If you’re a parent or teacher, you know that getting kids to write can be challenging. They may lack the words or ideas to express themselves, or they may not know how to put their thoughts on paper.
This is where sentence starters for kids come in. When you use sentence starters with your kids, you help them become better writers and thinkers. They’ll also learn how to express their feelings, thoughts, and ideas more clearly when they write.
Simple Sentence Starters
Most children have a hard time getting started in the writing process. This isn’t because they don’t have ideas or have anything to say, but because it can be difficult to get started. If you’re dealing with elementary students, they may need simple sentence starters where all they need to do is complete sentences.
- My favorite color is…
- My favorite book is…
- My favorite movie is…
- My favorite song is…
- My favorite game is…
- My favorite place is…
- My favorite season is…
- I’m so hungry…
- I’m so tired…
- I’m so happy because…
- I’m so excited because…
- I’m so sad because…
- I can’t wait for the weekend!
- I can’t wait for the vacation!
- I love my friends so much, they’re always there for me when I need them most, and they never let me down no matter what happens in life because they’re just such good friends 🙂
- The weather is so cold today, and all the snow outside looks like a beautiful winter wonderland, which is just great this time of year
- I love it when you…
- I wish you’d…
- What I’d do if…
- It’s a good thing…
- When I grow up, I want to be a … …
- What I like best about my family is …
- One of my favorite foods is …
- The best day of my life was when …
- The best part of summer is …
- My favorite animal is …
- I think that …
- I feel like …
- I wish that …
- I wish that …
- I need to…
- It’s hard for me to…
- It’s easy for me to…
- I love to play in the snow…
- I went to the grocery store and…
- I was thinking about…
- I want to know…
- If I were a superhero…
- I like it when…
- If I didn’t have to go to school tomorrow, I’d…
Sentence Starters With Questions
If your students are in 5th grade or older, they can already write a little more so you can ask them questions instead of just giving them a writing prompt.
- Do you know what time it’s?
- What’re you doing right now?
- How was school today?
- What did you do this weekend?
- What’s your favorite subject at school?
- What do you want to be when you grow up?
- Do you like school? Why or why not?
- What do you like to do most in your free time?
- Who’s your best friend at school? Why are they good friends to you?
- Do you like to play video games?
- What’s your favorite video game?
- What’s your favorite animal?
- Do you like to watch movies?
- What’s your favorite movie?
- What do you want to be when you grow up?
- Who’s your best friend?
- What’s your favorite color?
- What do you like to eat for breakfast?
- Where do you live with your parents and siblings?
- Do you like pizza?
- What do you like best about school?
- If you could’ve any animal as a pet, which one would you choose and why?
- If you could have a superpower, what would it be? And why?
- What’s the best thing that happened to you today?
- What’s the worst thing that happened to you today?
- Where’s your favorite place to go on vacation?
- What was the best part of your weekend?
- What would it be and why if you could change one thing in your life right now?
- What’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened to you?
- How would you describe yourself?
- If you could travel through time, would you travel to the past or the future?
- What would it be if you could give your best friend a gift?
- What would your class do if you were in charge of the classroom for a day?
- Do you think kids should be allowed to stay up as late as they want?
- What would it look if you could set up your bedroom any way you wanted?
- What would you do if you were the only person in the world for a day?
- What adventures would you have if you could spend a Saturday doing anything you wanted?
- If you could live in any book or movie, which would you choose and why?
- What would you name your ship if you were the captain of a ship?
- What would it look like if you could only wear one outfit for the rest of your life?
- Where would it lead if there was a magical portal in the back of your closet?
- If you could get rid of one thing from school forever, what would it be and why (e.g. homework)?
- What’s the best thing you learned in school?
- Who’d it be and why if you could meet anyone in the world?
- What’re your hobbies?
Pictures for Sentence Starters for Children
Pictures always work, whether in kindergarten, where you just want to get kids talking or in middle school, where you want to encourage them to write.
It’s a simple fact that kids love pictures and drawings. You can use them as a starting point for conversation and sentence starters. Plus, a photo or drawing can be a great way to express themselves for students who’re shy or afraid of creative writing.
The trick is to find an image that fits your lesson plan and teaching goals. A picture of people talking would be perfect if you want to teach how to write dialog. If you want to teach how to write narration, a picture of someone telling a story would be ideal. And if you want to teach how to write descriptions, a picture of something beautiful would be good, too!
- What do you see in the picture?
- What words do you use to describe what you see?
- What kind of place is it?
- What would you do if you were there?
- What’re the people doing there?
- What do you think they’re talking about?
- Who’re the people in this picture?
- Can you describe what they look like and where they’re?
- Why do you think they’re wearing those clothes/colors?
- What’s this person feeling?
- Why is this person smiling or frowning?
- What would you do if you were this person?
- What would you do if you were in this picture?
- What would you like most about it?
- What happened in your life that was like this picture?
- What would it be like if it was raining outside and you were stuck inside looking out the window at the rain?
- What would it be if you could change one thing about this picture?
How to Encourage Children to Write From Sentence Starters
The first step to helping children write is to get them interested in writing. You can do this by giving them a topic that interests them and then asking them what they think about it.
For example, if you want your kids to write about their favorite sport, you can ask them what they like about that sport. Once they have an idea of where they’re going with their opening sentence, it’s time for the next step: get them started on the actual writing!
- Start by giving them an opening sentence or two (a few sentences explaining what you want them to write).
- Then give them a few creative writing prompts for subordinate clauses (subordinate clauses show how the topic sentence relates to other things).
- Once you’ve given them those two things to work with, it’s time for the fun part…the writing!
When they’re done with their writing, let them know how proud you’re of them and how much it means to you that they shared their thoughts and feelings with you (even if it wasn’t perfect).
How You Can Tap Into Their Creativity
If your kids are struggling with their creative writing skills or you’re just looking for a fun way to get them into story writing, here are some easy ways to get them writing.
Make It a Game
Kids love games, so why not make writing one, too? Make a list of words that start with a certain letter, such as “things that start with the letter B.” Then you can see which of the kids can list the most words. If they’ve trouble coming up with something, you can help them by giving them some hints on your story starter.
Let Them Choose Their Own Topic
If they’re older and want to write about something specific, you can let them choose the topic themselves (within reason). If they have an idea in mind and want to write about it, let them try it! You’ll be surprised at what they come up with!
Encourage Creativity
The best way for kids to have fun writing is to use their imagination and let their creativity run wild. Let them know you’re proud of them for being creative, even if what they wrote doesn’t make sense at first glance!
Model Good Writing Habits Yourself
Children learn by example, so set a good example by writing down important events in your life or interesting things that happened during the day so your child will be more inclined to write things down too!
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