Are your kindergarten students ready to start writing? These free Kindergarten writing prompts are a great way to develop descriptive writing skills, making writing fun and help them learn more about each other at the same time!
Kindergarten writing prompts at a glance
A Kindergarten writing prompt is a short question that gives young writers something to write about, so they can put their energy into building a sentence instead of hunting for an idea.
- Journal writing: a short piece of daily writing, often just one sentence. For example, "My favourite animal is a koala."
- Writing prompt: the question that sparks the idea. For example, "Would you rather have a cat or a dog? Why?"
- Sentence starter: the first few words of the answer, given as a scaffold. For example, "I would rather have a..."
- Story Starters: a helpful way to scaffold short stories for young children. For example, "Once upon a time... One day... Suddenly... Luckily..."
- Oral rehearsal: saying the sentence out loud before writing it. For example, counting "I - like - dogs" on three fingers.
- Extension: adding a reason with "because". For example, "I like dogs because they are fluffy."
How to teach it: share one prompt, talk about possible answers together, have students say their sentence out loud, offer a sentence starter to anyone who needs it, then let them write and share.
Want all 101 prompts ready to pop up on the board? They're free to download.
Free Kindergarten writing prompt slides
Enjoy these free writing prompts, with 101 different writing prompts (editable), one per slide and ready to display each morning. Change the wording or spelling to suit your class, or even add in your own prompts too. They are a low pressure way to build better writers, support the writing process and build a daily routine to support little writers.
- Download the 101 free writing prompt slides
- Grab the free sentence editing checklist too, so students can check their own sentence
Now let's set up your writing time so those prompts turn into real sentences!
101 Free Kindergarten Writing Prompts
These free and editable Kindergarten journal prompts will make it easy for your students to get lots of writing practice daily. The following questions will also help you develop your students' emotional intelligence and are a fun way to support positive peer-to-peer relationships.
Since most of these questions in this writing prompt set are personal, they're easy for reluctant writers to answer (e.g. favourite toy, favourite book, favourite animal, favourite season) and only require one full sentence. It can be a great idea to have your students share their answers during morning meetings to help them learn new things about each other.
These creative writing prompts are a great window into the lives of your students, and it's incredible how much you learn from a sentence a day!
You can download your free Kindergarten Writing Prompt Slides here. The text is editable if you need to adjust the wording or spelling to US English.
- What is your favourite thing about Summer?
- Describe your favourite type of ice-cream.
- Which is better: pizza or hot dogs? Why?
- Who is the funniest person in your family? Why?
- Do you prefer sad movies, funny movies or scary movies? Why?
- Describe your perfect day.
- Would you rather have a cat or a dog? Why?
- What is your favourite season?
- How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
- What do you like about school?
- What job would you like to have when you grow up?
- What instrument would you most like to play and why?
- Who is your favourite singer and why?
- What is your favourite movie and why?
- Would you rather be inside or outside? Why?
- What is the best superpower? Why?
- Describe your favourite food.
- What was the last thing that made you laugh?
- What is the funniest thing you've ever seen?
- Do you know any good jokes?
- What is your favourite thing about school?
- What is something you love about your teacher?
- If you could be the principal for the day, what would you do?
- What is your favourite book and why?
- What makes a good friend?
- What is your favourite sport and why?
- Do you like to play video games? Why or why not?
- Where is your favourite place in the whole world?
- What is your favourite colour? Why?
- What is something you're looking forward to in the future?
- What do your parents do while you are at school?
- Who is someone really special to you? Why are they special?
- What is your favourite song? What do you like about it?
- Is it better to be kind or smart? Why?
- Explain your favourite game to play.
- What is your favourite cartoon? Why do you like it?
- Would you rather be a baby or a teenager? Why?
- What is something that you have learned so far this year?
- Which animal would you like to be and why?
- What is the best day of the week? Why?
- What do you like to eat on your pizza?
- Which is better: popcorn or potato chips? Why?
- Describe your favourite restaurant.
- If you could fly anywhere on a plane, where would you go?
- If you could travel anywhere on a train, where would you go?
- Have you ever been to the ocean? What did you see?
- What would be your best tips for growing a plant?
- Who is the best cook you know?
- Describe your favourite meal.
- Which is better: waffles or pancakes? Why?
- Do you like spicy food? Why or why not?
- Describe your favourite fruit.
- What is your favourite toy? Why?
- Tell me about your family. Do you have any siblings?
- Who is the oldest person you've ever met? Can you describe them?
- Have you ever been on a roller coaster? What was it like?
- What is something that scares you?
- What is something that you find hard about school?
- How would you describe school to an alien?
- Who is the kindest person that you know, and why?
- If you could spend a day in someone else's shoes, who would you want to be?
- Which is better: the beach or the mountains? Why?
- Have you ever seen snow? How would you describe it?
- Imagine you are at the top of a skyscraper. What can you see?
- How do you help your family at home?
- Do you think it would be fun to be an actor? Why or why not?
- If you could be the teacher, what would you do?
- What kind of dress-up day is your favourite?
- If you could write a book, what would it be about?
- What sorts of things might you see in outer space?
- Describe a day at the zoo.
- Describe the biggest animal that you've ever seen.
- What might you see if you were to go snorkelling?
- Are lions or bears scarier? Why?
- Describe your favourite type of weather.
- What makes you feel stressed or worried?
- How does a bully behave?
- Write a compliment to someone in the class.
- What activities do you like to do in Summer?
- Describe a meal that you'd like to learn how to cook.
- What does your family love to do for the holidays?
- Would you rather read or draw? Why?
- Would you rather dance or paint? Why?
- What makes a good artist?
- What are some ways that you can be creative?
- Describe your favourite food to order at a restaurant.
- Which animal is cuter: pandas or koalas? Why?
- Describe your imaginary dinosaur.
- What do you bring with you to school every day?
- Do you eat school lunch or bring lunch from home?
- What is your favourite letter? Why?
- What is your favourite number? Why?
- Describe the perfect party.
- What is your favourite type of birthday cake?
- If you could only eat chocolate or vanilla ice-cream for the rest of your life, which would you choose and why?
- Describe something that you love about nature.
- Describe a dream you have had.
- Do you prefer loud voices or soft voices? Why?
- How do you like to spend a rainy day?
- How do you like to spend a sunny day?
- What is something that is special about you?
More Ideas
Scaffold: Offer a sentence stem (or several) to support emergent writers.
Extension: For older students already writing complete sentences, encourage them to stretch their skills and explain why they chose their answers.
Once they get into a rhythm, your students will enjoy writing about various topics and sharing their preferences and opinions!
If you run out of ideas and need more, you can also ask students to submit suggestions. This is a great way to involve your students in running your daily routines!
Another option is to incorporate weekend recounts (or personal narratives). They're a fantastic way to learn about your students' weekends and can easily supplement the writing prompts above.
My weekend recounts slides include three to five sentence starters and vocabulary to make it easy for young students to build simple sentences. You can use the shape items to further differentiate your instruction (e.g. some students only complete the triangle sentences, other students complete the triangle and square sentences, and extension students could also attempt the hexagon sentence).
If you give your students daily writing prompts, you may also like to build a writing station. This is the perfect way to help your young learners become independent writers while still supporting their developing needs.
Our Kindergarten writing station includes 26 vocabulary mats with pictures you can display in your writing center, making it easy for your students to find the spelling for their favourite animal or the weather. There are also sentence starters to help your students write complete sentences. A writing station can be a great activity for early finishers at the end of your writing lessons.
More Kindergarten Writing Resources
Love these resources and prompt ideas? You'll love my other writing activities to help your students become amazing writers!
- Kindergarten Sentence Writing Activities
- Kindergarten Writing Journals: Daily Journal Prompts & Tips
- Decodable Sentence Mats for CVC Words
- Narrative Writing for Kindergarten and First Grade
- Monster Writing Prompts
- Free Sentence Editing Checklist
These fun writing prompts are such an excellent way to support your students' writing abilities! I hope you enjoyed these free Kindergarten writing prompts and found plenty of ideas to get you through the year!
Kindergarten writing prompts FAQ
How do I start journal writing in Kindergarten?
Start small and keep it predictable. Share one prompt at the same time each day, talk about answers together, then have students write one sentence. A sentence starter on the board helps anyone who isn't ready to write a full sentence on their own yet.
How many sentences should a Kindergarten student write?
One sentence is plenty early in the year. As students get more confident with sounds, letters and sentence structure, they can add a second sentence or a reason with "because". Quality matters more than length at this age.
What are good writing prompts for Kindergarten?
The best prompts are ones students can answer from their own life, like their favourite food, their family or what they'd rather do. Simple "would you rather" and "what is your favourite" questions work well because every child has an answer.
How do I help a Kindergarten student who won't write?
Get them talking first. Ask them to say their sentence out loud, count the words on their fingers, then write one word at a time. A sentence starter, a word mat or a writing station takes away some of the load so they can focus on getting their idea down.
Should I correct spelling in Kindergarten journals?
Encourage students to use the sounds they know to spell words, and celebrate their attempts. Focus your feedback on one or two things they've been taught, such as a capital letter, a full stop or a word you've practised together, instead of correcting every word.
How long should journal writing take in Kindergarten?
Around 10 to 15 minutes is enough for most Kindergarten classes, including talking time. Short and daily works better than long and occasional.
Level-up your teaching with The Hive!
Looking for even more ways to spark meaningful writing in your classroom? You could also use The Hive's Sharing Questions discussion prompts or Would You Rather Questions to get students thinking and talking before they write! These engaging prompts help young learners develop ideas, build confidence, and strengthen their verbal and written communication skills.
Plus, you'll have access to a revolutionary teaching platform with digital teaching tools, classroom management apps, a digital teacher planner and visual timetable and so much more.
