Writing Prompts for Kids: Choose a Drawing, Problem, and Surprise

The easiest writing prompts for kids give them three things to connect: something to draw, a problem, and a surprise. Your child draws first, which gives them a character and a place, then picks a problem and a surprise from the lists below and writes the story that joins them. Thirty draw-first prompts follow, in three lists of ten to mix and match.

By ArtifyTales Team, Nell AI Labs LLC · Published 2026-09-18 · 6 min read

"Write a story" is one of the hardest instructions you can give a child. There are too many choices and nothing to push against. Most children stare at the page, write "Once upon a time," and stop.

Good writing prompts for kids take some of the choices away, but not the important ones. The method below gives your child three ingredients: something to draw, a problem and a surprise. They draw first, pick one from each list, and then write the story that connects them. Every combination is different, and every story is theirs.

How the three-part prompt works

1. Draw (10 minutes). Your child picks a drawing prompt and draws it, adding as much detail as they like. Ask: "What’s their name? What do they want?"
2. Choose (2 minutes). They pick one problem and one surprise. Rolling a die or pulling slips from a cup works well for children who find choosing hard.
3. Tell it first (3 minutes). Before writing, they tell you the story out loud in three parts: what happens first, what goes wrong, how the surprise changes things.
4. Write (15 minutes). Now they write it down. The drawing stays on the table, to look at when they get stuck.

Ten drawing prompts

1. A snail wearing a backpack
2. A house built on the back of a turtle
3. A dragon who is scared of the dark
4. A robot with one squeaky wheel
5. A tree with a door in the trunk
6. A cat who runs a bakery
7. A cloud shaped like something only you can see
8. A tiny person living inside a teacup
9. A lighthouse on the moon
10. A dog in a superhero cape that is too big

Ten problems

1. The bridge is gone.
2. Something important has been lost.
3. Someone new has arrived and nobody trusts them.
4. It has not stopped raining for a week.
5. A friend is stuck and can’t get down.
6. The map has a missing piece.
7. Everyone has forgotten how to laugh.
8. There is only enough for one, and there are two of them.
9. The shortcut leads somewhere unexpected.
10. A promise can’t be kept.

Ten surprises

1. The character can float.
2. The villain was trying to help all along.
3. The lost thing was never lost.
4. An animal starts talking.
5. It was all happening in a snow globe.
6. The small, quiet character has the answer.
7. The door leads back to the beginning.
8. The rain is made of something else.
9. Two enemies need each other.
10. The character finds a note in their own handwriting.

That is 1,000 possible combinations before your child changes a single word, and they should change words. If the snail wants to be a slug, let it.

A worked example

This is an illustrative example of the kind of story a third grader might write, not a real child’s work.

Drawing: a snail with a backpack. Problem: the bridge is gone. Surprise: the snail can float.

Pebble the snail packed her backpack for the fair across the river. But when she got there, the bridge was gone. The rain had washed it away. Everyone went home. Pebble sat by the water and cried one tear. The tear landed on a leaf and the leaf floated. Pebble had an idea. She climbed onto the biggest leaf and pushed off. She got to the fair last, but she got there first of all the snails.

Look at what the story adds that the prompt didn’t: a name for the snail, a reason to cross, a tear that becomes the clue, and a joke at the end. In your child’s story, those are the parts to praise.

If your child gets stuck

• Stuck at the start: "What does your character want more than anything?"
• Stuck in the middle: "What’s the first thing they try? Does it work?"
• Stuck at the end: "How is your character different at the end from the beginning?"

For twenty more starting points your child can change, see story ideas for kids, and for a simple plan children can follow on their own, how to make your own story. Teachers looking for grade-specific versions can use the third-grade narrative writing prompts.

Where ArtifyTales fits

Once your child has written their story, ArtifyTales can help it travel further. Photograph their drawing and it becomes a character with a name and personality. Type their story or write it on Story Papers, and it comes back as illustrated, narrated pages they can read and hear.

The story should stay theirs. Generated pages may add details your child didn’t write, so read it together and ask: "Is this what you meant? What would you change?" Their answer is the start of a second draft.

Drawings, voices and privacy

A child’s drawing, handwriting and voice are personal. Read how ArtifyTales handles children’s drawings and voices before uploading anything, and keep full names and addresses out of stories you share.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a good writing prompt for kids?

A good writing prompt gives a child somewhere to start without deciding the story for them. Prompts that name a character, a problem or a surprise work better than open questions like “write about your summer,” because they give a child something to react to while leaving the choices to them.

Why start with a drawing?

Drawing first lets a child decide who the character is and where they are before worrying about spelling or sentences. Many children can say far more about a picture they made than they can write from a blank page, and the drawing gives them details to use.

How long should a story from a writing prompt be?

For grades 2 and 3, five to eight sentences with a beginning, middle and end is a complete story. Grades 4 and 5 can aim for three short paragraphs. A finished short story is better than a long one abandoned halfway.

What if my child can’t think of anything?

Offer two choices instead of a list: “Is the problem that something is lost, or that someone is stuck?” Or let them tell the story aloud first while you write down a few key words. Talking is planning, and it counts.

Should I correct spelling while they write?

Not during the first draft. Let the story come out first, then pick one or two things to fix together afterwards. Stopping for every spelling mistake teaches children that writing is about avoiding errors rather than telling a story.

Can teachers use these prompts in class?

Yes. Put the three lists on the board, let students choose one from each, and give ten minutes for drawing and fifteen for writing. Collect the drawing with the story, because it shows the planning that went into it.

How do I keep my child interested in writing?

Let them choose, and do something with the finished story: read it aloud at dinner, make it into a book, or record it for a grandparent. Children write more when their stories have an audience.

Try one combination tonight

Put the three lists on the fridge and let your child pick one of each. See how ArtifyTales can turn a child’s drawing into an animated story, or explore creative activities by child-development stage.

Teachers: the Kindergarten–Grade 8 Common Core ELA alignment shows where narrative writing activities like these fit.