10 surprisingly creative picture writing prompt Ideas that will blow your mind

Writing Prompts for middle school or upper elementary are definitely a way to engage students in creative writing.

Creative writing prompts for middle school take it even further to make the process more engaging for students.

Then add emoji and picture writing prompts and you have ideal creative writing prompts to use in your classroom all year long with no “ugh…not this again” but “can we do more?!!”

If you love this list and are looking for more creative ways to engage students you must check out this Student Engagement Workshop that will change how you think about curriculum planning! (and give you TONs of ideas and templates to inspire your teaching!)

Where do you find creative writing prompts for middle school or elementary pdf?

You can find digital creative journal writing prompts or pdf writing prompts easy to display and give students paper as written copies.

I love these Emoji Creative Writing Prompts with Pictures and let me show you all the ways you can use these creative writing prompts for your kids!

How to use Creative Writing Prompts with pictures

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty of how to use writing prompts to engage students in upper elementary and middle school.

One way to use writing prompts is to print and laminate them for in person use.

Have students shuffle and randomly choose for a writing center.

Easily assign students a writing prompt and have them write a plot in dry erase markers to use over and over again!

Picture writing prompts as sequencing for creative writing

Pull 2, 3, or 4 picture writing prompts and use those events that must sequence in a creative writing piece.

This immediately gets brains working on to how to piece those pictures together to make a story.

Emoji add emotion to writing prompts for kids

Have students choose an emoji after each writing prompt that must correlate to their story.

It can be teacher or student directed or RANDOM.

Students may be thinking one way and have to add in how characters feelings may change.

Using digital emoji prompts you can remove other emojis OR circle the chosen emoji for your story!

Have Plot Twist Writing prompts to engage students!

Plot Twist Writing is the ultimate “Choose Your Own Adventure” writing.

Start with one prompt then choose a plot twist or 3 to add crazy turns to your story!

Plot Twist creative writing prompts for kids are perfect for distance learning! Send a link and you are good to go!

Easy to display for a writing center as well.

Put on the board and have the teacher say “plot twist” after a certain amount of writing time to inject fun into your writing block!

Creative Writing Prompt Lottery – fun for all!

Just like using this wheel to help decide work choices.

Design a wheel with numbers, characters, settings, or prompts and have students spin for a story!

Break out of a writing rut with creative writing prompts for kids

Writing can be boring. There I said it.

Forcing writing can be even more tough for students who might dislike writing already. Creative writing free up your mind.

Fun writing prompts take the seriousness out of writing and focus on imagination and “what if.” These are the best to read and get students writing.

We constituted a Fun Friday Writing in our class. Each Friday we’d break from our essays, writing projects, and just do fun writing. The Emoji Picture prompts are perfect.

Let a birthday student choose, choose a random one, make up a seasonal one…anything goes! One day to let loose and just write!

Creative Writing Prompts are perfect for morning work

Middle school or middle grades writing prompts are great for morning work or bellringer actitivties.

Short and quick but great to engage students quickly and focus on the work for the day.

Make Creative Writing journals or digital journals

Make the prompts in the front and each page a different student answers.

This could easily work digitally as well to create a whole journal of creative writing prompts.

Use Emoji writing prompts with partners to engage students

Have students start writing and pass a prompt for a plot twist.

Change after a specific number of time and create stories together!

Change up writing prompts to fit other learning standards

Use a creative writing prompt but make it persuasive or explanatory. This is a super way to tie in other writing standards with creative writing prompts.