For a lot of kids—especially the ones who freeze at a wall of words—an image is the easiest door into a story. A picture gives the eyes something to hold while the imagination warms up. You don’t need anything fancy: a photo, a magazine clipping, a doodle, or even a scene out the window will do.
Why pictures work so well
A picture is a frozen moment, and a frozen moment is secretly a question. What just happened? What happens next? Who’s out of frame? Reluctant writers who’ll say "I don’t know what to write" will happily tell you everything that’s going on in a photo—and that telling is the story. Your job is just to help them write it down.
Questions to ask about any picture
Hand your writer an image and walk through a few of these together before the pencil moves:
- Who is in this picture, and who is just outside it?
- What happened five minutes before this moment?
- What is about to happen next?
- If you could step inside, what would you hear, smell, and feel?
- What is the one thing here that doesn’t quite belong?
- How does the person (or animal, or place) in the picture feel right now?
15 picture-prompt ideas
No image handy? Have your writer picture—or quickly sketch—one of these, then write about it:
- An open door with light spilling out of it.
- A single shoe sitting in the middle of a forest path.
- A treehouse with a rope ladder pulled up.
- A suitcase left on an empty train platform.
- A cat staring at something we can’t see.
- A birthday cake with one candle still lit in an empty room.
- Footprints leading into the ocean—but not back out.
- A tiny door at the base of a very large tree.
- A hot-air balloon caught in the top branches.
- An umbrella floating down a river.
- A window with a face looking out that doesn’t match the house.
- A bicycle leaning against a lighthouse.
- A map with one city circled in red.
- A jar of fireflies on a windowsill at dusk.
- A clock with no hands hanging in a busy station.
Make it a habit
Keep a little folder of interesting pictures—snip them from old calendars, magazines, or print a few favorites. When it’s writing time, let your kid pull one at random. The surprise is half the fun, and the randomness takes the pressure off "getting it right." Over time you’ll notice the same picture can launch a dozen completely different stories, which is a wonderful thing for a young writer to discover about their own imagination.
Looking for prompts you can print and reuse? My Writing Prompts Workbook pairs picture-style starters with plenty of word prompts, ready for the classroom or the kitchen table.