Story Starters Teaching Resources
Explore story starters for kids created by teachers for teachers like you to encourage creative writing in the primary classroom.
This collection of narrative prompts has been designed by the Teach Starter teacher team to help you help your students as they perfect their narrative story writing skills. Aligned with the Australian literacy curriculum, the collection is packed with options for starting sentences and stories, as well as writing stimulus sheets you can use to encourage young writers to unleash their creativity!
Is this your first year teaching writing lessons? Or maybe you're just looking for some fresh ideas to incorporate story starters into your lesson plans? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Are Story Starters?
The name may say it all — or maybe not! A story starter is a sentence or a short phrase that's created to spark the imaginations of your students and help them kick off a story.
These short bits of text provide students with an example of how to begin their story. They stimulate students' imaginations and help beat back writer's block!
They also go by a number of other names, including:
- Narrative starters
- Narrative prompts
- Story prompts
- Story openers
Is a Story Starter the Same as a Writing Prompt?
Story starters can be considered writing prompts. After all, these phrases or sentences work to prompt a student to continue the narrative.
But not every writing prompt is a story starter! A writing prompt provides our students with ideas that they can use to begin writing, but the words of the prompt do not have to appear within the actual text of the story.
A good story starter, on the other hand, will actually function as the first few words or sentences of a story.
What Makes a Good Story Starter?
When our teaching team sits down to craft a good story starter to add to our collection — and for you to add to your lesson plans — we have a few criteria in mind.
- The story starter should hint at the theme of the story.
- The story opener should not provide students with too much information — the goal is to leave it to students to craft major story details using their own imaginations!
- The story starter should hook the reader by revealing an intriguing element of the story.
Some of the elements we like to include in our story starters include:
- Questions
- An introduction to a particular character or characters
- Descriptions of the setting
- Dialogue
- Action
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Story Leads To Hook Your Readers
How to hook your reader: 11 techniques to open your story with a bang and grab your reader's attention!
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My Monster Story Template
Use this simple story template to get your students writing simple narratives based on a sequence of events.
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Gingerbread Man Disguise Project
Design a Gingerbread Man disguise to save Gingie from getting eaten by Santa with a printable Gingerbread Man Disguise project.
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Write About It! Recycling Writing Prompt Worksheets
Differentiate writing instruction in primary grades with informational writing prompts about recycling and conservation.
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What Happened Next? Alice in Wonderland Writing Template
Finish the Alice in Wonderland story in your own words.
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Alphabet Characters Story Generator Cards
A set of cards using alphabet-related image prompts for writing.
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Goldilocks and The Three Bears - Finish the Story Writing Prompt
Finish the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story in your own words.
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Christmas Writing Prompt Dice Game - Roll-a-Story
Roll a Christmas Writing Prompt and write a fun Christmas story with our printable writing worksheets.
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Halloween Creative Writing Prompts - Year 4 and Year 5
Develop narrative writing skills this Halloween season with a set of Halloween creative writing prompts for Year 4 and Year 5.
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Grandparents' Day Writing Prompt - The Very Best Day
Surprise Grandma and Grandpa with a special story telling about the Best Day Ever with a Grandparents’ Day writing prompt.
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Easter Writing Prompts - Story Starters
Create Easter-themed stories using these Easter writing prompt cards.
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Christmas Character Writing and Craft Templates
Choose between four adorable Christmas writing templates for your Early Years students.
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Christmas Writing Prompts for Beginning Writers
Celebrate Christmas time and practise those writing skills with your beginner writers.
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Halloween Writing Prompts - Bats
Differentiated writing activity using bats as a writing prompt.
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'Pick Three' Writing Inspiration Worksheet
A worksheet to use when students need writing inspiration for a narrative piece.
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What Happened Next? Cinderella Writing Template
Finish the Cinderella story in your own words.
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Story Spine Porcupine – Narrative Writing Template
A template designed to help students plan their narrative writing structure.
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Plan Your Own Adventure - Writing Template
Students use a template to help them plan stories with alternative pathways for their friends to read.
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Halloween Writing Template - Big Mouth Mummy Craft
Inspire spooky story writing with a printable ‘Big-Mouth Mummy’ Halloween writing craft.
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Halloween Words - Vocabulary and Writing Centre
Stretch your students’ vocabulary and writing skills with a devilishly-delightful Halloween Vocabulary and Writing Centre.
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Write About Halloween Costumes! Year 1 Worksheets
Differentiate writing instruction in early years with a group of levelled Halloween writing prompts about Halloween costumes.
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Christmas Writing - December Writing Prompts
Inspire your students to write creatively with a set of 30 Christmas writing prompts for kids.
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Easter Diary Writing Activity
A cute diary entry writing activity.
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Insect-Themed Flashcards and Writing Prompts
Inspire young entomologists to read and write about insects with minibeast writing prompts and word wall cards.
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Valentine's Day Vocabulary Cards and Writing Center
Build a Valentine’s Day writing station with a printable word wall and writing prompt worksheets.
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Easter Writing Prompts Worksheet
Explore imaginative writing in your classroom with these 3 fun story writing prompts for Easter.
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Fairy Tale Setting and Book Characters Classroom Display
Teach fairy tales and narrative structure with a printable fairy tale setting poster and book characters for a classroom display.
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Curious Creatures Character Spinner
A curious creature character spinner to use during imaginative writing.
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Create and Write – Art Template
A template designed for students to display their writing and illustrations.
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My Ideal World – Writing Template
A template for students to use when writing about their ideal world.
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What Happened Next? Little Red Riding Hood Writing Template
Finish the Little Red Riding Hood story in your own words.
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What Happened Next? The Gingerbread Man Writing Template
Finish The Gingerbread Man story in your own words.