Journal Prompts for Young Creative Writers

•What is your favorite season? Describe how you feel during different times of the year.
•What is your favorite game? Think about indoor games, outdoor games, board games, car games, and more!
•Write about your favorite subject in school. What is your least favorite subject?
•What do you want to be when you grow up? Choose and describe at least three jobs that you think you would enjoy.
•What is your favorite holiday and why? What traditions do you and your family share?
•What qualities do you look for in a friend? How do you try to be a good friend to others?
•Have you ever had to apologize for something you did? How did you feel before and after the apology?
•Describe a typical day in your life. Use sensory detail (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste) to make your daily experience come to life.
•Describe a "fantasy" day in your life. If you could design a whole day to do anything and everything you wanted, what would you choose to do?
•If you could choose one superpower to have for a day, which would you select? Describe in detail your activities as a superhero.
•Should children have strict bedtimes? What do you think is a fair bedtime for children your age and why?
•Write about your brothers and sisters. If you don't have any, do you wish you did?
•What is more important in life: presents or people?
•What do you think is the "perfect" age to be? If you could choose one age and stay that age forever, what would you choose?
•Do you have any nicknames? Describe where the nicknames came from and what they mean to you.
•Write about what you do on the weekends. How do your weekends differ from your weekdays?
•What are your favorite foods? What are your least favorite foods? Describe how it feels to eat each of the foods.
•What is your favorite type of weather? Write about how your activities change with different types of weather.

via: http://k6educators.about.com/od/languageart1/qt/jpromptsx.htm

Creative Journal Topics Involving Different Perspectives

1.What one non-living item would you take from your house if it caught on fire?
2.Which five of these things (make a list) would you take from your house if it caught fire?
3.Pretend you met an alien and explain school to him/her/it.
4.Set your clocks ahead twenty years. Where are you and what are you be doing?
5.What would you do with a million dollars? List five things you would buy.
6.You've landed on another planet. Tell the inhabitants all about earth.
7.You've gone back in time and met a tribe of Indians. Explain plubing, electricity, cars, windows, air conditioning and other convenieces to them.
8.What animal would you be? Why?
9.If you were your teacher, how would you treat you?
10.Describe a day in the life of ___________(choose an animal).
11.Describe how you feel at the dentist's office.
12.The way I am like _______________ is _________________
13.A perfect place for me is...
14.What if your teacher fell asleep in class?
15.I am my locker.
16.I am my shoe.
17.If I could live anywhere...
18.If I were invisible I would...
19.Describe your life fifteen years from now.
20.How would do you think your parents views would change if they walked in your shoes for a week?
21.Describe your desk in complete detail. Focus on all sides and angles.
22.List twenty-five uses for a toothbrush.
23.Describe a toaster from the inside.
24.Assume you are the last person on earth and have been granted one wish. What would it be?
25.Imagine a world that contained no written language. What would be different?
26.If you could step back in time to re-live one day, what would you do differently?
27.You discover you have only six weeks to live. What would you do and why?
28.Imagine you are 25 years old. How will you describe yourself as you are today?
29.Describe how you would feel if you were YOUR parent. What would you do differently?
30.Describe how you would feel if you were YOUR teacher. What would you do differently?

via: http://712educators.about.com/od/Journal-Writing/a/Creative-Journal-Topics-Involving-Different-Perspectives.htm

Journal Topics Concerning Interpersonal Relationships

1.Best friends...
2.Teenagers...
3.The things I look for in a friend are...
4.Friends are...
5.The thing that mes me a good friend is...
6.I make friends by...
7.If my best friend were on drugs...
8.My best friend...
9.How gangs affect my life
10.I wish my friends would...
11.People like me because...
12.When someone tells me they like me, I...
13.Someone I'd like to know better is
14.I like it when somebody says to me
15.I wish I had told...
16.People make me mad when...
17.I feel sad when someone tells me...
18.I resent __________ for __________
19.I love it when..
20.I expect...
21.I'd like to spend the day with
22.Lying to parents
23.My parents...
24.My brother(s)/sister(s)...
25.When I become a parent I won't...
26.Something I do for my mother is...
27.Something I do for my father is...
28.I like people who...
29.I don't like people who...
30.I wish people would...
31.I wish my teacher would...
32.The other people in this class...

via: http://712educators.about.com/od/Journal-Writing/a/Journal-Topics-Concerning-Interpersonal-Relationships.htm

Journal Topics for Clarifying Personal Positions

1.TV Commercials
2.Divorce
3.Surviving Divorce
4.The Death Penalty
5.Prejudice and Racism
6.Movie Review
7.The Spread of Aids
8.Teen Suicide
9.Shoplifting
10.Getting Drunk
11.How important are sports in schools?
12.Smoking
13.How Our School Could Be Improved
14.A Cool Hobby or Sport
15.The Best Entertainer
16.Death
17.Date Rape
18.Prearranged Marriages
19.Competition
20.Peer Pressure
21.Gang Violence
22.Food
23.Should teens be sexually active?
24.Part-Time Jobs
25.How a Car Changes a Teen's Life
26.Homework
27.Honesty
28.Curfews

via: http://712educators.about.com/od/Journal-Writing/a/Journal-Topics-For-Clarifying-Personal-Positions.htm

Journal Topics for Self Understanding

1.When I need time for myself...
2.If I could live anywhere
3.I really miss...
4.I never expected...
5.An unusual day in my life
6.For my birthday I'd like...
7.The worst gift I ever got...
8.I daydream most about...
9.I really wish....
10.Something few people realize about me
11.I wish I weren't so...
12.One of my best points is...
13.One of my most important goals is...
14.I dream that one day...
15.My hardest class is
16.What makes me feel proud is
17.I'm glad I'm alive when
18.Some little things I often forget to enjoy

via: http://712educators.about.com/od/Journal-Writing/a/Journal-Topics-For-Self-Understanding.htm

Topics and Prompts

My craziest experience in a restaurant or shopping mall
The hardest thing I’ve ever done
My first encounter with a bully
Let’s hear it for my favorite senior citizen.
The toys I’ll never give up
A friend who moved away
I couldn’t believe that my mother volunteered me for that job.
Putting my foot in my mouth
What if school sports were dropped?
Who knows me best?
What do I worry about?
My muscles were so sore after . . .
What do we Americans do well?
“Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.”
I admit it; I enjoy professional wrestling.
An unforgettable dream
My worst vacation
A “visit” to a hospital, doctor’s office, or dentist’s office
Coping with brothers and sisters
A typical evening at home
Morning madness
When I was a discipline problem
A meaningful gift I’ve given or received
We all make mistakes.
Why do I deserve the job?
My brother (or sister) made me so mad!
Hanging out
Something this school really needs is . . .
Why are soap operas so popular?
I take some things too seriously.
What do I do to break routine?
The next wave of personal communication
Greed
Alone on a desert island
Let’s push alternative sources of energy.
______ is like a boomerang.
How it would feel to walk in space
ItÂ’s a rule, so it’s right . . . right?
What invention would you like to see in your lifetime?
Why appearance is not so important
How I express myself artistically
Is pollution a necessary evil?
What different colors mean to me
Why are soap operas so popular?
I take some things too seriously.
How do people who are in constant pain cope?
Is this love?
Foods I love, foods I hate
Tools I’ll need in my intended profession
Why are some people so cruel?
What animals can teach humans
Self-esteem
Sometimes, adults seem . . .
My dream car
The idea hit me like a tornado.
My Web site
If I were a superhero, I’d be . . .
Something this school really needs is . . .
What do I do to break routine?

via: http://thewritesource.com/writing_topics/more_topics/#inc

Writing Prompts

•If I were the teacher, I would...
•If I could give one piece of advice to any person in history, that advice would be...
•Describe a dream that you had recently. Provide as many details as possible.
•The best lesson my grandparent (or parent or any relative) ever taught me was...
•[on the day after the Grammy Awards are announced.] Do you think the right artists won? Why or why not?
•Tell five things you'd like to do on your next birthday.
•Imagine a friend of yours is considering whether to take steroids. What would you tell that friend to persuade him or her not to do that?
•In 20 years, I will be...
•Tell about an event in your life that has caused a change in you.
•I was most angry when...
•If you could design one room in a house to suit only your needs, what would it look like? (Challenge kids to be as fanciful as they like. For example, would someone have a desk made of chocolate?)
•Describe your perfect vacation.
•My worst mistake was...
•[for high-school students.] Do you believe in love at first sight?
•If you and your best friend could have a free limo for 24 hours, where would you go and what would you do?
•You have the freedom to travel to any city or country in the world. Where would you go and why?
•What would you do if you were president of the United States?
•You have an extra $100,000 to give away; you cannot spend it on yourself. What would you do with the money?
•The qualities that make a best friend are...
•If you were an insect, what kind would you be and why?
•Describe your room at home in detail. What are you proudest of and why?
•[using a current local controversy] Do you agree with the decision? Why? Would you change if anything? What?

via: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr144.shtml