creative writing task year 3

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50 Creative 3rd Grade Writing Prompts (Free Printable!)

Taking the leap from the primary level to the intermediate grades.

Third grade is a huge transitional year in elementary school. Third grade writers have learned foundational concepts and skills and have had time to practice. Now they are developing more complex skills as they dig deeper, learn to make connections, and analyze the topics they write about. Here are 50 third grade writing prompts to help your students master and refine their writing skills.

If you’d like even more upper elementary writing prompts, we publish new ones twice a week on our kid-friendly site: the Daily Classroom Hub . Make sure to bookmark the link!

(Want this entire set in one easy document? Get your free PowerPoint bundle by submitting your email here, so you’ll always have the prompts available!)

1. Tell about a special event in your life.

2. What are you best at?

3. What do you want to learn more about?

4. I could never live without______.

5. If you could go anyplace in the world, where would you go and why?

6. Interview one of your parents or grandparents and ask them to tell you a story from their childhood. Share their story here.

7. Describe one of your favorite book characters. Tell three things about their personality.

8. Do you think third graders should have to do chores at home? Why or why not?

9. What is something you would change about school if you could?

10. Tell about a time you helped somebody.

11. Tell about a time somebody helped you.

12. Tell about a memorable “first” in your life. For example, the first time you ate a particular kind of food, the first time you met your teacher, etc.

13. Describe step by step how to make a pizza.

14. What does it mean to be a hero?

15. I am afraid of _______ because_______.

16. What is the difference between being polite and rude? Give three examples.

17. What is the most important rule in the classroom?

18. What are the three most important qualities you look for in a friend?

19. Do you think kids should be assigned homework? Why or why not?

20. Nature gives us many beautiful things—plants, animals, water, weather, stars and planets, etc. What is one of your favorite things in nature and why?

21. If I were a spider, I’d _______.

22. Three things that make me happy are ______.

23. What is your favorite holiday and why?

24. Tell about one of your family’s unique traditions.

25. If you could have a pet, what would you choose? How would you take care of it?

26. Write about a dream you recently had.

27. Tell about a person that inspires you and why.

28. Name five things you are thankful for and why you are thankful for them.

29. What are ways you can be a good citizen?

30. When you and a friend disagree, how do you work it out?

31. What do you think the world will be like in one hundred years?

32. What is your favorite type of weather? Why?

33. What superpower do you wish you had? Why?

34. What famous person would you like to meet? Why?

35. In your opinion, which animal makes the best pet? Give three reasons for your answer.

36. If someone gave you $100, how would you spend it?

37. Should third graders have cell phones? Why or why not?

38. If you could be an Olympic athlete, what sport would you participate in?

39. Write about your “getting ready for school” routine.

40. Write about your “getting ready for bed” routine.

41. If you could travel through time like Jack and Annie in the Magic Tree House, where would you go?

42. In your opinion, what does a perfect weekend look like?

43. Write about the last time you felt really angry. What happened and how did it all work out?

44. Pretend there was a special zoo where animals could talk. Which animal would you talk to and what are three questions you would ask?

45. What is your favorite thing with wheels? Why?

46. Tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears from the point of view of Baby Bear.

47. What do you think would grow if you planted a magic bean?

48. Which would you rather be able to do—fly or read people’s minds? Why?

49. Tell about an adult in your life that you admire.

50. If you were traveling for a week and could only bring a backpack, what would you pack?

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Activity: Story mountain

Complete the story mountain to plan your story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Activity: Perform a poem

Read the poem, talk about what it means, and perform it to an audience.

5. Find story inspiration

You can find fun story ideas anywhere! Why not raid your kitchen cupboards or hunt through the attic to find lost treasures? Anything from an old hat to a telescope will do the trick. What could the object be used for? Who might be looking for it? What secrets could it hold? Suggest different genres such as mystery or science fiction and discuss how the item might be used in this kind of story.

Real-world facts can also be a great source of inspiration. For example, did you know a jumping flea can accelerate faster than a space rocket taking off into orbit? What crazy story can your child make out of this fact? Newspapers and news websites can be great for finding these sorts of ideas.

Activity: Story idea generator

Mix together a genre, character, and setting to think up an imaginative story idea.

Activity: Character profile

Come up with lots of interesting details about the lead character in your story.

6. Draw your ideas first

If your child isn’t sure where to start with a story or even a piece of non-fiction, it can sometimes be helpful to sketch out their ideas first. For instance, can they draw a picture of a dastardly villain or a brave hero? How about a scary woodland or an enchanted castle?

Your child might also find it useful to draw maps or diagrams. What are all the different areas of their fantasy landscape called? How is the baddie’s base organised?

What your child will learn

In Year 3 (age 7–8), your child will work towards being able to:

• Discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar
• Discussing and recording their ideas.
• Composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures
• Organising paragraphs around a theme
• In narratives, creating settings, characters and plot
• In non-narrative material, using simple organisational devices (for example, headings and sub-headings).
• Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements
• Proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of   pronouns   in   sentences .
• Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors.

Handwriting, spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all important aspects of writing too. You can find out more about them on our dedicated pages:

Handwriting in Year 3 (age 7-8)

Find out more about handwriting in Year 3 at Primary School.

Find out more

Spelling in Year 3 (age 7-8)

Find out more about spelling in Year 3 at Primary School.

Grammar and punctuation in Year 3 (age 7-8)

Find out more about grammar and punctuation in Year 3 at Primary School.

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Year 3 Creative writing and fiction worksheets

Free worksheets: creative writing and fiction, ks2, y3.

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Speech marks practice

Writing an adventure story

Describing a story setting

Year 3 English Challenge Pack

Book reviews activity pack

KS2 creative writing toolkit

Onomatopoeic sounds

Choosing time connectives

Book characters crossword

Write your own myth

Word bank: powerful verbs

Using time connectives

Using adjectives to improve writing

Using a WOW word Bank

Reading comprehension: Persephone and the pomegranate seeds

Making notes on a text

Identifying adjectives and powerful verbs

Dilemma story starter

Comparing books by the same author

Adventure story starter

Year 3 Writing

Discover year 3 writing standards.

As your child starts their Key Stage 2 writing journey, they should be accustomed to the learning pace at primary school level, and will now be expected to spend longer periods of time writing independently. Young writers should call on the writing skills they built in Year 1 and Year 2 as the foundation they need in order to tackle more challenging writing activities .

Year 3 writing requires children to demonstrate:

• Effective communication of ideas through written texts
• Structured writing pieces, including an introduction , main body and conclusion
• Paragraph-writing skills
• Using correct spelling and grammar in their writing (such as tenses and capitalisation )
• Longer and more complex sentence forms
• Research and identify facts using reading comprehension skills
• Factual knowledge in informative reports
• Successfully writing about past experiences
• Writing improvement through revision
• Writing based on a given prompt
• Using technology to compose different writing pieces
• Applying literary devices for the purpose of developing details
• Writing for different audiences and purposes

Your child can keep these aims in mind when thinking about the writing process for the following text styles:

Informative Writing

Opinion writing, narrative writing.

Informative writing in Year 3 calls for a focus on a specific topic and putting together factual details with the aim to inform the reader.

Here are our top tips for creating a high-quality informative writing piece:

• Introduce the topic
• Group all related information clearly, to form the text
• Include facts, definitions, details and, if necessary, analogies to support the text
• UIse illustrations or diagrams (when or if necessary) to further the reader’s understanding
• Use linking words to connect points of information
• Include a concluding sentence, stating findings clearly

Some informative writing text styles in Year 3 are:

• Explanations

Practice Tip

Your tyoung writer can work on their informative writing skills with Night Zookeeper’s Explanation Writing Activity Pack . This pack introduces examples of linking words and phrases that can help connect ideas in informational writing!

Opinion writing in Year 3 requires more attention to detail, a stronger argument, and consistency throughout the text.

In Year 3, your child is expected to demonstrate their point of view on a chosen topic and provide valid reasons for their perspective. Your child’s writing should also include linking words and phrases to piece together a compelling argument. Year 3 learners should be working on writing to persuade or influence an audience.

How to write an opinion piece in Year 3

• Start with a short introduction, stating a clear opinion on the topic
• Give a reason for this opinion, followed by a convincing example that validates the point
• Always refer back to the original statement, to ensure that the argument is consistent and coherent
• Finish with a summary of the argument, stating the original opinion once again, to leave the reader thinking about the perspective shared

Encourage your child to develop opinions on specific topics by engaging in topical discussions. Choose a theme and start a conversation about it - you’ll be surprised by the opinions your child has already formed!

Stories at Year 3 level should rely on descriptive writing techniques to create a cohesive plot of events , which provide the reader with as much information on the characters , settings and actions as possible!

As it’s not the first time your child will be asked to write a narrative text, they’ll already be familiar with the standard rules of story writing . As the complexity of their work increases however, here are a few tips on how the narrative writing process should happen in Year 3:

• Plan and develop a well-structured plot
• Establish characters, settings and actions according to the theme of the story (be as descriptive as possible)
• Use figurative language and literary devices to enhance the plot
• Include an introduction, paragraphs which allow the story to progress chronologically and finish with a great narrative ending

Why not get your child to draw the characters and settings of their story before writing the piece? Not only will this encourage them to think about more details which can be described in the story (such as the clothes worn by the characters or the type of setting), but it will also improve their ability to think creatively about the chosen topic or theme!

How Night Zookeeper can help

Our reading & writing program for kids covers the full English National Curriculum and has been created to make writing fantastically fun for primary school students!

The extensive collections of lesson series on our program are especially relevant for Year 3 students, such as The Persuasive Professor , Building Story Tension with the General , and Story Endings with the Guardians . Along with pre-defined lesson plans that your child can access at any time, Nightzookeeper.com also offers thousands of Year 3 writing activities, including games on spelling and grammar, creative writing prompts , printable resources, and much more!

All writing resources are determined by year group, to ensure that your child has access to everything they need to become a budding young writer.

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INTERVIEW LESSON Writing 3 Creative Writing

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

8 September 2017

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