got three wishes, but it didn't quite turn out as I expected...

19. If you could invent anything, what would you invent and why?

20. The Big Bad Wolf was framed and you're his lawyer. How will you defend him?

21. Harry Potter was a fake.

22. Instead of cars and boats, we all used unicorns and manatees.

23. Describe something in your pocket or your purse.

24. You open your front door and see a giant box. What is inside and what happens when you open it?

25. Write a story where each sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet. A... B... C...

26. What if you became friends with your food?

27. If you can become any animal at all for a year, what would you choose?

28. Kids have finally gotten to vote for president! What happens?

29. You woke up this morning and all your clothes (I mean ALL your clothes) are gone. What do you do?

30. The first thing I'm going to do when they let me out of here is...

31. Defend a villain in a book or movie.

32. A ghost is haunting your room, but it's not a scary ghost. What does it do?

33. What if your parent or teacher turned into a lizard for a day? What would it be like?

34. The thing I remember most about that day is the blood...

35. I opened the fridge to get a snack and saw a portal to another world.

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A Loss

(I have been putting off finishing this blog post for months. You'll see why) Today, I was cleaning a bookshelf and I found the journal from one of my third-grade students, who I call Fred in my book , in 2001. I still had it because he didn't come to the last day of school to get his stuff this year and I guess it got put in a pile and somehow I've kept it with me. He didn't come to the last day of school, probably because his family was a mess: dad in prison, mom in an abusive relationship, all the kids (understandably) acting out violently. Fred was expelled from our school in second grade for hitting a teacher. Then he was expelled from the other school, I don't know why, at the end of second grade. He came back on the condition from the administration that he be in my class because I had him as a student in first grade and he listened to me and worked well with me. We had a really good relationship, although Fred was definitely not easy to have in class....

A New Prison, Part Two

Second very long part of the prison visit report. After we got all the paperwork filled out and went through the metal detector, we got visitation slips with the name of the inmate, and made our way over to the other building for visitation. This is not maximum security so thankfully you can just sit next to the inmates, and not be separated by glass or have to use a telephone to talk. First, you get a gate unlocked and go into a holding pen that is of course in direct sunlight (or rain if it's that season) and surrounded by fences topped with razor wire. You wait there until the gate at the other end is unlocked. This holding pen was a little bigger and less claustrophobic than the other prison (I do not have any claustrophobia and I came very close to a panic attack once at the other place) and they opened the other gate more quickly. Then you walk, again in blazing sunlight (or rain) to the visitation building. This one was less of a walk than the other pri...

A New Prison, Part 1

My former student, friend, and co-author was moved to a new prison during COVID. We (myself, Mitali, and his Abuela) have visited a couple of times via the video visit functionality they set up, but we've also been trying to visit in person, ever since in-person visits were allowed again. After four of them being canceled (sometimes we were told why, sometimes not), we finally got a visit. I was super nervous about this visit. (I felt better when Mitali mentioned that she was also, because she is an inherently positive and optimistic person!) I am not proud of this, but there was a large part of me that was hoping that the visit would be canceled, just like the previous four were. I felt a little better when someone I know messaged me privately to tell me that they had had very good experiences visiting a family member in that prison. But I still didn't sleep well at all that night, worrying about the guards, the many things that could go wrong, and the projected 111-degree hea...

Bronwyn Harris, Author

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