Creative writing

Prompts and activities for teaching creative writing skills
Creative writing
  • } Target level: KS2
  • c Time: 40 minutes
  • u Links to history

Learning objectives

To enable creative writing.

Resources needed

  • Pens or pencils
  • Paper
  • Photographs of landscapes, such as of Plymouth (using the internet or ones that you have taken)

 

Task A

Choose from either...

  • A pirate or captain
  • A person saying goodbye to a family member travelling abroad
  • A mermaid or sea monster
...and write about what he or she sees, hears and feels. Think about the following:
  • What does the character want?
  • What's stopping them from getting it?
  • How will they overcome this challenge?

Task B

Choose from a photograph of a landscape and write a poem describing it.

  • What would you do in this place?
  • What do you see?
  • What do you smell?
  • What do you feel?
  • Do you meet anyone there?

Task C

Choose from one of these phrases and continue the story:

  • "She turned her gaze upon the sea..."
  • "As she stepped into the harbour, the first thing she noticed was..."
  • "The picture reminded him of..."

 

How to put the idea into practice

  • This activity is all about inspiration; find an inspiring idea, object or visual and go beyond just describing it.
  • Use plenty of pictures and videos. What happened before/after this picture was taken?
  • For students who are more sensory than visual learners, give them something to touch. How does it feel? Where has it come from? What could you use it for?
 

Ways to include all learners

  • Use photographs, sounds, people or real objects to stimulate ideas and discussion.
  • A voice recorder (or voice recording app) can be used to replace the writing element of these tasks, if necessary.
 

This activity was devised by Sam Kemp, Doctoral Teaching Assistant for the School of Humanities and Performing Arts, University of Plymouth.

sam.kemp@plymouth.ac.uk