article writing for kids

How to Write an Article

 THE CRAFT OF ARTICLE WRITING

Writing is a complex skill. A very complex skill.

Not only do we put students under pressure to master the inconsistent spelling patterns and complex grammar of the English language, but we require them to know how to write for a variety of purposes in both fiction and nonfiction genres.

On top of this, writing is just one aspect of one subject among many.

The best way to help our students to overcome the challenge of writing in any genre is to help them to break things down into their component parts and give them a basic formula to follow.

In this article, we will break article writing down into its components and present a formulaic approach that will provide a basic structure for our students to follow.

Once this structure is mastered, students can, of course, begin to play with things.

But, until then, there is plenty of room within the discipline of the basic structure for students to express themselves in the article form.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING NEWS REPORTING

With over  FORTY GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS in this  ENGAGING   UNIT, you can complete a  WEEKLY  journalistic / Newspaper reporting task  ALL YEAR LONG   as classwork or homework.

These templates take students through a  PROVEN  four-step article writing process on some  AMAZING  images. Students will learn how to.

WHAT IS AN ARTICLE?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines an article as, “a piece of writing on a particular subject in a newspaper or magazine, or on the internet.”

An article’s shape and structure will vary depending on whether it’s intended for publication in a newspaper, magazine, or online.

Each of these media has its own requirements. For example, a magazine feature article may go into great depth on a topic, allowing for long, evocative paragraphs of exposition, while an online blog article may be full of lots of short paragraphs that get to the point without too much fanfare.

Each of these forms makes different demands on the writer, and it’s for this reason that most newspapers, magazines, and big websites provide writers with specific submission guidelines.

So, with such diverse demands placed on article writers, how do we go about teaching the diverse skill required to our students?

Luckily, we can break most types of articles down into some common key features.

Below we’ll take a look at the most important of these, along with an activity to get your students practicing each aspect right away.

Finally, we’ll take a look at a few general tips on article writing.

KEY WRITTEN FEATURES OF AN ARTICLE

The headline.

The purpose of the headline is to capture the reader’s attention and let them know what the article is about. All of this in usually no more than 4 or 5 words!

There is an art to good headline writing and all sorts of literary devices (e.g alliteration and metaphor) can be used to create an eye-catching and intriguing headline.

The best way for students to learn how headlines work is to view some historical samples.

Newspaper headlines especially are known for being short and pithy. Here are just a few examples to whet the appetite:

• Hitler Is Dead
• Lincoln Shot
• Men Walk On The Moon
• Berlin Wall Crumbles

You could encourage students to find some pithy examples of their own. It’s amazing how much information can be condensed into so few words – this is the essence of good headline writing.

Headlines Practice Activity:

Give students opportunities to practice headline writing in isolation from article writing itself. For example, take sample stories from newspapers and magazines and challenge students to write new headlines for them. Set a word limit appropriate to the skills and age of the students. For example, younger, more inexperienced students might write 9-word headlines, while older, more skilled students might thrive with the challenge of a 4-word limit.

THE SUBHEADING

Subheadings give the reader more information on what the article is about. For this reason, they’re often a little longer than headlines and use a smaller font, though still larger (or in bold) than the font used in the body of the text.

Subheadings provide a little more of the necessary detail to inform readers what’s going on. If a headline is a jab, the subheading is the cross.

In magazines and online articles especially, there are often subheadings throughout the article. In this context, they let the reader know what each paragraph/section is about.

Subheadings also help the reader’s eye to scan the article and quickly get a sense of the story, for the writer they help immensely to organize the structure of the story.

Practice Activity:

One way to help organize paragraphs in an article is to use parallel structure.

Parallel structure is when we use similar words, phrases, and grammar structures. We might see this being used in a series of subheadings in a ‘How to’ article where the subheadings all start with an imperative such as choose , attach , cut , etc.

Have you noticed how all the sections in this ‘Key Features’ part of this article start simply with the word ‘The’? This is another example of a parallel structure.

Yet another example of parallel structure is when all the subheadings appear in the form of a question.

Whichever type of parallel structure students use, they need to be sure that they all in some way relate to the original title of the article.

To give students a chance to practice writing subheadings using parallel structure, instruct them to write subheadings for a piece of text that doesn’t already have them.

THE BODY PARAGRAPHS

Writing good, solid paragraphs is an art in itself. Luckily, you’ll find comprehensive guidance on this aspect of writing articles elsewhere on this site.

But, for now, let’s take a look at some general considerations for students when writing articles.

The length of the paragraphs will depend on the medium. For example, for online articles paragraphs are generally brief and to the point. Usually no more than a sentence or two and rarely more than five.

This style is often replicated in newspapers and magazines of a more tabloid nature.

Short paragraphs allow for more white space on the page or screen. This is much less daunting for the reader and makes it easier for them to focus their attention on what’s being said – a crucial advantage in these attention-hungry times.

Lots of white space makes articles much more readable on devices with smaller screens such as phones and tablets. Chunking information into brief paragraphs enables online readers to scan articles more quickly too, which is how much of the information on the internet is consumed – I do hope you’re not scanning this!

Conversely, articles that are written more formally, for example, academic articles, can benefit from longer paragraphs which allow for more space to provide supporting evidence for the topic sentence.

Deciding on the length of paragraphs in an article can be done by first thinking about the intended audience, the purpose of the article, as well as the nature of the information to be communicated.

A fun activity to practice paragraphing is to organize your students into groups and provide them with a copy of an article with the original paragraph breaks removed. In their groups, students read the article and decide on where they think the paragraphs should go.

To do this successfully, they’ll need to consider the type of publication they think the article is intended for, the purpose of the article, the language level, and the nature of the information.

When the groups have finished adding in their paragraph breaks they can share and compare their decisions with the other groups before you finally reveal where the breaks were in the original article.

Article Photos and Captions

Photos and captions aren’t always necessary in articles, but when they are, our students must understand how to make the most of them.

Just like the previous key features on our list, there are specific things students need to know to make the most of this specific aspect of article writing.

  The internet has given us the gift of access to innumerable copyright-free images to accompany our articles, but what criteria should students use when choosing an image?

To choose the perfect accompanying image/s for their article, students need to identify images that match the tone of their article.

Quirky or risque images won’t match the more serious tone of an academic article well, but they might work perfectly for that feature of tattoo artists.

Photos are meant to bring value to an article – they speak a thousand words after all. It’s important then that the image is of a high enough resolution that the detail of those ‘thousand words’ is clearly visible to the reader.

Just as the tone of the photo should match the tone of the article, the tone of the caption should match the tone of the photo.

Captions should be informative and engaging. Often, the first thing a reader will look at in an article is the photos and then the caption. Frequently, they’ll use the information therein to decide whether or not they’ll continue to read.

When writing captions, students must avoid redundancy. They need to add information to that which is already available to the reader by looking at the image.

There’s no point merely describing in words what the reader can clearly see with their own two eyes. Students should describe things that are not immediately obvious, such as date, location, or the name of the event.

One last point, captions should be written in the present tense. By definition, the photo will show something that has happened already. Despite this, students should write as if the action in the image is happening right now.

Remind students that their captions should be brief; they must be careful not to waste words with such a tight format.

For this fun activity, you’ll need some old magazines and newspapers. Cut some of the photos out minus their captions. All the accompanying captions should be cut out and jumbled up. It’s the students’ job to match each image with the correct accompanying caption.

Students can present their decisions and explanations when they’ve finished.

A good extension exercise would be to challenge the students to write a superior caption for each of the images they’ve worked on.

TOP 5 TIPS FOR ARTICLE WRITING

Now your students have the key features of article writing sewn up tightly, let’s take a look at a few quick and easy tips to help them polish up their general article writing skills.

1. Read Widely – Reading widely, all manner of articles, is the best way students can internalize some of the habits of good article writing. Luckily, with the internet, it’s easy to find articles on any topic of interest at the click of a mouse.

2. Choose Interesting Topics – It’s hard to engage the reader when the writer is not themselves engaged. Be sure students choose article topics that pique their own interest (as far as possible!).

3. Research and Outline – Regardless of the type of article the student is writing, some research will be required. The research will help an article take shape in the form of an outline. Without these two crucial stages, articles run the danger of wandering aimlessly and, worse still, of containing inaccurate information and details.

4. Keep Things Simple – All articles are about communicating information in one form or another. The most effective way of doing this is to keep things easily understood by the reader. This is especially true when the topic is complex.

5. Edit and Proofread – This can be said of any type of writing, but it still bears repeating. Students need to ensure they comprehensively proofread and edit their work when they’ve ‘finished’. The importance of this part of the writing process can’t be overstated.

And to Conclude…

With time and plenty of practice, students will soon internalize the formula as outlined above.

This will enable students to efficiently research, outline, and structure their ideas before writing.

This ability, along with the general tips mentioned, will soon enable your students to produce well-written articles on a wide range of topics to meet the needs of a diverse range of audiences.

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TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO WRITE AN ARTICLE

If you have a class filled with newshounds eager to write their own front-page stories about classroom events or the latest happenings in the cafeteria, Scholastic Teachables has you covered with ready-to-go resources for your young journalists.

These 5 resources will help students in grades 3–5 learn about the newswriting process and how to add descriptive elements that will engage readers. Not only will they learn how to write a news article, students will also learn important content-area vocabulary that gives new meaning to words like  dummy ,  bleeds , and  widow . Before you know it, your classroom will be a busy newsroom filled with young reporters looking to break the next big story!

1.     Newspaper Writing: Narrative Learning Center

This  narrative learning center  specifically designed for newspaper writing helps students report facts and write a compelling news story that will engage their readers. The printable includes an introductory lesson, student directions, model writing samples, graphic organizers, differentiation tips, and an assessment rubric.

2.     Newspaper Article: Leveled Graphic Organizers

This lesson with  tiered graphic organizers  will help your cub reporters and front-page newshounds learn the basics of news writing. Students will write a news article that opens with a lead, includes who, what, when, where, and why, and presents details in the body of the story.

3.     Newspaper Jargon: Grade 4 Vocabulary

To be true news writers, students need to know the industry jargon. This  vocabulary packet  teaches students what words like  bleeds ,  dummy , and  stringer  commonly mean in newsrooms.

4.     The Daily News: Language Arts Bulletin Board

This  bulletin board  resource not only turns your classroom into a newsroom, it also helps students develop the speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills they need to run it effectively. 

5.     Plenty of Plastic: Grade 5 Opinion Writing Lesson

Every respected newspaper has a robust editorial section. This  writing lesson  helps create persuasive opinion writers by encouraging students to take a written stance for or against plastic bags.

Scholastic Teachables helps teachers like you build the next generation of journalists and newshounds. Even better, these teaching materials are ready to go, saving you time when you need it most during the school year. The printables are free to subscribers of Scholastic Teachables or are available for individual purchase.  Log in or subscribe today  for teaching tools to help your students write news articles that can make a difference in your classroom, school, and community!

Creating a Classroom Newspaper

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Students will enjoy this creative, exciting, and stimulating lesson in writing as they create authentic newspaper stories. As they are transformed into reporters and editors, they will become effective users of ICT in order to publish their own classroom newspaper. Various aspects of newspapers are covered, including parts of a newspaper, writing an article, online newspapers, newspaper reading habits, and layout and design techniques.

Featured Resources

• Printing Press : In this online interactive tool, your students can choose the "newspaper" option to help them complete their newspaper section.
• Newspaper Story Format : Your students will find completing their newspaper article a snap by first filling out this useful handout that helps them identify each key element of an authentic newspaper article.

From Theory to Practice

• Encouraging children to read and write in ways that allow them to make sense of real language in real contexts is more likely to help them develop the skills necessary to become fluent readers and writers. Creation of a class newspaper provides such a real context, and thus makes an excellent choice as the basis for a project designed with this goal in mind.
• Use of the computer motivates students to learn and students' attitudes toward the newspaper genre are affected by active participation in the production of an authentic and original newspaper of their own.
• Abilities in formal writing are best developed with a "process approach" that goes through five distinct phases: prewriting, composing or drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Using this approach helps students more fully understand the process of producing formal written documents, such as magazines and newspapers.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
• 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

Materials and Technology

• Computer lab with Internet access
• Multimedia software
• Access to a library of images/graphics
• Scanner (optional)
• Digital camera (optional)
• Deadline! From News to Newspaper by Gail Gibbons (HarperCollins, 1987)
• The Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper by Loreen Leedy (Holiday House, 1993)
• Freddy and the Bean Home News by Walter R. Brooks (Puffin, 2002)
• Inverted Pyramid Format
• Newspaper Story Format
• Story Feedback Form
• Newspaper Writing Assessment
• Reporting Tips
• Reporter's Guide

Preparation

*Prerequisite skills: Familiarization with an appropriate multimedia software program

Student Objectives

Students will

• Identify the parts of a newspaper
• Identify the format of a news article
• Write a newspaper story
• Edit newspaper articles
• Use ICT equipment and software
• Layout and publish a classroom newspaper

Hold up a sample front page from a selected newspaper. Ask students what they notice about the format that is different from other texts they read (e.g., black and white ink, graphics, headline, column format). Divide the students into groups of three to four members. Explain to the students that they will explore a newspaper, paying attention to the layout and format. Instruct students to study the front page first and discuss what different parts they notice. Ask each group to report back to the whole class what members noticed was contained on the front page. Make a list of parts on the board. (e.g., title, headlines, pictures or graphics, captions, date, subtitles, table of contents/index, etc.). Students should notice similarities between different newspapers. Discuss with the class how newspapers use a standard format. In their groups, have students continue to explore copies of newspapers. What kinds of things do they notice? Students should begin to identify sections and features that are specific to newspapers. Have the groups again report to the whole class what types of items they noticed in their paper. Continue keeping the list of items on the board. (Additional items may include: editorials, cartoons, horoscope, local news, weddings, classifieds, advertising, etc.) Explain to the class that people read newspapers differently than other types of texts. Discuss how people read newspapers. Reading a newspaper matches people's interests in certain things. They scan headlines, subtitles, and images to see if the story interests them or not. Read some sample headlines from newspapers. Ask, "How many of you would be interested in reading this story?" For homework, have students ask their family members what newspapers they read regularly and what sections they read most often. Give an example of your own newspaper reading habits. (For example, "First I check the weather to help me decide what to wear to school. Then I go to the local news to see what is happening in my town. Finally, I scan the headlines to see what is happening in the world. If I have time, I start the crossword puzzle.")

Ask the students to report about their family's newspaper reading habits. Make a list of newspapers that are read and determine which are the most common. List the words who, what, where, when, and why on the board, overhead, or chart paper. Answer each of the five W questions using the popular rhyme "Jack & Jill." Example:

• Who? Jack and Jill
• What? Fell down and broke crown
• Where? On the hill
• When? Sometime in the past
• Why? Trying to fetch water

Read "Bad Fall Injures Children" article from page 4 of the Grandview Newspaper lesson plan . Students clarify their previous responses to the five W s according to the article. Explain how these five questions help to summarize a news story. Put students in groups of three to four members. Ask the students to choose another famous rhyme or fairy tale and answer the five W questions. Have each group read just the answers to their questions, and then have the class try to guess what fairy tale or rhyme it is. Explain that these five W s help with the organization of a news story and that they make up the most important details of the story. Demonstrate to the class the organization of a good news story using the Inverted Pyramid Format overhead. Use a sample newspaper story to illustrate an example of this format For homework, ask students to select a newspaper article that they are interested in reading and bring it to school the next day.

Give students time to read the newspaper article they brought from home. Hand out the Newspaper Story Format sheet. Students should then complete the sheet using details from their particular article and share the summary of their newspaper article. Ask the students to rewrite the newspaper article in their own words as if they were a reporter for their local newspaper. What changes would they make and why? Have the students share their stories with a classmate using the following questions to guide their discussion:

• Were changes made to the lead? Why?
• Were changes made to the five W s? Why?
• Were changes made to the details? Why?

As a class, discuss fact versus opinion. Explain that news articles do not include the reporter's opinion. Have students go back and see if the changes that were made to their articles were strictly factual. Refer to original articles as needed for examples of fact-based stories.

Read-aloud to the class from one or more of the suggested titles:

• Deadline! From News to Newspaper by Gail Gibbons
• The Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper by Loreen Leedy
• Freddy and the Bean Home News by Walter R. Brooks

Have students brainstorm the types of articles they would like to write and list them on the board. Look at the list and ask students if the articles could be grouped into categories or "newspaper sections." Use the Reporting Tips overhead to present how to make newspaper articles more interesting. Go over each point and clarify any questions that students may raise. Group students based on interests to form an "editorial staff" for each newspaper section. Have the groups meet to decide who will write which stories. Students can use the Reporter's Guide handout as a guideline. When they have finished, students can begin collecting facts for their stories.

Session 5 and 6

Take students to the computer lab and have them write their first draft. They should not worry about font, size, or columns at this point. Be sure that they save their work and print a hard copy of their article for editing. Students' stories should then be self-edited and edited by two other members of their editorial staff (using the Story Feedback Form ). Students should make necessary revisions to their stories based on the comments from the Story Feedback Form.

In the computer lab, have students access the Internet Public Library website and explore newspapers from around the world. They should pay particular attention to the design and layout elements. For example, some articles may include graphics (e.g., photos, charts, graphs). Discuss what patterns of layout design the students noticed. As a whole class, discuss newspaper layout, addressing the following points:

• Headline News: Top priority articles are near the front (1-2 pages). These are typically of high interest to your entire audience of readers (e.g., town news such as a new park or community center). Long front-page articles can be continued on an inside page to provide room for other headline news.
• Feature Articles: Stories about topics or events that are of interest to a certain group of readers (e.g., sports, animal stories, academic topics, interviews with school staff, book reviews). These are typically grouped into sections.
• Pictures or graphics: The image should always appear with the story. A caption can be included. The size usually depends on how much space is available in the layout.

Give students the opportunity to explore these layout items in newspapers in the classroom and online. Students should look at the Junior Seahawk Newsletter to get ideas for their own layout.

Session 8 and 9

In the computer lab, students should complete final story revisions. They may then begin the newspaper layout using appropriate software. The ReadWriteThink Printing Press includes an option for creating a newspaper. Each editorial staff works together to complete their newspaper section. Note: 8 ½ X 11 size pages are optimal. They can be printed and copied back to back on 11 X 17 paper that can be folded like a real newspaper. The completed paper must have an even number of pages for this format. Pictures can be drawn or pasted into the layout. Depending on the available resources, pictures can also be scanned or downloaded from a digital camera. Tell students to play around with fonts and columns. They should experiment and be creative! Once pages are completed, they should be printed. The editorial staff should do a final reading for errors. Pages are then submitted to the teacher for publishing.

Distribute the class newspaper to the students and allow them time to read it. When they have finished, hand out the Newspaper Writing Assessment sheet and ask them to fill it out.

Student Assessment / Reflections

Assess students' comments from the Newspaper Writing Assessment sheet.

• Calendar Activities
• Student Interactives
• Lesson Plans

The interactive Printing Press is designed to assist students in creating newspapers, brochures, and flyers.

Students analyze rhetorical strategies in online editorials, building knowledge of strategies and awareness of local and national issues. This lesson teaches students connections between subject, writer, and audience and how rhetorical strategies are used in everyday writing.

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Get Started Writing Science Articles for Kids

by Suzanne Henshon

Do you love being outdoors? Have you ever considered combining your love of nature with writing? Many writers never consider writing nonfiction for young readers, yet there are many places to publish science-related articles for kids. It can be a great way to break into print.

So, how do you write about science in a way that is fun to read and accessible for young children? You need to think about including details that are interesting, provide accurate information, and bring a complex subject to life. It’s critical that you also think like an artist and make it visually appealing while presenting scientific facts in an accurate and compelling manner. Does it sound challenging? It is! Here are a few tips:

1. Pick an appropriate subject. Young children are fascinated by the outdoors, so it isn’t hard to find a subject of interest. But you want to make sure this subject is also appropriate for the publication where you will submit your piece. Read issues of the magazine to see how other writers handle scientific subjects before deciding what you will write about. When you are confident that your subject is appropriate, you can progress with researching and writing your article.

2. Research carefully. Go the library and find recently-published books on your topic. Peruse related websites as a starting point in your research, but don’t rely on them exclusively unless you can verify the information in at least two other sources. Read recent articles for adults on the subject and make a note of which experts are quoted. Then try to contact these people for an interview. If you can’t find scientists in the field of your topic, look for university professors to interview, or authors who have written extensively on the subject. You’ll be taking a different slant on the material than they did, and these authors may be open to being a source for your article.

3. Consider how to present this subject to young readers. The youngest readers will have no knowledge of the topic. Don’t overwhelm them with details—zero in on one fascinating aspect and explore it in an entertaining way. Older readers will want to build on what they already know. Think carefully about the reading audience and the best way to present your information; remember that you need to be age appropriate and accurate concurrently.

4. Read comparable articles and pieces. Have you read articles for children? Have you purchased books about comparable subjects? When you read articles and books, you learn how to write for this age group; you develop a sense of how to present a subject in an interesting and compelling way for your particular age group.

5. Plan out how your piece will appear on the page. Will your piece appear on a single page, or will it appear on several pages? How much text will appear on each page? Will you be providing photographs to go with the article? Think carefully about these issues as you write your piece, and be cognizant of how many words are in most science articles.

6. Write beyond facts. Your job isn’t to write an encyclopedia entry; your responsibility is to tell a true story about the natural world. So don’t just present facts and figures; focus on specific facts that children can connect to directly, and find a way to make the information relevant to the reader’s life.

7. Focus on bringing science to life. No matter what you are writing about, your first responsibility is to make your text interesting. Generally science pieces for young readers are short and to the point; you will find yourself emphasizing some factual information while having to omit other things. Don’t feel guilty about this; maybe you are tantalizing the interest of the young reader and encouraging her to explore further on her own.

8. Edit and revise. When you have finished writing your piece, sit down and read it over carefully. Compare your piece to other science pieces that have been published by this publication. Is yours comparable in length, style, and word choice? Have you stretched the imagination of young readers in an appropriate and meaningful way?

When you write a science piece for young readers, you have the capacity to change their lives forever; you might inspire the next Jane Goodall or Neil Armstrong. You could be the spark that encourages a child to reach for the stars. So take this responsibility seriously, and enjoy writing your science article. With a little luck, you might get a publication— and change a young reader’s life forever.

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How To Write News Stories For Children (They’re Going To Hear Them Anyway)

June 20, 2023 (Updated June 21, 2023 )

“In my opinion, children should be seen and not heard. I’m an adult, so it follows that I should be heard and not seen. That’s why I work exclusively over the intercom,” says Lemony Snicket, narrating  The Hostile Hospital — the eighth instalment of Daniel Handler’s A Series of Unfortunate Events .

This notion that children should be silent and disengaged from adult concerns and world affairs was particularly prominent in the Victorian era and much of the 1900s. While we’ve come a long way from this view, there are still many questions about how and what we talk to children about.

It might seem like a question for parents and carers alone to grapple with, but in a world where news is more accessible than ever, journalists also need to explore how they can tell stories responsibly and promote a healthy news diet.

When Do Children Start To Notice The News?

From the BBC’s  Children Talking   in the ‘70s to modern-day shows like Channel 4’s  The Secret Life of Four-Year-Olds , we laugh and marvel at children’s world views — but do we adequately consider their minds when it comes to news provision?

Dr Alison McClymont is a chartered psychologist with over a decade‘s experience working with children, teenagers, and adults. She tells Journo Resources that while there’s no set time or age for when children start to notice the news — partly because families’ news habits vary so greatly — by age eight, we might expect children to acknowledge the world with more of a “moral standpoint” .

Before this, McClymont says: “Children are much less likely to see nuance in news stories due to the moral developmental differences between children and adults.”

Both Dr Alison McClymont (L) and Jodie Jackson (R) agree that negative news can affect children, and it is up to adults to provide context.

Jodie Jackson, author and campaigner in positive psychology and expert on the psychological impact of negative news, says one issue with the news is its omnipresence. “Something I am very aware of as a parent and also as a news literacy practitioner and advocate is the radio bulletins. They are the things that really get me because I think of them as little nuggets of negativity.”

Jackson continues: “They will replay on the hour. They will pick three, four, maybe five news stories that are terrible in terms of what they are talking about. It is always negative — there is no context because it is such a short period of time. And kids hear these things.”

While media like films and music have age ratings, Jackson points out these bulletins play through speakers at after-school activities, car radios, and waiting room TVs. “The news has not quite reached that level of what is appropriate and what is not in spaces that are communal,” Jackson says. “Kids have access, and they don’t have to be literate. You don’t have to be able to read the news, you just have to be able to hear and listen and understand words and stories.”

During the pandemic, Jackson says she realised how difficult it was to be a mediator between her children and information, which made her think for the first time that it was something children needed to be able to manage for themselves.

It’s something that Flora, now 11, has experienced first-hand. She’s the daughter of journalist Donna Ferguson and was definitely engaged with developments during the pandemic, such as putting an eye mask over her doll’s mouth. Flora herself recalls: “I remember feeling annoyed that there was something about Covid every single day […] but when we went into lockdown, I think it was important for me to know the news about Covid, even if it wasn’t very good.”

Flora’s class also sometimes watched Newsround . “When the reports about the parties came out, everyone was like, ‘We hate Boris Johnson’,” she exclaims.

Giving Children An Active Role In The News

To help children manage difficult topics like the pandemic, McClymont says: “It is helpful to tell children what ‘role’ they play.” When discussing climate change, for example, adults can “explain what they can do rather than simply [highlight] the catastrophic events of the situation.”

McClymont also highlights the importance of discussing broader cultural aspects about why news might mean different things to different people. “I think it’s vital children are encouraged to see nuance, tone, and bias in news reporting as it will help them build cultural sensitivity, empathy, and compassion,” she explains.

Rosalie Minnitt, who creates educational content on children’s TV about topics like bullying and internet safety, agrees. “I think the most important thing is to give children back their sense of control and let them lead the discussion. It is most important to create an open, honest, and safe space to talk about the things that worry them, and work from there.”

While these might both seem like advice for parents and carers at first glance, they’re also themes journalists should try to weave within their storytelling. Even if you’re not writing for children, it’s likely to be consumed by them.

Inspire An Active Role : Don’t just talk about catastrophic events — include stories of hope and tell young people what they can do.

Encourage Nuance And Impacts : Inspire children to ask questions about what news means to different people.

Don’t Underestimate Ability: Children have a huge capacity to understand world events — don’t talk down to or patronise readers.

Make Stories Feel Closer To Home : Global events can feel very distant — try to think about communities close to home also involved in the story.

Sign Post To Support: If readers feel upset about a story, signpost resources they can use.

“[Stories] are how we relate to each other and the world around us,” says Leigh-Ann Hewer, a children’s writer. “I think they’re instrumental in introducing and exploring difficult emotions and experiences as a child. Without them, it’s all too nebulous and overwhelming.”

While every child is different and might be ready to learn about complex issues at varying stages, Hewer says generally, children are much more emotionally tuned in than people may realise.

“It’s less about what the topic is and more about how it’s delivered,” she continues. “I always think it comes back to hope. You can tackle some serious stuff if you bring it back to hope, and that hope can come in many forms.”

Repackaging News For Children

The Week Junior  is an award-winning weekly current affairs magazine for children aged eight to 14. The publication’s popularity soared during the pandemic and it has remained incredibly successful since.

Editor Anna Bassi explains of their work: “We don’t underestimate children’s curiosity or capacity to understand world events. We create pages that are easy to navigate and won’t put off younger or less confident readers.”

Rahul Verma, the magazine’s deputy editor, adds while the magazine focuses on solutions journalism, it doesn’t avoid difficult truths. “Often, we look for a softer way into the story. For example, [with] the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, our way into that was the rescue efforts, rather than having a headline [saying] ‘50,000 people die in earthquakes’.

The Week Junior and CBBC Newsround are some great options for introducing children to world news.

Bassi says the first challenge is often deciding whether or not to actually cover an event, before assessing how best to communicate it without upsetting young readers. “We usually adopt a question-and-answer format and do our best to anticipate what children might ask about it. We stick to the facts, minimise details that would cause distress and focus on the positives,” she explains.

If a topic is particularly sensitive,  TWJ will sometimes ask parents and teachers on social media what they think children need to know. The publication also has an advice page for readers if they have been upset by the news.

Relatability is also key in allowing children to process world events. Verma says that TWJ  also makes a real effort to report on how world events are felt closer to home. In the case of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, “we brought that back to two Turkish and Syrian communities in the UK who were organising on Facebook donations to be taken — really playing up how people were helping each other.”

‘In The Media There’s So Much Assumed Knowledge’

Verma feels  TWJ ’s commitment to explanation and never assuming knowledge is key to its success with younger readers. “In mainstream adult media, there is just so much assumed knowledge, whereas we have to explain pretty much everything,” he explains.

“It used to be the case that news was mostly something for adults only, to be watched or listened to when children were in bed,” says Bassi. “These days, rolling news, the internet, and social media mean that it can be hard to avoid exposing children to world events.”

The problem is that most current affairs content was not created with children in mind. “What they do see and hear is very often very negative and can cause anxiety and overwhelm,” she states. “We provide context and perspective, both of which help children understand what’s going on.”

While Verma receives lots of emails from teachers using the magazine in the classroom, he admits there doesn’t really appear to be a large amount of child-tailored news content that exists outside of a digital context. Good digital platforms like  Newsround  exist, but perhaps against a backdrop of fake news and misinformation, children would benefit from more opportunities to discuss world events away from screens.

While schools can play a powerful role in helping children learn news skills, they can’t be the only people working in the area. “They have a role to play, but I don’t they can do that solely on their own,” says Jackson. She’d like to see government legislation that supports news literacy within the national curriculum — but as journalists, we can also play our part by crafting stories inclusively.

It’s important to remember that the global pandemic exacerbated many pre-existing inequalities, manifesting in children with access to more resources returning to school at heightened levels of progress compared to their less privileged peers. Minnitt says: “Teachers have worked hard to bring everyone up to speed, but there are still big gaps in some children’s education, and the widespread impact on wellbeing is still felt three years on.”

Bassi advises: “Don’t avoid answering children’s questions. Start by finding out what they know already, then explain what you can without going into too much detail about anything upsetting.”

She also suggests explaining that it is normal to be upset by bad news and to remain calm, concise, and factual, and to try and end on the positives. Equally, “it’s also okay to admit you don’t have all the answers,” Bassi says.

Although most current affairs content isn’t designed for children, it doesn’t mean they won’t be exposed to it — this is important to acknowledge, and why it is vital that young audiences feel seen and heard. After all, like Flora says, “As children, you are just as much a part of this country as the grown-ups are.”

Hannah is a recent graduate from Loughborough University, where she studied a BA in English and Sport Science and an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis. Alongside her studies, Hannah was on the editorial teams of several student magazines, and was awarded ‘Best Student Journalist, Midlands’ by the SPA in 2018.

She was a BBC Sport Kick-Off Reporter in 2019 and had co-founded and edited a one-off 40-page print and digital magazine in celebration of International Women’s Day 2021. Along with her work for Journo Resources, she is currently studying for the NCTJ diploma at News Associates and writing freelance.

Header image courtesy of Keren Fedida via Unsplash

How to Write Newspaper Articles for Kids

Danny waldo.

Using newspaper articles in writing activities gets kids excited about the writing process, while introducing them to a real-life application. Connecting classroom assignments to real-world occupations prepares students for life outside of school. Writing newspaper articles covers a wide range of teaching topics, from brainstorming, interviewing and drafting to revising and editing. Students learn to write for a specific purpose, as opposed to writing for the sake of writing.

Explore this article

• Brainstorm story topics
• Research your topic
• Interview experts on your topic
• Write the lead for your story
• Write supporting paragraphs that focus on who
• Revise and edit your rough draft
• Create a title or headline

1 Brainstorm story topics

Brainstorm story topics. Before attempting to write a newspaper article, have a plan for what you are going to write about. Choose to write about events coming up at your school or community events that may interest your classmates.

2 Research your topic

Research your topic. Before writing, get as much background information on your topic as you can. It is always better to have too much information. You can cut out unneeded information later.

3 Interview experts on your topic

Interview experts on your topic. If you are writing about the upcoming school musical, interview the music teacher or some of the participants. If you are reporting on a community event, interview the person in charge of organizing it. First-hand accounts from people involved in the story make it more interesting for your readers.

4 Write the lead for your story

Write the lead for your story. A good lead should grab the reader's attention and make them want to keep reading.

5 Write supporting paragraphs that focus on who

Write supporting paragraphs that focus on who, what, when, where and why.

6 Revise and edit your rough draft

Revise and edit your rough draft. Have your classmates or teachers offer suggestions for how to improve your story, such as by inserting direct quotes or adding more details. Edit your paper for spelling and punctuation errors.

7 Create a title or headline

Create a title or headline for your story, and submit your final copy to your teacher for publication.

About the Author

Danny Waldo started writing professionally in 2011, covering topics in education and sports. His writing has appeared on various websites, including BleacherReport.com. Waldo holds a Bachelor of Science in education from Montana State University-Bozeman and a Master of Science in education from Walden University.

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300 Fun Writing Prompts for Kids: Story Starters, Journal Prompts & Ideas

Are you a parent or teacher? Here are 300 fun and creative writing prompts for kids to spark the imagination of young writers everywhere. Use these kids writing ideas as journaling prompts, story starters or just for fun!

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It’s never too early to start writing, and so we’ve created this fun list of 300 creative kids writing prompts for teacher and parents to use.

You’ll love these fun ideas for kids writing prompts to use as creative sparks to get young imaginations writing in no time!

These are perfect to use as kids journal writing prompts, as short story writing prompts, or just for exercises to help students and children of all ages tap into their creativity. Maybe your kids will write an essay, maybe a poem, or maybe even a whole book!

Whether you are a teacher or parent looking to inspire your kids to write, or maybe even an adult who would like to practice writing with a more playful and young-hearted approach, I hope you find these creative writing prompts inspiring!

Buy the Printable Cards!  We will always have this list of 300 kids writing prompts available for free, but I’m very excited to now also offer an  ad-free printable version of these prompts  in my online Etsy shop. Thank you for your support!

The Ultimate List of 300 Fun & Creative Writing Prompts for Kids

#1. Imagine a giant box is delivered to your front doorstep with your name on it. What’s inside and what happens when you open it?

#2. Write a short story about what it might be like if you woke up one morning with a mermaid tail.

#3. Which is better, winter or summer? Write about the reasons why you think winter or summer is better.

#4. Write about what would it be like if you had an alligator as a pet.

#5. If you had $1,000, what would you buy and why?

#6. Write a story using these 5 words: apple, train, elephant, paper, banjo

#7. What do you want be when you grow up and why?

#8. Who is your favorite person on the planet? What do you like most about that person?

#9. If you could have any secret super power, what would you want it to be and why?

#10. Write about 3 places you would like to travel someday. What do these three places have in common?

#11. Write about a time you felt really happy. What happened? What made you feel happy?

#12. Imagine what would happen if someone shrunk you down to be only 1″ tall. How would your life change?

#13. If you were in charge of the whole world, what would you do to make the world a happier place?

#14. Write a story about what it would be like to climb to the very top of the highest mountain in the world.

#15. If you were in charge of planning the school lunch menu, what foods would you serve each day?

#16. What are some of your favorite animals? What do you like about them?

#17. Imagine that dogs take over the world. What do they make the humans do?

#18. Write a story about flying to outer space and discovering a new planet.

#19. You are a mad scientist and have invented a new vegetable. What is it called? What does it look like? What does it taste like? Most importantly: Is it safe to eat?

#20. You go to school one morning to discover your best friend has been turned into a frog by an evil witch! How do you help your friend?

#21. Describe what it is like when trees lose all of their leaves in the autumn season.

#22. Write about your favorite sport and why you like it so much.

#23. Imagine what it might be like to live on a boat all the time and write about it.

#24. If you had one wish, what would it be?

#25. Write about what you might do if you have the super power to become invisible.

#26. You are walking through the forest when one of the trees starts talking to you. What does it say? What do you do?

#27. The weather forecast is calling for a blizzard in the middle of the summer. What do you do?

#28. What types of transportation will people have in the future?

#29. What were some of your favorite toys when you very little? Do you still enjoy playing with them?

#30. What would a day in your life be like if you were a movie star?

#31. Imagine you’ve invented a time machine! What year do you travel to?

#32. What are your favorite things to do over summer vacation?

#33. What is your favorite holiday and why?

#34. If you could meet any fictional character from a book, who would it be?

#35. You are writing a travel guide for kids visiting your city. What places do you think they should visit?

#36. What is a food you hate? Write about it!

#37. Imagine what it would be like if there was no electricity. What would be different in your daily routine?

#38. You are building a new city! What types of things do you think your city needs? How will you convince people to move to your new city?

#39. What is your favorite movie? Write your review of the movie and why you think people should watch it.

#40. Imagine you get a magic sweater for your birthday. What happens when you wear the sweater? What do you do with these new found magical powers?

#41. You are the security guard at the zoo and someone has stolen a rhinoceros! How do you track down the thief?

#42. You have been invited to have lunch with the queen. What foods do you eat and what topics do you and the queen discuss?

#43. If you could design a school uniform, what types of clothes would you suggest? What colors would they be?

#44. Imagine you are a reporter interviewing a celebrity about their life. What questions do you ask?

#45. You are running a lemonade stand. Describe the steps for how you make lemonade and the types of customers you see during the day.

#46. Write a story about being the ruler of an underwater world.

#47. Write an acrostic poem for the word “treehouse”.

#48. You decide to grow a sunflower, but the sunflower grows so tall it reaches up to the sky! Write about what happens when you decide to climb to the top. What do you discover?

#49. Imagine you look out the window and it is raining popsicles from the sky! Write a story about the experience.

#50. If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why?

#51. If you were on a spaceship, what would you be most excited about seeing?

#52. Do you have any pets at home? Write an essay about how you take care of your pets. If you do not have a pet, what type of pet might you like?

#53. Imagine you are opening a store that only sells items which are blue. What types of items do you sell?

#54. Have you ever lost something that is important to you? Were you able to find it?

#55. Write a story about a kid who is moving to a new school. How do you think they might feel?

#56. Rewrite the ending of your favorite fairy tale. For example, what would have happened if Cinderella never went to the ball?

#57. Have you ever forgotten to do your homework? What happened?

#58. Do you have a favorite song? Write about the type of music you like to listen to.

#59. Imagine your parents wake you up one morning to tell you they will take you to do anything you want to do for the whole day – you don’t even have to go to school or do your chores. What would you choose to do and why?

#60. Do you like amusement parks? What are some of your favorite rides?

#61. Write a story using these three words: detective, piano, and pizza.

#62. Have you ever been to the beach? Write about your favorite things to do. If you have never been to the beach, what would you like to do the first time you visit?

#63. Is there a favorite tv show you like to watch? Write about your favorite character and why they are your favorite.

#64. Write a poem using onomatopoeia , where the words you use are pronounced similar to the sound they make. For example, buzz, bark, sizzle, slam and pop.

#65. Have you ever had to stand in line to wait a long time for something? What did you do while you waited? How did you feel while waiting? How did you feel once the wait was over?

#66. Is it a good idea to keep ALL secrets a secret? Write about examples of when it is okay to spill a secret – and when it isn’t.

#67. Is there something you are good at doing? Write about your best strengths.

#68. What historical time period and location would you go back to live in if you could? Write about it!

#69. Write about 5 things you can do that are important for you to stay healthy and safe.

#70. Do you think thunderstorms are scary? Why or why not?

#71. What would you most like to learn over the next year? Think about things that interest you or questions you might have about the world and make a list!

#72. You are going on a trip to a jungle safari! What items do you pack in your suitcase?

#73. Imagine you are sitting at home one day and you hear someone shrieking in the living room they see a mouse in the house! Write a story about what might happen next.

#74. You are writing a letter to someone who is having a hard time making new friends at school. What do you write? What advice do you give them?

#75. Imagine you just met a magician – but their beloved rabbit who they pull out of a hat for all the tricks has been kidnapped! How do you help find the rabbit?

#76. Do you hear what I hear? Set a timer for 5 minutes and write about all of the sounds you hear in those 5 minutes.

#77. Imagine you go to get a haircut and they accidentally shave your head! How do you feel about that and what would you do?

#78. Do you find it easy to talk to people you don’t know? What are some ways you can start up a conversation with someone you have never met before?

#79. Are there any chores you have to do at home? What are they? What do you like – and not like – about each one?

#80. Open up a random book to any page. Write for 5 minutes about the first word you read.

#81. Pretend you are a writer for your city’s newspaper. Who would you like to interview for a news story and why?

#82. There are many fictional characters who live in unusual houses, such as the old woman who lived in a shoe. What kind of unusual house would you like to live in? Write about what it would be like to live in an unusual house!

#83. Write a list of 10 things you can do to practice kindness to others.

#84. Is there a homework subject you dread? Why do you not like getting homework in that subject?

#85. What is your favorite month of the year? Write about why you like it and some of your favorite things to do during that month.

#86. Imagine you are planning a surprise birthday party for someone. How do you keep it a surprise?

#87. Pretend you walked outside to find a sleeping dragon in the grass! Why is the dragon there? Is it a friendly dragon? What do you do? Write about it!

#88. What are you grateful for today and why?

#89. You were on your way to a very important event when you fell into a puddle. Now what?

#90. Have you ever watched a movie and didn’t like how it ended? Write what you think should happen instead.

#91. Can you answer this riddle from Alice in Wonderland ? How is a raven like a writing desk?

#92. Imagine you are the captain of a pirate ship. Write a diary entry for what your day was like.

#93. If you could start any type of business, what kind of business would you start? What types of products or services would you provide?

#94. Write a sequel to one of your favorite fairy tales. For example, what was Goldilocks’s next adventure after she left the bears?

#95. What is something you are afraid of? What helps you to feel less afraid of something? What would you say to a friend who feels scared to help them feel less afraid?

#96. Write a letter to your future self in 20 years.

#97. In addition to basic survival needs such as food, water, air and shelter, what are 3 things you would you need to be happy?

#98. If you could invent a robot of any type who could do anything you imagine, what types of things would you would have the robot to do?

#99. Which do like better? Apples or Oranges? How are they alike? How are they different?

#100. Why did the chicken cross the road? You are a detective and are assigned to the case. How do solve the mystery?

#101. Write instructions for how to make your favorite snack. Be sure you add your favorite tips and suggestions for how to select the best ingredients!

#102. Imagine you borrowed a friend’s favorite lucky pencil to help you pass a math test – but then it snapped in half! How will you ever tell the news to your friend?

#103. Look around the current room you are sitting in and choose 3 random objects that are nearby. Now write a story or poem that includes those three items!

#104. Write a letter to the author of a book you recently read and tell them what you liked most about the book.

#105. Ernest Hemingway is famous for writing a six word story. Can you write a story in just 6 words?

#106. What do you think will be the future for cell phones? Will people still use them in 25 years or will something else take its place?

#107. Do you want to go to college? Why or why not?

#108. Write a story or poem about a kitten who wanders off and gets lost. How does the kitten find its way home?

#109. Currently, it is required by law that kids go to school. Do you think this is a good or bad idea?

#110. If you could invent a new board game, what would it be called? How is it played? What are the rules? What makes it fun to play? Write about it!

#111. Imagine you come home to discover your entire bedroom is covered in ketchup! What on earth happened? What is your reaction? How do you clean everything up?

#112. What is something you learned today?

#113. Would you rather have a goldfish or shark as a pet?

#114. From A-Z: make a list of something for every letter of the alphabet.

#115. Have you ever gone fishing? If you have, did you like it? Why or why not? If you haven’t, do you think you might want to?

#116. What is one of the most important things you do each and every day?

#117. Write a story about Gretchen the Grouch, a girl who is always angry! Will she ever be happy? Why is she so grumpy all of the time?

#118. How do you feel when someone takes something of yours without asking? What is a good way to deal with it when that happens?

#119. Write a poem that starts with the word “if”.

#120. Write a story about a family of rabbits who live in the woods. What are some of the challenges they face?

#121. What clothes do you think are the most comfortable? What kind of clothes do you like to wear the most? What clothes do you NOT like to wear?

#122. Imagine there are no grocery stores and you must get your own food. What are some of the ways you find food? What types of things do you eat?

#123. What are 3 things you can do that are good for the environment?

#124. If you could meet any famous person today, who would you want to meet and why? What questions might you ask them?

#125. A tongue twister is a quick poem where many of the words start with the same letter and are similar in sound. For example, “Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers.” Try writing your own with this fun kids writing prompt!

#126. What is the first thing you think of when you hear or see the word green?

#127. A hero is someone who is admired for their courage and achievements. What do you think makes someone a hero? Who are some of your heroes?

#128. What did you do during summer vacation last year? What do you want to do for summer vacation this year?

#129. Write a story about a super hero dog who saves the day! Who does the dog help and why?

#130. Would you rather live somewhere that is always cold, or somewhere that is always hot? Write about which one you would rather choose.

#131. Have you ever volunteered to help a charity? If so, write about the experience! If not, what are some charities you think you might like to volunteer for?

#132. What does the word courage mean to you?

#133. What makes you unique? What are some things about you that make you an individual?

#134. Have you ever been to a museum? What is your favorite thing to look at on display?

#135. What can you do to set a good example for others to be kind?

#136. A Tall Tale is a story that exaggerates something that actually happened. Write a tall tale about something that recently happened to you.

#137. What is one of your favorite toys that you think you might still want to have and play with when you are 22 years old?

#138. Oh no! Everyone around you is sick with a nasty cold! Write a silly poem about how you try to avoid catching their germs!

#139. Personification is when a non-living object takes on human characteristics. Write a story where you personify a common electronic gadget in your house, such as the Television or toaster.

#140. Write a poem using similes, which is when you say an object is like something else. Here is an example of a simile: “Her eyes were as blue as the sky.”

#141. Have you ever read a book written by Dr. Suess? Write your own “Suess-style” story, complete with rhymes and made up words.

#142. Do you have any siblings? Think about what it might mean to be a good brother or sister and write about it!

#143. Make a list of questions to interview your parents or grandparents about what it was like when they were growing up as a kid. Then, ask them the questions and write about their answers!

#144. You are in charge of writing a new radio show just for kids! What topics will you talk about? What music do you play?

#145. What do you usually eat for breakfast every day? What, in your opinion, is the greatest breakfast food ever created? What makes it so great?

#146. Write a 12 line poem where every line is about a different month of the year.

#147. What is something you look forward to doing the most when you are an adult?

Use these prompts in your classroom!  Get the  ad-free printable version of these prompts  to inspire your students to write! Thank you for your support!

#148. Do you like to try new things? What is something new you have tried recently or would like to try?

#149. Imagine what it might be like to be alive in Egypt when the pyramids were built. Write about what it was like.

#150. A credo is a statement of personal beliefs. Try writing your own credo for things that you believe in and feel are important.

#151. The circus has come to town but they have no place to perform! How do you help the ringmaster find a place to put on a show?

#152. Do you like to act? What are some of your favorite actors or actresses? What do you think makes someone a good actor or actress?

#153. “Practice makes perfect” is a popular saying. What is something you like to practice so you can become better at it? A sport? A musical instrument? A special skill? Do you like to practice?

#154. Write about what it might be like to be water drops freezing and turning into ice.

#155. Do you think it is important to keep your room clean? What do you like about having a clean room?

#156. Imagine your parents are sending you away for a two week summer camp trip. Would you be excited? Why or why not?

#157. What are you currently learning about in history class? Write a fictional story about someone from the past you are learning about.

#158. Many wars have been fought in the past. Instead of going to war, what do you think countries could do to resolve their differences peacefully?

#159. Every year over 8 billion plastic bottles and cans are thrown away. What are some things you can do to help encourage your family and friends to recycle?

#160. Imagine if you were the principal of the school. What might you do differently? What things would you do that are the same? Write about it!

#161. Pretend that one day you are at your neighbor’s house and you notice a strange noise coming from the basement. You go downstairs to investigate to see a large machine running with many lights and buttons. Why is it there?

#162. Write an essay that starts with the line, “Tomorrow, I hope…”

#163. If you could give one thing to every child in the world, what would you want to give them?

#164. Do you have a piggy bank at home? How do you earn money to add to your savings?

#165. What qualities make a house a home? What are 3 things you think every house should have?

#166. Would you rather go scuba diving or rock climbing? Write about which one you think you would like to do more and why.

#167. Do you think it is a good idea for kids to write a daily journal? What are some of the benefits of writing every day?

#168. Do you like watching fireworks or are they too noisy? Write about a time when you saw fireworks in the sky.

#169. Oh no! Your friend has turned into a statue! How did this happen? What do you do? Does your friend ever turn back into a person again?

#170. If you could be any movie character, who would you be and why?

#171. A mysterious message appears in code on your computer screen. What could it mean?

#172. If you could go to work with one of your parents for a day, what do you think the day would be like? What types of things do your parents do at work all day long?

#173. Imagine you are the President and you are creating a new national holiday. What is your holiday about? How is it celebrated? What day of the year do you celebrate? Write about it!

#174. You won a never-ending lifetime supply of spaghetti noodles! What will you do with all of these noodles?

#175. Would you rather be a bunny rabbit or a hawk? Why did you choose the one you chose?

#176. Your teacher has been acting mysterious lately. After school one day, you notice a weird green light shining through underneath the door of your classroom. What do you do? What is happening with your teacher?

#177. Write an article about tips for how kids can be more organized and study well for tests.

#178. Look at any product in your house and read the ingredients labels. Research what each ingredient is. Do you think these ingredients are good or bad for people?

#179. If you were a doctor, what do you think would be the most important part of your job every day?

#180. The school librarian needs your help! A truck just arrived with 2,000 books and she can’t fit all the books onto the shelves! What do you do? How do you find a place to put all these books?

#181. Do you think it would be fun to plant a garden? What types of plants would you want to grow? Write about your garden ideas.

#182. What is a sport or activity you would like to try playing for the first time?

#183. Do you think kids should be allowed to do the same things as adults? What things do you think kids should be able to do that only grown-ups can?

#184. Imagine you and your parents switch places for a day. Your parents are the kids and you are now in charge! What would you do?

#185. Write a get-well letter to someone who has been sick. What can you say to make them feel better?

#186. If you could visit any planet in the solar system, which planet would you like to visit the most and why? Write about what it might be like.

#187. Have you ever been to a farm? What did you like about it? If you haven’t been to a farm, do you think you might like to visit one? Why or why not?

#188. The mayor of the city has a big problem and needs your help! What is the problem and how will you solve it?

#189. Pretend your little sister ate carrots for dinner and the next morning woke up with rabbit ears!  How did this happen? What do you do? Will she be a rabbit forever?

#190. Imagine you wake up in the morning to find out you get to relive any day of your life again for the whole day. What day would you want to experience again and why?

#191. Do you think you might like to be a firefighter? Why or why not?

#192. You are a lawyer and your client has been accused of stealing a car. How do you convince the jury your client is innocent?

#193. Think of the four elements: fire, air, earth, and water. Which of these four elements do you like the best?

#194. What would you do if you could be invisible for a whole day? Do you think you would enjoy it or be glad to be back to normal the next day? Write about it!

#195. Imagine you are a meteorologist and people are starting to get angry that your weather predictions are always wrong. What do you do?

#196. If you could create any law, what would it be? Why do you think the law is an important one to have?

#197. You are going incognito and need to hide to your identity so you aren’t recognized or discovered while you walk through the city. What type of disguise do you wear?

#198. Write a persuasive letter to your parents explaining why you should get a new pet. Make sure you provide a convincing argument they won’t be able to refuse!

#199. Your friend wants to do something dangerous. What should you do?

#200. How do you think the world would be different if there were no oceans?

#201. What do you do when someone disagrees with your opinions? Is there a better way to handle conflicting opinions?

#202. What do you think you as a kid could do to help encourage more people to read?

#203. Do you have a good luck charm? What makes this item lucky? When do you use it? How do you use it?

#204. What is at the end of a rainbow? Imagine you follow a rainbow to the end. What do you discover? Is it a pot of gold, or something else?

Use these prompts in your classroom!  Get the  ad-free printable version of these prompts  to inspire your students to write! Thank you for your support!

#205. What do you think the consequences should be for someone who is caught cheating on a test at school?

#206. Imagine you are riding your bike one day when you encounter an older kid who wants to steal your bike. What do you do?

#207. You are the lead singer and star of a famous rock and roll band, but there is one problem – your drummer is jealous of your fame! How do you solve this situation?

#208. If you could help a group of kids in any part of the world, what kids would you want to help the most and why? What are some things you think would help these kids?

#209. Everyone knows the house on the end of the street is haunted. What are some of the strange things that happen there? Why is the house haunted?

#210. You notice at school one day there is a door to a secret passage next to the janitor’s closet and decide to explore. Where does it lead? Why is it there? Do you go alone or bring a friend along?

#211. A bucket list is a list of things you want to accomplish in your lifetime. What are 5 things on your bucket list?

#212. Imagine the perfect treehouse or clubhouse for you and all of your friends as a place to hang out. Describe what it is like inside.

#213. Do you get bored easily? Make a list of things you can do whenever you feel like you are bored and there is nothing fun to do!

#214. Now vs. Then: Think about how today is different from one year ago. How have you changed? What things in your life are different?

#215. Write your autobiography about your life.

#216. It’s a heat wave! What do you do when the weather is hot? What are some of your favorite ways to stay cool?

#217. What are three important safety tips every kid should know to stay safe?

#218. What genre of books do you like to read the most? Write about the characteristics of the genre and list some of your favorite books as examples.

#219. Holiday Traditions: How does your family celebrate the different holidays and events? What are some traditions you do each and every year?

#220. Imagine one day in science class a science experiment goes terribly wrong and now you and all of your classmates have superpowers! What are your superpowers and what do you do with them?

#221. Who is favorite teacher? Why are they your favorite?

#222. You are baking a cake, but you accidentally put salt in the cake instead of sugar. Nobody will eat it! How do you feel? What will you do next time?

#223. Do you think it is important to have good table manners? What do you think some good manners to practice might be?

#224. Many schools no longer teach cursive handwriting. Do you think this is a good or bad thing? Do you know how to write cursive handwriting? Would you like to learn if you haven’t?

#225. If you were the owner of a theme park, what types of rides and attractions would have? Describe what they would be like and why people would want to visit your park.

#226. Your parents give you $100 to spend at the grocery store. What do you buy and why?

#227. Some people who are alive today grew up without computers or video games. What would you do if you didn’t have a computer or video games? How would life be different?

#228. You walk into your living room and discover there is a giant elephant standing there. How did the elephant get there? What do you do about it? How do you explain the elephant in the living room to your parents?

#229. Have you ever had a weird dream? What happened in the dream? What do you think it means?

#230. Do you like to draw or paint? Write a story inspired by a painting, doodle, or sketch.

#231. You are being sent on a mission to outer space to live in a space station for 5 years. What supplies do you pack and why?

#232. What is the scariest creature alive on earth? Describe in detail what makes it so horrifying.

#233. What do you think your pet might say if they could talk to you?

#234. Imagine your school is putting on a talent show. What act will you perform? What other acts will be in the show?

#235. If you could breathe under water, what would you do?

#236. What time of day do you think school should start? Write a convincing argument on why or why not the time of day school starts should change.

#237. If you were to start your own YouTube video channel, what would the videos on your channel be about?

#238. Do you like to cook? What are some things you like to make and eat?

#239. Your school is having a field day and you are in charge of planning the activities and games. What types of activities and games would you plan for the event?

#240. If you had a remote control drone that takes video of everything it sees from the sky and you could take it anywhere, what would you film? For example, the inside of a volcano or soar it over the plains of Africa.

#241. The Bermuda Triangle is an area of the ocean where many ships and planes have gone missing. Why do you think this could be? Write a story about what it might be like to travel there.

#242. There are 7 great wonders of the world – which one do you think is the most wonderful?

#243. If you could speak any foreign language fluently, which one would you like to speak and why?

#244. You are inventing a new flavor of ice cream! What is the new flavor called and what ingredients do you need to make it?

#245. Would you rather go to a baseball game or read a good book? What reasons do you have for your choice?

#246. You walk outside to get your mail and your mailbox starts talking to you! What does your mailbox have to say?

#247. Imagine you are a famous person. What are you most famous for? What is it like to be famous?

#248. What do you think would be the most fun job in the world to have? Give examples of why you think it would be a fun job to have.

#249. Write a poem about an object that is shiny and dazzling.

#250. Do you like to watch the Olympics? Why or why not? If yes, what is your favorite Olympic sport?

#251. What kind of car do you want to drive when you are older? Do you think learning to drive will be easy or hard?

#252. What do you think would make for a great gift to give someone on their birthday?

#253. Describe a time when you needed help and someone helped you. What did they help you with and how did it make you feel?

#254. If you could be any type of fruit or vegetable, what would you be and why?

Love these prompts?  Get the  ad-free printable version of these prompts  to use at home or in the classroom!

#255. Do you think it is more important to have a good imagination or have all the facts proven?

#256. Do you have a favorite aunt, uncle, or another relative? Write a story about their life and why you like to be with them.

#257. Think of a time you laughed really, really hard. What was so funny? Why were you laughing? Write about it!

#258. Write a poem about an emotion. For example: happy, sad, angry, embarrassed, guilty.

#259. Do you ever have a hard time falling asleep? What are some things that help you feel sleepy?

#260. If you could drive a car, where would you drive and why?

#261. Imagine you are trading places with your friend for a day. What will it be like to be at their house? What will your friend think while they are at your house? Write about it!

#262. If you could break a world record, what would it be? What do you think would be necessary to be able to break the world record?

#263. Imagine you live in Colonial times. What would it be like to grow up as a kid in Colonial America?

#264. You are building a new city. What is the name of your city? What is the weather like? What buildings will you build?

#265. What do you think it would be like to work as a sailor on big ship in the ocean each day?

#266. Imagine you are the teacher for the day. What types of activities do you make the students in the class do?

#267. How would you feel if your parents told you that you would be getting a new baby brother or sister? Write about it!

#268. Do you know any good jokes? What are some of your favorite jokes? What makes them funny? Do you think you could write your own?

#269. Imagine you are floating down a river on a raft. What types of things can you see from the river that you normally wouldn’t see from the land?

#270. You want to start a new hobby collecting something. What kinds of things would you collect and why?

#271. Your mom announces she is having a yard sale. Would you let her sell any of your things? Why or why not?

#272. Imagine you walk out your front door one morning and it is raining popcorn! What do you do?

#273.  You are camping in the woods one night and hear a scary noise. What do you do? What might be the cause?

#274. What do you think might make kids really happy to go to school? What are some things you think schools should do so that it could be more fun?

#275. Today’s lunch at the cafeteria was unusually horrible. You are a detective on the case to investigate. What do you think is the cause?

#276. If you had a tree that grows money, what would you do?

#277. What would you do if you had a unicorn as a pet?

#278. Would you rather go to the zoo or go to the aviary? Which one would you pick and why?

#279. What are some safety tips you should follow when riding a bike?

#280. You are designing the cover of a magazine. What are some of the headlines on the cover?

#281. Are you afraid of the dark? Why or why not?

#282. If you could learn to play any type of musical instrument, which one would you like to learn how to play and why?

#283. Imagine you are playing a sport that involves a ball, such as soccer, baseball or kickball. What would it be like if the ball could talk?

#284. You come home to discover a friendly alien has been living in your closet. What do you do? Why is there an alien in your closet?

#285. Is there something you are afraid of that you wish you weren’t afraid of? Write about it.

#286. Write about the best party you’ve ever been to. What made the day fun and special?

#287. What makes you feel loved and cared about? What are some ways people can show you that they love and care about you?

#288. There is a kite flying competition coming up and you are going to design your own kite. What will your kite look like? What colors will it be? Will it have any certain shape?

#289. You are given the challenge to drop an egg on the floor – without it breaking! What are some things you might try to make sure the egg won’t break?

#290. What are some of the things you can do every day to stay healthy?

#291. Do you think grown-ups are boring? Why do you think they are so boring all of the time? What is something fun that boring grown-ups could do instead of being so boring?

#292. Write a lyrical poem or song about what kids do while they are at school all day long.

#293. What are the first things you like to do when you are done with school each day? What are some of the activities you like when you are not at school?

#294. Imagine dinosaurs were still alive today. How do you think our lives would be different?

#295. Would you rather visit a volcano or a desert? Which one would you choose and why?

#296. Is there a sound you think is annoying? What types of sounds drive you crazy? Write about them!

#297. What do you think it would be like to be the size of an ant for a day? What types of things would you do?

#298. Imagine one of your stuffed animals comes to life and starts talking to you. What types of things will you talk about? What will you do?

#299. What makes you feel happiest? Write about the things in life that make you feel happy!

#300. Imagine there is no gravity. What kind of things would you do you for fun? How would some of the things you already do for fun be different?

Buy the Printable Cards!  We will always have this list of 300 kids writing prompts available for free, but I’m very excited to now also offer an  ad-free printable version of these prompts  in my online Etsy shop. Thank you for your support!

Parents and teachers, I hope you enjoyed these 300 writing prompts for kids and that you will use them to inspire your children’s creative imaginations.

These prompts of course can be used in a number of different ways and can be adapted for a variety of different styles of writing !

What do you think? Do you think these are good conversation and story starters for kids? Do you have any ideas for writing prompts you would like to share?

And of course, if you’d like to make it super fun and easy to use these prompts at home or in your classroom, be sure to get our ad-free printable version of these kids writing prompt cards now available in my Etsy shop.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on different creative writing ideas and topics for kids to write about! Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Chelle Stein wrote her first embarrassingly bad novel at the age of 14 and hasn't stopped writing since. As the founder of ThinkWritten, she enjoys encouraging writers and creatives of all types.

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News Articles For Kids – Lesson Ideas

It’s important to raise kids with a sense of global citizenship and community awareness, and what better way is there to do this then to introduce children to the world of news?  When teaching kids about news articles it’s helpful to dissect the genre itself: define it’s characteristics, read plenty of examples and look for stylistic elements.  Once that’s done, you may have just prepared your students to be critical readers of the news, and perhaps even effective news article writers!  Below is a list of steps I recommend if you plan on teaching writing news articles for kids.  Take a look:

Discuss Non-Fiction Features

It’s essential that students understand that news articles fall within “non-fiction” texts.  They should know that this means the news is meant to: inform, be factual and provide useful details.  This is also a great time to talk with kids about how there are different forms of news articles such as weather, sports, investigative and more.  This is best done by examining a newspaper together.

Study News Articles and Features

Put all your useful discussions about news articles to good use by examining many different articles as a class.  The more exposure students have to various articles, the better of an understanding they will have when constructing meaning based on them.  As important as it is to study news articles, it’s also important to give students varied practice and areas of focus in order to maximize their overall benefit. Here are some ideas:

If you’re looking for appropriate news articles for kids, take a look at these sites:  Time For Kids  &  Teaching Kids News .

Practice Writing with Graphic Organizers

Once students have really gotten a hang of reading news articles with understanding, it’s time to transition to writing a news article.  Review all of the lessons used to get to this point: non-fiction elements, news article text features and the structure of a news article.  Then, have students find an event they would like to write about.  To make it easier for students, give them a broad range of topics such as past or present events, private or public events (for example: a birthday party, or a community carnival they attended), or have writing prompts available for students who are having difficulty thinking of an idea (for example, give students the prompt of writing about a recent school assembly or field trip).

How awesome would it be to use your class’s news articles to create a class newspaper for all the kids in the class to see.  It would take some crafting, but it would it be worth it!

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How to Write a Newspaper (for Kids)

Last Updated: January 7, 2022

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 17 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 39,377 times.

Newspapers were made before you could go online and search the latest news. But lately, newspapers have been more interesting, while online news is about celebrities and stuff many people don't care about. To make kids safe and interested, you could write your own kids' newspaper!

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• If you're hiring kids, charge them no more than a dime (especially if they're doing comics or other drawing stuff). Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0
• Instead of doing advice columns, fashion blog, or a food critic, you can hire people to write those kinds of things for you. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
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The Basics Of Writing Short Articles For Kids 

• By Karen Faith
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Do you know that there are over 30 million illiterate adults in America? Although children are touted as the nation’s future builders, illiterate parents can pass this illiteracy onto their children. When children have illiterate parents, there’s a 72 percent chance of children having low literacy as well. That’s why nonprofit literacy organizations, such as Reading Rockets or Reading is Fundamental , push for initiatives, like creating short articles for kids, to combat this. 

That said, reading is essential during a child’s or baby’s developmental stages. Experts say reading aloud to your kids has some benefits. However, letting your kids read short articles is equally beneficial . 

But how do you get kids to read short articles or stories? Isn’t there a special formula that hooks this type of audience? 

We know how tough a writer’s job can be. That’s why we’ve compiled useful tips on how to write short articles for kids that will cultivate their love for reading. Plus, we’ll throw in some educational kid-friendly blogging websites too!

How to Write Short Articles for Kids

1. Think of relevance 

Kids will certainly not enjoy some topics that adults love. When writing short blogs for kids, it’s important to sprinkle an ounce of relevance into the topics. Why not a ton, you ask? 

Well, writing about something you wouldn’t want to read as a child would surely reflect on the outcome. If you’re writing short stories for kids, pick a genre you love to write. 

If you’re writing short articles, pick something odd or edgy that you and kids would love to read as well.

2. Involve the senses

Children love to hear about fantastic stories, similar to those they see on television. One way to let them live vicariously through your short stories is to involve their senses. 

Show, don’t tell. Use concise descriptions that paint a picture. 

3. Craft engaging introductions

Kids easily get bored. When putting reading and playing side by side, we know children prefer the latter. 

One way to hook children is to engage them in the first few sentences of your article through storytelling. Create a riveting scenario, mention an interesting fact, or refer to a recent viral story. 

4. Empower them 

Kids like it when they take control of the situation. Camping develops children’s leadership skills because they get to a chance to lead the pack one way or another.

Like camping, let your short articles teach them empowerment by creating scenarios where children are the primary protagonists. 

Cite opposing scenes where kids can compare the conflict and the resolution to the conflict. Then instead of adults, let younger characters resolve the dispute so your readers can put themselves in the same situation. 

5. Create relatable characters

Sure, picking a fiction or fantasy genre is apt, especially when you’re publishing books for kids. However, make sure you include characters that children can relate to. 

Take a cue from the top books for kids of all time like Harry Potter, Matilda, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The common denominator between these books: A tough young character that beats all odds!

6. Trim unnecessary words

Though it’s better to paint a picture and to be descriptive as much as you can, overdoing it is a no-no. Keep your short articles for kids simple so they can grasp the context thoroughly. 

Steer clear of using too many adjectives or adverbs. And trim all redundant words, phrases, or sentences. 

Although it’s advisable to use simple terms, don’t “dumb down” everything. Putting in a difficult word every now and then enhances kids’ vocabulary. After all, the internet is there at their disposal if they need to look up a definition.

7. Make it highly visual

One way to keep children engaged in reading blogs and even the news is by including stimulating images. Children are compelled to colors, pictures, figures, shapes, and whatnot. 

That said, integrate high-quality graphics that catch your audience’s attention. This is useful, especially if you’re writing about animals, nature, or places. 

8. Build the moral of the story

One of the reasons why parents get their children to read various resources is to teach them about life’s lessons. Aside from developing kids’ cognitive abilities, there is a lot to learn in children’s short stories or even picture books. 

In fact, experts suggest that reading flourishes empathy in children and prospers emotional intelligence. 

Top Websites with Child-Friendly Articles

Kids Discover

If your children are hungry for knowledge, this site is perfect for feeding their brains. They have short blogs for kids about past and present inventions, histories, and discoveries.

National Geographic

Watching National Geographic on television might seem more appealing. But they also have engaging blogs on all things animals, environment, and more.

If you want your kids to be more mindful of what’s going on in the world, the Dogo News is a suitable platform. It centers on several current news and affairs that are tailor-fit towards a younger demographic.

How Stuff Works

For mommies who are continually struggling with answering bizarre questions from their little ones, this website could be a lifesaver. How Stuff Works shows how everything is made; from hotdog to car making, the site writes concise and comprehensible blogs for kids.

Super Healthy Kids

For the little chefs at heart, Super Healthy Kids is the perfect site to channel their inner Gordon Ramsey. It offers easy and kid-friendly recipes that are healthy and gluten-free. 

Kids Read  

Here’s a child-friendly site that introduces children to short articles, books, and fantastic authors in children’s literature. It provides book reviews, a list of authors, blogs, and several book suggestions for kids of different age ranges.

Kids Activities

Let’s not forget our little DIYers! Kids Activities has a section called “5 Minute Crafts For Kids” on its website that offers kids some do-it-yourself articles. From creating paper plate masks, pumpkin carvings to Halloween pudding cups, and candy bracelets, this is a fun channel for kids to unleash their creative juices.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 57 fun creative writing prompts for kids.

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With many kids learning from home due to Covid-19, easy-to-organize educational activities for students are more important than ever. Writing helps improve students' creativity, communication skills, and ability to focus, among other benefits.

Whether you're a teacher, a parent now homeschooling, or a student looking for something new and interesting to write about, these writing prompts are for you. We've collected 57 writing prompts for students of various ages, from elementary school through high school. From spooky story writing prompts to debating how to improve schools, this article has writing prompts that will appeal to all students.

Tips for Using These Writing Prompts

What's the best way to use these creative writing prompts for kids? It depends on a lot of factors, including the student's age, current schooling structure, and their own interests and abilities. Here are some suggestions:

Use as a daily writing prompts exercise. You can assign one of these prompts at the beginning or end of the school day, as a way to prepare for the rest of the day or unwind after schoolwork.

Set up a quiet space to write. Many people have a hard enough time writing even with no distractions, and it can be nearly impossible to respond thoughtfully to a prompt if there's a television on, people talking, etc. Having a distraction-free space can help your student focus on the work at hand and produce their best writing.

Suggest an estimated writing length. Most of these journal writing prompts are designed to be answered both briefly or much more in depth. By giving a number of words/pages to aim for, you'll give your student a better idea of how detailed their response should be.

Consider having students handwrite their responses. Writing by hand can help students be more thoughtful about their responses because they'll typically write slower than they can type. It can also help students improve their handwriting skills.

57 Fun Writing Prompts for Kids

Below are over 50 journal topics for kids, organized into three categories: narrative writing prompts, fiction/creative writing prompts, and argumentative writing prompts for kids.

Narrative Writing Prompts for Kids

#1: What is your favorite holiday or holiday tradition?

#2: If you could go back in time for one day, which time period would you choose?

#3: If you could learn one thing about your future, what would it be? Or, if you prefer not to know anything, why would you make that choice?

#4: Pretend you're writing an autobiography and need to create a table of contents. What would you name each chapter?

#5: What is your earliest memory? Write every detail you can remember about it.

#6: If you had the power to change one thing about school, what would you change and why?

#7: Describe three goals you have for yourself.

#8: Imagine you are creating your dream restaurant. What kind of food would you serve, what would the menu look like, and how would the restaurant be decorated?

#9: If you could build your dream house, what would it look like? What rooms would it have? What would the yard be like?

#10: What is the bravest thing you've done in your life? Why did you make the choice you did? How did you feel during and after the situation?

#11: What is the funniest thing you've ever seen?

#12: What is your dream job?

#13: What is one thing you're really good at?

#14: Pretend you are a professional reviewer and write a review of a book you recently read or a TV show/movie you recently watched. How many stars would you give it? What did you like about it, and what didn't you like?

#15: Write about a time you did something kind for someone else. What did you do, how did it make you feel, and how did it make the person you helped feel?

#16: Imagine your life in ten years. What do you think you will be like? What will you be doing?

#17: Write about the craziest dream you've ever had.

#18: What would your perfect weekend look like? What things would you do? Who would you see? What would you eat?

#19: Do you like your name? If so, why? If not, what would you change it to?

#20: Make a list of your favorite activities for each season.

#21: Write about your least favorite chore. What don't you like about it? What would you invent to make the chore easier?   

#22: What three pieces of advice would you give to your younger self?

#23: If you could be famous for anything, what would it be? 

#24: If you could create a new law, what would it be? Do you think it would be hard to enforce?

#25: Write about a time you think one or both of your parents made a mistake. What did they do, and what do you think they should have done? Did they admit their mistake?

#26: How would your best friend describe you? How would you describe your best friend? (You can also have your friend do this prompt and read each other's responses.)

Fiction and Creative Writing Prompts for Kids

#27: Write a story about a character taking a submarine ride under the sea. What sort of things do you think they would see there? Would they be afraid or excited?

#28: Write a new chapter for your favorite book or new scene for your favorite movie. Which characters would be there, and what would they be doing?

#29: Invent a new pet. What would it look like, and what would you call it? What would it eat, and how would you care for it?

#30: Start a story with a lyric from a song.

#31: Pick something nearby (toy, pet, flower, etc.) and write a haiku about it. Bonus points if it rhymes!

#32: Write a story about a character who gets lost in the woods and discovers a mysterious person there.

#33: Write your own silly internet quiz.

#34: Choose an object in the house and describe it in as much detail as you can without saying what it is. Then, have a parent or sibling try to guess what you described.

#35: Write a scary story that includes: a spooky pumpkin patch, a vampire afraid of garlic, and a black cat.

#36: Do some people watching out your window. Write a story using one or more of them as the characters. Make up backstories and imagine what they're doing.

#37: Write a story about what you think your parents were like when they were younger.

#38: Your character survives a shipwreck and washes up on a mysterious island. What is on the island and how does (s)he get back home?

#39: Imagine you can choose to be any animal for a day. Which animal would you choose? What would you do?

#40: Write a poem about your favorite season.

#41: Imagine you are chosen for the first mission to Mars. What would you bring with you, and what do you think exploring the planet would be like?

#42: Write a sympathetic story from the point of view of the "bad guy." (Think fractured fairy tales like Wicked or The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! , although the story doesn't have to be a fairy tale.)

#43: Imagine your pet gets a day to roam free before returning home. Where would it go, and what would it see?

#44: If you could have dinner with any three people (real or fictional), who would you choose and what would you talk about? What would you eat?

#45: Look through photographs, drawings, and paintings. Choose one and write a story about it, imagining where it is and the types of people/things there.

#46: Imagine aliens landed on earth. What would they look like, and how would they act? Would they be friendly or not?

Argumentative Writing Prompts for Kids

#47: Are there dangers of teenagers spending too much time on social media?

#48: Does homework actually help students learn?

#49: Should students doing e-learning this year get letter grades, pass/fail, or no grades?

#50: At what age should children get their own cell phone?

#51: Which is best: ebooks, audiobooks, or traditional print books?

#52: What's more important, PE classes or art classes?

#53: Which celebrity is the best role model for kids? Which is the worst?

#54: Should parents or teachers be able to ban certain books from schools?

#55: Which season is the best?

#56: Should students recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school?

#57: Should students go to school year-round and have shorter breaks throughout the year rather than one long summer vacation?

What's Next?

Also looking for science activities for kids?  Check out our 37 science experiments for kids that you can do at home!

Want to make some slime? We tell you how to make slimes without borax and without glue as well as how to craft the ultimate super slime .

Pipe cleaners can provide endless craft ideas. Read our guide for simple instructions for 31 fun pipe cleaner crafts for kids.

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning

Close up of female hands writing notes in her diary while staying at home

Ivan-balvan / Getty Images/iStockphoto

If you're like many digitally savvy Americans, it has likely been a while since you've spent much time writing by hand.

The laborious process of tracing out our thoughts, letter by letter, on the page is becoming a relic of the past in our screen-dominated world, where text messages and thumb-typed grocery lists have replaced handwritten letters and sticky notes. Electronic keyboards offer obvious efficiency benefits that have undoubtedly boosted our productivity — imagine having to write all your emails longhand.

To keep up, many schools are introducing computers as early as preschool, meaning some kids may learn the basics of typing before writing by hand.

But giving up this slower, more tactile way of expressing ourselves may come at a significant cost, according to a growing body of research that's uncovering the surprising cognitive benefits of taking pen to paper, or even stylus to iPad — for both children and adults.

In kids, studies show that tracing out ABCs, as opposed to typing them, leads to better and longer-lasting recognition and understanding of letters. Writing by hand also improves memory and recall of words, laying down the foundations of literacy and learning. In adults, taking notes by hand during a lecture, instead of typing, can lead to better conceptual understanding of material.

"There's actually some very important things going on during the embodied experience of writing by hand," says Ramesh Balasubramaniam , a neuroscientist at the University of California, Merced. "It has important cognitive benefits."

While those benefits have long been recognized by some (for instance, many authors, including Jennifer Egan and Neil Gaiman , draft their stories by hand to stoke creativity), scientists have only recently started investigating why writing by hand has these effects.

A slew of recent brain imaging research suggests handwriting's power stems from the relative complexity of the process and how it forces different brain systems to work together to reproduce the shapes of letters in our heads onto the page.

Your brain on handwriting

Both handwriting and typing involve moving our hands and fingers to create words on a page. But handwriting, it turns out, requires a lot more fine-tuned coordination between the motor and visual systems. This seems to more deeply engage the brain in ways that support learning.

"Handwriting is probably among the most complex motor skills that the brain is capable of," says Marieke Longcamp , a cognitive neuroscientist at Aix-Marseille Université.

Gripping a pen nimbly enough to write is a complicated task, as it requires your brain to continuously monitor the pressure that each finger exerts on the pen. Then, your motor system has to delicately modify that pressure to re-create each letter of the words in your head on the page.

"Your fingers have to each do something different to produce a recognizable letter," says Sophia Vinci-Booher , an educational neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University. Adding to the complexity, your visual system must continuously process that letter as it's formed. With each stroke, your brain compares the unfolding script with mental models of the letters and words, making adjustments to fingers in real time to create the letters' shapes, says Vinci-Booher.

That's not true for typing.

To type "tap" your fingers don't have to trace out the form of the letters — they just make three relatively simple and uniform movements. In comparison, it takes a lot more brainpower, as well as cross-talk between brain areas, to write than type.

Recent brain imaging studies bolster this idea. A study published in January found that when students write by hand, brain areas involved in motor and visual information processing " sync up " with areas crucial to memory formation, firing at frequencies associated with learning.

"We don't see that [synchronized activity] in typewriting at all," says Audrey van der Meer , a psychologist and study co-author at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She suggests that writing by hand is a neurobiologically richer process and that this richness may confer some cognitive benefits.

Other experts agree. "There seems to be something fundamental about engaging your body to produce these shapes," says Robert Wiley , a cognitive psychologist at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. "It lets you make associations between your body and what you're seeing and hearing," he says, which might give the mind more footholds for accessing a given concept or idea.

Those extra footholds are especially important for learning in kids, but they may give adults a leg up too. Wiley and others worry that ditching handwriting for typing could have serious consequences for how we all learn and think.

What might be lost as handwriting wanes

The clearest consequence of screens and keyboards replacing pen and paper might be on kids' ability to learn the building blocks of literacy — letters.

"Letter recognition in early childhood is actually one of the best predictors of later reading and math attainment," says Vinci-Booher. Her work suggests the process of learning to write letters by hand is crucial for learning to read them.

"When kids write letters, they're just messy," she says. As kids practice writing "A," each iteration is different, and that variability helps solidify their conceptual understanding of the letter.

Research suggests kids learn to recognize letters better when seeing variable handwritten examples, compared with uniform typed examples.

This helps develop areas of the brain used during reading in older children and adults, Vinci-Booher found.

"This could be one of the ways that early experiences actually translate to long-term life outcomes," she says. "These visually demanding, fine motor actions bake in neural communication patterns that are really important for learning later on."

Ditching handwriting instruction could mean that those skills don't get developed as well, which could impair kids' ability to learn down the road.

"If young children are not receiving any handwriting training, which is very good brain stimulation, then their brains simply won't reach their full potential," says van der Meer. "It's scary to think of the potential consequences."

Many states are trying to avoid these risks by mandating cursive instruction. This year, California started requiring elementary school students to learn cursive , and similar bills are moving through state legislatures in several states, including Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin. (So far, evidence suggests that it's the writing by hand that matters, not whether it's print or cursive.)

Slowing down and processing information

For adults, one of the main benefits of writing by hand is that it simply forces us to slow down.

During a meeting or lecture, it's possible to type what you're hearing verbatim. But often, "you're not actually processing that information — you're just typing in the blind," says van der Meer. "If you take notes by hand, you can't write everything down," she says.

The relative slowness of the medium forces you to process the information, writing key words or phrases and using drawing or arrows to work through ideas, she says. "You make the information your own," she says, which helps it stick in the brain.

Such connections and integration are still possible when typing, but they need to be made more intentionally. And sometimes, efficiency wins out. "When you're writing a long essay, it's obviously much more practical to use a keyboard," says van der Meer.

Still, given our long history of using our hands to mark meaning in the world, some scientists worry about the more diffuse consequences of offloading our thinking to computers.

"We're foisting a lot of our knowledge, extending our cognition, to other devices, so it's only natural that we've started using these other agents to do our writing for us," says Balasubramaniam.

It's possible that this might free up our minds to do other kinds of hard thinking, he says. Or we might be sacrificing a fundamental process that's crucial for the kinds of immersive cognitive experiences that enable us to learn and think at our full potential.

Balasubramaniam stresses, however, that we don't have to ditch digital tools to harness the power of handwriting. So far, research suggests that scribbling with a stylus on a screen activates the same brain pathways as etching ink on paper. It's the movement that counts, he says, not its final form.

Jonathan Lambert is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance journalist who covers science, health and policy.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Weekend Edition Sunday with Ayesha Rascoe

I'm a stay-at-home mom, raising 3 kids while also working part-time. I wake up at 3 a.m. to get everything done.

• As a stay-at-home mom and part-time worker, I have to optimize my morning routine. 
• My day sometimes starts around 3 a.m. and I get most of my work done before my kids wake up.
• Achieving work-life balance is tricky but I found what works for me. 

"So, what time did you get up today?" my friend asked me the other day while hanging out at the park with our kids.

"3:30 in the morning," I responded while giving my daughter another push on the swing and keeping an eye on the other two as they ran around the park.

She chuckled and shook her head, which is the typical reaction I get when I tell people about my hectic mornings.

I'm primarily a stay-at-home mom , which means I make lots of snacks, go on lots of playdates, and drink lots of coffee. But I also make a full-time income working part-time.

Whenever I outline my morning routine , people look at me like they're not sure I'm telling the truth. But I assure you, it's very true, and I have the bags under my eyes to prove it.

I started freelance writing early in the morning

When our son was born in 2016, I was a full-time teacher, and my husband was the stay-at-home parent. After our second kid turned a year old, we switched roles so that I could stay home while he went back to a full-time job . While I knew I wanted to stay home with our kids, I also wanted to make money from home to help us reach our financial goals.

I began freelance writing, and in order to do this while I was still teaching, I started getting up around 4:30 every morning. Even after I quit my job, early mornings were still the easiest time to get work done with a then 3- and 1-year-old. In 2020, we added our youngest, and balancing work and life became even more important — and challenging.

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But by the fourth year, I had replaced my full-time income with part-time writing, which I credit to a solid morning routine.

I've learned to optimize my morning routine

My routine has evolved over the five years I've been a stay-at-home mom and freelance writer. I've had to adjust my wake-up time depending on my youngest's sleep schedule , and I've added wellness routines to help get me going for the day.

My morning routine actually starts the night before by setting the coffee pot, laying out my yoga mat, filling a water bottle, and putting on mouth tape. Setting everything up before I go to bed definitely helps me stay on track when I wake up.

Depending on how much work I must do, my wake-up time fluctuates between 3 and 4:30 a.m. For the first 15 minutes, I chug water and then typically listen to a motivational speech compilation on YouTube while I stretch and do pushups and crunches . Then I chug a little more water, followed immediately by coffee.

After that, I switch into work mode. On Sundays, I set up my weekly schedule, which maps out what I need to do each day. This makes it easier to get started and stay focused on the tasks at hand. I get what I need to get done by 5:40.

From 5:40 to 6 a.m., my daughter wakes up and typically finds something to do while I finish what I'm doing. For the next hour, my two older kids get up and get ready for school . I then get them on the bus.

From 7 to 8 a.m., I work out and get ready. My youngest typically plays while I workout or joins me in the workout area. She then watches a show while I get ready for the day. When I'm dressed, I tidy up the kitchen, read some books, and do an activity with my youngest.

By 9 or 9:30 a.m., we're ready to hang out or head off to an activity. By front-loading my days, I have the rest of the day to play with my daughter, tend to the house, and catch up on any work that I can slip in throughout the day.

I've learned to find the right balance

Work-life balance is tricky to achieve, and sometimes, it feels impossible. Part of the problem is that there's no blueprint or template, and it looks different for everyone.

The bottom line is figuring out what works for you. I'm naturally a morning person, so getting up early isn't much of a stretch, but I hate working after the kids go to bed. So, sometimes balance means writing part of an article in my head while I push my daughter's sled down the hill. Other times, it means getting up at 3 a.m. because I have deadlines to meet and we're traveling.

Things will look different when my daughter heads to school in the fall. I'm not sure how often I'll get up at 3 a.m., but I'll also be heading to fewer storytimes and playdates. I know I can handle anything as long as I stay flexible and my schedule is ready to move.

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I interviewed moms with 5 or more kids − here’s what I learned about the women who are quietly going against the grain

Associate Professor of Social Research and Economic Thought, Catholic University of America

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Catherine Ruth Pakaluk received funding from the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University (2019, 2020), the APGAR Foundation (2022), and the Ortner Family Foundation (2022) to undertake the research for and preparation of the book mentioned in this article.

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Commentators link America’s declining birth rate to a number of factors: a lack of support for mothers in the workplace, expensive child care , delayed marriage and a rising cost of living .

But what about women in the U.S. who, despite these obstacles, have bucked the trend and managed to have all the children they want?

I count myself in that camp: I have eight kids of my own. But I wanted to learn how other American women were able to reach their childbearing goals. So beginning in 2019, I decided to talk to some of the 5% of U.S. women who have five or more kids .

My recent book, “ Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth ,” is an account of what I learned.

The fertility gap

In April 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency that counts annual births in America, released its provisional estimate of the total babies born in 2023 .

At 1.62 expected children per woman – down from 3.8 in 1957 – the fertility rate is the lowest it’s been since the government started tracking it in the 1930s . Americans simply aren’t having enough children to replace themselves.

Studies have shown how, without enough immigration to offset the loss, this will cause the population to shrink , which in turn can lead to economic stagnation , political instability and social fragmentation . But falling birth rates go along with one more troubling pattern: the so-called “fertility-gap .”

The gap refers to the fact that women widely report having fewer children than they intended to have when they were younger. In the U.S., women say that about 2.5 kids is ideal, and that they realistically plan to have around 2.0 kids. They end up having 1.62, leaving a gap of about 0.4 to 0.9 kids.

This discrepancy exists mainly because women are getting married later than ever in history – near the age of 28 for the average American woman – which has moved back the median age of having their first child to 30 .

Despite the rosy rhetoric of influencers boosting child-free lives , this fertility gap can be a big deal – particularly for women.

Having children usually matters more to women’s happiness than to men’s , and women are generally more bothered by childlessness .

So, low birth rates aren’t just a crisis for societies and economies. They tell a deeply personal story about women failing to reach their goals for motherhood .

Bucking the trend

Motivated by these circumstances, I interviewed 55 women with five or more children who lived in all parts of the U.S., from the Pacific Northwest to the Carolinas to New England. Their homes were in a range of socioeconomic areas, including wealthy, middle class and low-income ZIP codes. Some of them worked full time, others were part-time employees, and some didn’t work at all. Their husbands held blue-collar jobs, white-collar jobs and everything in between.

What they had in common was religious faith – they belonged to Jewish, Catholic, Latter-day Saint, evangelical and mainline Protestant communities. They also tended to value having a big family above other things they could do with their time, talents and money.

One woman I spoke to, a mother of five named Leah, has no regrets about having a large family. (The names used in my book are pseudonyms in accordance with best practices and federal regulations for the protection of human subjects in academic research.)

“I think our culture really values the sort of very rigid perception of success, and has started to devalue a mother’s contribution to society,” she told me. “It’s almost, like, radical and feminist to say that my contribution is healthy, well-balanced children. Coming from a divorced family, that was a big motivation for me in choosing this life: the family unit being the priority above career and personal identity.”

The women bucking the trend weren’t necessarily wealthier and didn’t seem to face lower childbearing costs. Rather, they believed that children were blessings from God and the main purpose of their marriages. As Leah told me: “Every child brings a divine gift into the world that nobody else can bring.”

Most of them ended up having more children because they valued having a big family so highly. They didn’t plan their family sizes around other life goals – they planned other life goals around having children. And the very high accord they granted to childbearing ordered their priorities in ways that made it more likely for them to get married and have kids, even while meeting career and financial milestones.

Gains and losses

Prior to my study, it was known that women who have more children than average are more likely to go to church .

Less understood was why. Most churches today do not prohibit the use of contraception in marriage. None of the women in my sample reported having a large family because they believed family planning was wrong.

The economic theories of 1986 Nobel laureate James Buchanan helped me see the women I interviewed as rational actors like all other women – not as blind adherents to religious dogma.

According to Buchanan, people size up the gains and losses to the choices they make. Anything that adds value to one course of action tips the scale in favor of that choice. Incentives don’t have to be monetary. They can come from ideas and convictions, including religious values.

Conversely, anything that detracts value from a course of action makes it less likely. Disincentives can be monetary, like the price of a good. But the cost of missing out on other things can factor even more heavily.

Tipping the scales

Whether the women I interviewed were rich or poor, they often cited the costs of missing out when they chose to have an additional child.

They gave up or put aside hobbies, professions, alone time and financial status – not to mention eight hours of sleep each night – when they decided to have more kids.

They didn’t report not valuing those things. They felt the sting of being misunderstood, overwhelmed and limited in their work options.

What stood out in the interviews was how much worth they accorded to having another child. They got to higher numbers of kids because they had something on the other side of the scale that weighed more than the losses.

A mom named Esther summed it up: “The three big blessings that we talk about in Judaism are children, good health and financial sustenance. I don’t feel like you could ever have too much of any of those things. These are blessings. They’re God’s expression of goodness.”

Clearing the way

Drawing on these insights, my interviews suggested how mothers in my sample managed to defy the country’s declining birth rate and fertility gap.

First, because having a big family mattered so much to them, they pursued marriage deliberately. They chose colleges, churches and social settings where others prioritized marriage, increasing the chances of finding a partner in time to have kids.

Second, they sought partners who also wanted high numbers of kids. One mom, a devout Catholic, told us she fell in love with a Protestant guy in college who wanted a big family. She had known what she wanted from her life partner.

Finally, the women overcoming the fertility gap adjusted their careers to fit their childbearing goals. They didn’t try to squeeze their kids around professional milestones. As such, they tended to select careers that were more flexible, such as teaching, nursing, graphic design or running a small business out of the home.

Though not all Americans share the religious convictions that tipped the scales for the women in my study, lessons from understanding their motivations may have tremendous value for the millions of young Americans aspiring to be mothers.

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Not Lost in a Book

Why the “decline by 9” in kids pleasure reading is getting more pronounced, year after year..

Those of us who believe in the power of books worry all the time that reading, as a pursuit, is collapsing, eclipsed by (depending on the era) streaming video, the internet, the television, or the hula hoop. Yet, somehow, reading persists; more books are sold today than were sold before the pandemic. Though print book sales were down 2.6 percent in 2023, they were still 10 percent greater than in 2019 , and some genres—adult fiction, memoirs—rose in sales last year.

But right now, there’s one sector of publishing that is in free fall. At least among one audience, books are dying. Alarmingly, it’s the exact audience whose departure from reading might actually presage a catastrophe for the publishing industry—and for the entire concept of pleasure reading as a common pursuit.

Ask anyone who works with elementary-school children about the state of reading among their kids and you’ll get some dire reports. Sales of “middle-grade” books—the classification covering ages 8 through 12—were down 10 percent in the first three quarters of 2023 , after falling 16 percent in 2022 . It’s the only sector of the industry that’s underperforming compared to 2019. There hasn’t been a middle-grade phenomenon since Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants spinoff Dog Man hit the scene in 2016. New middle-grade titles are vanishing from Barnes and Noble shelves, agents and publishers say, due to a new corporate policy focusing on books the company can guarantee will be bestsellers.

Most alarmingly, kids in third and fourth grade are beginning to stop reading for fun. It’s called the “Decline by 9, ” and it’s reaching a crisis point for publishers and educators. According to research by the children’s publishers Scholastic, at age 8, 57 percent of kids say they read books for fun most days; at age 9, only 35 percent do . This trend started before the pandemic, experts say, but the pandemic accelerated things. “I don’t think it’s possible to overstate how disruptive the pandemic was on middle grade readers,” one industry analyst told Publishers Weekly . And everyone I talked to agreed that the sudden drop-off in reading for fun is happening at a crucial age—the very age when, according to publishing lore, lifetime readers are made. “If you can keep them interested in books at that age, it will foster an interest in books the rest of their life,” said Brenna Connor, an industry analyst at Circana, the market research company that runs Bookscan. “If you don’t, they don’t want to read books as an adult.”

What’s causing the Decline by 9? It might be screens, but it’s not only screens. It’s not like kids are suddenly getting their own phones at age 9; recent survey data from Common Sense Media reveals that phone ownership holds steady, at around 30 percent, among kids aged 8 and 9. (It isn’t until they reach 11 or 12 that the majority of American kids have their own phone.) Indeed, several people I spoke to mentioned that middle-graders’ lack of phones created a marketing problem in an era when no one at any publishing house has any idea how to make a book a bestseller other than to hope it blows up on TikTok. “BookTok is imperfect,” said Karen Jensen, a youth librarian and a blogger for School Library Journal, “but in teen publishing it’s generating huge bestsellers, bringing back things from the backlist. There’s not anything like that right now for the middle-grade age group.”

“It’s not like we want these kids to have phones, that’s not the solution,” one executive in children’s books told me ruefully. “But without phones, we’re really struggling to market to them.”

Traditionally, middle-grade book discovery happens via parents, librarians, and—most crucially—peers. At recess, your best friend tells you that you have got to read the Baby-Sitters Club , and boom, you’re hooked. That avenue for discovery evaporated during the pandemic, and it hasn’t come back. “The lag in peer-to-peer recommendations seems to be lingering,” said Joanne O’Sullivan, a children’s book author and PW reporter. “Kids are back in school, so why aren’t they sharing recommendations with each other? Why aren’t they as enthusiastic about books as they were prepandemic?”

Experts I spoke to pointed to any number of causes for middle-graders’ lost love of reading. Yes, screen time is an issue: “We know that screen time increased for many kids during that initial phase of the pandemic,” said Circana’s Connor. “Some of that increased screen time still remains, even though the pandemic is mostly behind us.” Or, as O’Sullivan asked, “Is this generation just iPad babies?”

But others also pointed to the way reading is being taught to young children in an educational environment that gets more and more test-focused all the time. “I do not blame teachers for this,” said O’Sullivan, but the transformation of the reading curriculum means “there’s not a lot of time for discovery and enjoyment in reading.” She noted a change I, too, had noticed: Reading in the classroom has moved away from encouraging students to dive into a whole book and moved toward students reading excerpts and responding to them. “Even in elementary school, you read, you take a quiz, you get the points. You do a reading log, and you have to read so many minutes a day. It’s really taking a lot of the joy out of reading.”

Of course, even many teachers and librarians who buck the curricular pressure—who dream of fostering a love of aimless, testless reading in their young charges—are finding that substantially more difficult in 2024. “Libraries are getting defunded,” said O’Sullivan. “Librarians are being let go. In some states, teachers can’t even keep a classroom library because they have to protect themselves from book bans.” As Jensen wrote in a recent blog post , it sure doesn’t help the children’s book industry when “chat rooms and library board meetings fill up with a small handful of people calling librarians Marxist communist groomers.”

It all adds up to an environment where kids are less passionate about reading and, even if they somehow do get excited, they’re less likely to discover the book that will keep them excited. What are publishers trying to do about it? They’re doubling down on the kinds of books that have been hits for middle-grade readers over the past few years: graphic novels and illustrated novels. Graphic novels, comics published in trade-book form, are a sales bright spot; last year they made up a quarter of all middle-grade sales. And “illustrated novels” have only become more and more popular since the birth of Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid in 2007. Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and Dog Man books live somewhere in that graphic novel/illustrated-book mode—blocks of simple text followed by pages of drawings—and more and more, publishers are looking for light, funny stories-with-pictures that can help uncertain readers make the leap from picture books to big-kid books.

It’s great that the kids who love these books—or Spider-Man comics, or manga, or for that matter off-putting kid-lit “histories” about tragedies that happened in my lifetime —are reading something . For sure! Yet I can’t help but be worried that the kinds of books that changed my life between ages 8 and 12 are falling by the wayside. Is there room for the thoughtful, serious, beautiful young-person’s novel in 2024? Can you publish Bridge to Terabithia in the age of Captain Underpants?

It does seem to be just a little harder to sell that kind of novel these days. “Editors are looking for highly illustrated projects, shorter word counts, a bit more humor and adventure,” said Chelsea Eberly, director of the children’s book agency Greenhouse Literary . Connor was more blunt: “Maybe you think a book about a school shooting is really important,” she said, “but kids want to read a fun book. That’s what kids want today—they want to have fun.”

“If you’re an established author and you have an established reputation” for serious, heartfelt books, said O’Sullivan, you’ll be fine. But if you’re a new author who’s written a quiet, issue-oriented debut, “you might have to think about adapting, in a way.” A publisher might, for example, suggest bringing an illustrator aboard.

One side effect: Those established authors with established reputations tend to be white. The younger, newer authors who are being dissuaded by the market from writing unillustrated non-comedies? They’re increasingly people of color, thanks to the industry’s notably successful attempts at diversification over the past five to 10 years. The result may be a two-tiered system of awards-worthy book publishing, as older, whiter writers continue to publish moving, sensitive novels, while younger, Blacker authors are shut out of that particular market. “When you make it harder for new writers to break through, you’re perpetuating the problems that children’s publishing has been trying to address,” said Jensen.

For her part, Eberly, the book agent, doesn’t think the supply of serious, “award-winning” books will dry up. “Knowing the editors that I sell to, those are the types of books they want to shepherd into the world.” The danger, she says, isn’t that publishers will stop publishing such books; it’s that children won’t be able to find them due to book bans and pressure on librarians and teachers. Which books face the most challenges from book banners? Books by Black and queer authors.

What nearly everyone I spoke to in children’s publishing agrees would solve the problem in a snap is a new blockbuster, the kind of Harry Potter –style success that raises all boats. The industry can’t depend on Captain Underpants forever, even though, as Connor noted, “The devil works hard, but Dav Pilkey works harder.” While more than one person I spoke to expressed an existential fear—what if that next blockbuster never comes? What if we’re in the post-children’s-blockbuster era?—Eberly was more sanguine. “I don’t worry that we’re not going to have another blockbuster,” she said. “I’m hoping that the tent expands. I’ve always kind of hated it when there’s only one tentpole, like Harry Potter or whatever. I want there to be more tentpoles with room for more people underneath.”

50+ Easy Travel Journal Ideas and Writing Prompts for Kids

T ravel brings inspiration in all shapes and forms. If you are looking for a way for your little ones to continue writing while they explore, check out these travel journal ideas and prompts for kids. My own boys helped develop the questions, thinking about what they would want to tell their friends back home.

Each prompt is meant to open up discussion and lead to further writing while they flesh out ideas. It doesn’t take much—even a one-sentence answer can say a lot. Your kids can write for themselves or pretend they are writing to a friend or family member, whatever gets them excited to express themselves on the page.

How to get started with your travel journal

First, you need a journal. A travel journal doesn’t have to be fancy, but you do need some paper and something to write with, like crayons, colored pencils or markers. My boys like to use a travel notebook with lined pages that are bound and ready to use.

Sometimes my kids steal the leather bound journals with blank pages that I pick up at conferences. You can also make one by folding paper in half and stapling it at the seam. Either way, make sure your child’s travel journal has lots of pages to write and scribble on, and glue in ticket stubs, postcards and Polaroids.

And never think you can’t make a travel journal on the fly. My youngest has several journals created out of anything and everything he has found along our journeys, even hotel stationery.

Gather your journal supplies

You’ll want to bring supplies for your travel journal that make it really fun to use. No one wants to lug one more book around that their kids will never even open. Bring colored pencils and markers, tape, and a glue stick to make recording your child’s travel memories as easy as possible.

On every trip, I grab a simple pencil box from our craft shelf and fill it with the following fun art supplies:

• Washable markers
• Colored pencils
• Small pad of Post-It notes
• Paper clips
• Water colors
• Travel paint brushes
• Collapsible cup

You don’t need to take all of these craft supplies with you, but definitely bring your child’s favorites.

Travel Journal Ideas

It can be hard to get started on a travel journal, which is why you may need a few ideas or prompts to get going. Some pre-made journals have sections where your child can fill in their itinerary, feelings about the day, packing lists or even boxes to draw something they saw.

If you are making your own journal, even if it is just a leather journal you picked up on Uncommon Goods , you can make your own prompts and sections. Your kids will love coming up with travel journal ideas with you.

Use small Post-It notes to create chapter tabs in a blank notebook. Label each tab with a journal idea or prompt. You can also mix and match your papers and materials.

Journal sections can include:

• Blank “comic book” squares
• Mad-Lib pages for your kids to fill out
• Drawing prompts and ideas
• Wax paper to press flowers between the pages
• Water color paper to paint the colors your kids see and scenes you pass by in the car
• 5 senses grid: What did your kids see, hear, touch, smell and taste today that made them happy, sad, excited, grossed out, etc.?
• Journal prompt headlines on each page for your child to write about (see below)

No matter which way you go with your kids’ travel journals, you are sure to be surprised by what they create. Try not to give them too much direction. Don’t hover as they write and sort out their feelings. Give them a quiet place at night, during lunch or quiet time to reflect. When you let a child’s imagination go wild, they come up with the most amazing things.

Travel Journal Prompts

• What did you pack on the trip?
• Where are you going this week?
• What’s your favorite place you explored today?
• What are you looking forward to most about the day?
• Write about your daily schedule.
• What are your favorite and least favorite parts of the day?
• What is one weird thing you ate today?
• What kind of transportation did you ride? Have you ever ridden that type before? What did you think?
• Did you play any sports? If so, which one and with who?
• Did you make any new friends? If so, how? Was it through sports, just introducing yourself, or during a conversation?
• How do you think the day could have been better? How would you change it?
• What are three things you always pack?
• Do you have a favorite stuffed animal that you always travel with? Describe it.
•  Do you prefer to road trip or fly? Why?
• Do you prefer to travel by car, plane or train? Why?
• What’s one thing you want to bring back from your trip?
• What animal did you see today? Can you describe it? Draw it?
• If you could add ONE person to your trip, who would it be?
• Write a poem about where you are today.
• What was the funniest moment on your trip?
• What is one interesting thing you learned on your trip?
• Did you hear any music on your trip? How did it make you feel?
• Describe how the people are dressed around you.
• Did you see any other kids? What were they doing?
• What’s one weird thing you touched?

What other Travel Journal questions would you add?

28 Travel Sketches and Drawing Ideas for your Journal

• Make a trail map, highlighting key points of interest
• Illustrate a custom map of your trip.
• What’s something unique that happened to you today?
• What’s a random thing that happened?
• What made you laugh today? Cry? Get frustrated?
• Draw a comic strip about a place you visited today.
• Put your own spin on eye-catching signs and posters you see.
• Draw the skyline (city, mountains, flat lands, etc.)
• Draw design details and architectural elements.
• Sketch the activity in a crowded space (public square).
• Draw your meal or favorite bites from your trip.
• Draw the view from your table at a restaurant.
• Sketch the scene at the local grocery store or farmer’s market.
• Find pops of color on your walk to interpret in your own style.
• Create a collage of your tickets (plane, museum, tour, etc.).
• Do a 30-second sketch of what you see right now.
• Sketch someone you met along your journey.
• Doodle the icons that make your destination special.
• Go out at night (if it’s safe) and draw a street scene.
• Find one detail of where you are and draw it.
• Look for interesting door knockers and make a sketch of each one.
• On a road trip? Draw what you see from the car window.
• Hiking? Draw the trail, waterfall you find, mountain ridges, etc.
• Find a leaf or flower and draw it larger than life.
• See an animals? Draw it as your best friend traveling with you.
• What did you buy today? Draw it!
• Sketch your outfits from your trip
• Sketch your packed suitcase (still open), detailing everything in it

Want to Buy a Travel Journal?

Not ready to make your own? Craving more of a structured journaling experience? Check out our favorite travel logs and travel journal ideas that include prompts for kids and adults. After all, why should mom and dad miss out on all of the fun?

Kid Travel Journals

• The Ultimate Travel Journal for Kids by Rob Taylor
• Write On: My Story Journal by Wee Society
• GO!: A Kids’ Interactive Travel Diary and Journal by Wee Society
• Camping Journal for Kids by Happy Kids BR Press
• Kids’ Travel Journal by Peter Pauper Press
• Travel Journal by JB Books
• My Travel Journal by Lonely Planet Kids

JournalS FoR any age

• Page-A-Day Artisan Travel Journal by Inc. Peter Pauper Press
• Compact Travel Journal by Promptly Journals
• Travel Checklist Journal by Claudine Gandolfi
• You Are Here: A Mindful Travel Journal by Emma Clarke
• Leather Travel Journal Notebook by ai-natebok

Ready to create a watercolor journal? CLICK here to find out how to make a watercolor journal on your next trip.

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The post 50+ Easy Travel Journal Ideas and Writing Prompts for Kids appeared first on Twist Travel Magazine .

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A Plan to Help Harlem Students Build Wealth: Start Them Off With $10,000

The Harlem Children’s Zone is investing millions of dollars to create savings plans for students in its charter schools and, eventually, nationwide.

By Stefanos Chen

A New York City nonprofit group, flush with millions in private capital, is piloting a first-of-its-kind savings program to address the racial wealth gap — by giving thousands of students in Harlem $10,000 each to invest.

The Harlem Children’s Zone, an influential anti-poverty organization, said it is raising $300 million for an initiative called Wealth Builds that will launch in Upper Manhattan, where the group operates, and expand to 10 other cities, including Atlanta and Minneapolis.

The group said it has already raised enough money to provide the funds to more than 2,200 youths: the entire student body at two charter schools it runs called Promise Academy, from kindergarten to 12th grade.

And most of the students don’t know it yet.

“The parents will definitely lose their minds,” Kwame Owusu-Kesse, the nonprofit’s chief executive, said with a smile, after a tour of one of the schools.

A kindergartner enrolled this year in the program could expect the $10,000 allotment, which will be controlled by professional money managers, to accrue interest of about 5 percent a year, Mr. Owusu-Kesse said. At the age of 25, the student could have roughly $26,000 in savings.

Admittance into the Promise Academy schools is decided through a lottery system with preference given to the local district, which is predominantly lower income.

The fund, Mr. Owusu-Kesse said, is an acknowledgment that education alone cannot bridge the gap in wealth, which has been growing along racial lines for decades. The median family income at a nearby public housing complex, St. Nicholas Houses, where many of the students live, was about $18,000 a year, he said, far below the poverty line.

“What good is financial education, if you don’t have the assets to apply said education to?” he asked. “It’s the next logical step.”

The $10,000 grants, called Youth Opportunity Funds, will be invested on behalf of students who will only be able to access the full amount at the age of 25, after reaching milestones like graduating high school and college, and completing financial literacy courses. Students who don’t reach all the milestones would still be entitled to part of the money.

The program will eventually fund close to 10,000 students — about 5,000 who enroll in Harlem Children’s Zone schools or after-school programming, and another 5,000 across other cities, most of which have not yet been announced.

Recipients can only use the money for wealth-building purposes, like a down payment on a home, continuing education or business investment. To ensure that recipients spend the money appropriately, a board will be set up to review uses of the funds, Mr. Owusu-Kesse said.

Such a windfall could have dramatic effects.

For every dollar a typical white household had in 2022, a Black family had 16 cents, and a Latino one had 22 cents, according to the Urban Institute , a nonprofit research organization focused on upward mobility and equity.

Early access to capital is important because the wealth gap balloons over time. The typical younger Black family had median wealth of less than $1,000 in 2019, compared with over $25,000 for a similar white family, according to research by the Federal Reserve. A more established white family, led by someone over 55, had $315,000 in assets, compared with $54,000 for a similar Black family.

Darrick Hamilton, the founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at the New School, said the program is probably the largest private investment to address the country’s racial wealth gap, adding that he was excited about its potential.

“We look at wealthy people, and they already do this,” he said. “In some ways this is democratizing trust funds for others.”

The program bears similarities to the idea of baby bonds, a recent public policy in which investments are made on behalf of children for college or other goals, said Madeline Brown, a senior policy associate at the Urban Institute.

In the last decade, a number of states and the District of Columbia have proposed or implemented versions of the idea. Connecticut launched a baby bonds program last year in which $3,200 is invested on behalf of babies from qualifying lower-income families. A spokesman for the state treasurer said about 13,300 children have been enrolled. Federal programs with similar aims are being considered in Congress.

Research on the long-term benefits of such programs is nascent, but promising, Ms. Brown said. Three academic simulations of baby bond programs projected that they could cut the racial wealth gap by more than half, she said.

The Harlem Children’s Zone plan differs in a few ways. Children selected to receive the $10,000 funds are also enrolled in a number of “cradle to career” programs that range from scholarship and loan assistance to retirement savings planning.

And no other program has the support of such a wide roster of deep-pocketed philanthropists. Harlem Children’s Zone’s board of trustees include the billionaire investors Stanley Druckenmiller, Keith Meister, and Ken Langone, a co-founder of Home Depot.

In a phone interview, Mr. Druckenmiller said he would manage, for free, half of the Youth Opportunity Fund, which has already raised over $50 million. “I couldn’t be more excited about it,” he said, adding that the fund’s goal of 5 percent interest per year is “conservative.”

While the fund is promising, it has its limits, Dr. Hamilton said. “We cannot rely on the charitable inkling of wealthy people to get us out of this quagmire,” he said, noting that the goal should be to inspire a publicly funded model.

As to whether the funds are worth the cost, Mr. Owusu-Kesse said that the $10,000 investment reflects a small fraction of the price to put a New York City student through high school, and that the savings could have an outsize impact on their lives.

So far, only about 100 recent graduates of Harlem Children’s Zone schools have been informed that they will be included in the fund.

“My jaw dropped,” said Elijah Grace, 19, who is now studying engineering and applied physics, with a minor in music, at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

“To be a young person of color, to know that someone believes that much in you, that they would invest that much money, it’s honestly — I don’t know how to put it in words,” he said.

Harlem Children’s Zone had already awarded Mr. Grace a full scholarship to attend college, before he was told at a graduation ceremony last year that he would be part of the pilot program. But knowing that he will have funds waiting for him — perhaps $14,000 when he turns 25 — opens far more options for him, he said.

Most of the fund recipients will find out they are part of the program only after this story is published, Mr. Owusu-Kesse said.

Jadah, 17, who is graduating from a Promise Academy school in Harlem this year, said she was accepted to over two dozen colleges and universities. (School staff asked that she not use her last name, because she is a minor.)

She was not yet aware that she would be part of the investment fund, but was excited about studying to become a psychiatrist. She has already been awarded an up to $15,000 annual scholarship for the school of her choice.

“I feel like I’m one step ahead,” she said.

Stefanos Chen is a Times reporter covering New York City’s economy. He previously covered real estate in the city for over a decade. More about Stefanos Chen