Fun writing activities can ease writing anxiety and create excitement, especially among reluctant writers. Check out these 12 writing activities to hook your reluctant writers that are low pressure and imaginative!
1. Roll-a-Story: Fun writing activities teachers & students love
Use dice to mix and match characters, settings, and conflicts from pre-made lists or paper dice with elements on each side. Students roll three times to build their story elements, then write a short story based on their randomized prompt. Advantage: Reduces decision fatigue by giving students clear, randomized elements to work with. Find seasonal roll and write activities here, so you don’t have to create from scratch.
Potential Frustration: Some students may feel boxed in by combinations they don’t like or find silly.
Support: Let them re-roll one or more categories or swap with a partner.
2. Silly Story Starters
Add this to your list of fun creative writing activities! Give students a list of wacky beginnings like “It all started when my pet iguana stole my homework…” Let them take it from there, with no pressure for perfection—just creativity. Advantage: Breaks the ice with humor and gets students writing quickly without overthinking.
Potential Frustration: Students who prefer realism might struggle with the absurdity.
Support: Offer both silly and realistic options. Check out this blog post for how to motivate student to revise their writing. It’s filled with easy tips for success!
3. Picture Prompt Pass
Give each student a random, intriguing image (real or surreal). They write for five minutes, then pass their story to a peer, who continues it for another five minutes, and so on. Advantage: Removes pressure to write an entire story; collaborative and creative.
Potential Frustration: Some may feel anxious about others reading or building on their work.
Support: Normalize “imperfect” drafts and celebrate surprises in the story.
4. Found Poetry is a fun writing activity
Provide students with magazines, newspapers, or printed articles. Have them cut out words or phrases and use them to create a visual poem. It’s a low-stakes entry point into creative writing. Advantage: Encourages word play and creativity with very little original writing required.
Potential Frustration: Students may get overwhelmed by messy materials or not find words they like.
Support: Pre-cut words or offer digital alternatives (e.g., word banks).
5. “Fortunately, Unfortunately” Stories
This back-and-forth style builds storytelling and humor. Students write alternating sentences that start with “Fortunately…” and “Unfortunately…” (e.g., “Fortunately, I found a treasure map. Unfortunately, it was guarded by a dragon.”) Advantage: Funny and fast-paced; helps students learn plot movement through contrast.
Potential Frustration: Some may struggle to maintain a story arc or logical progression.
Support: Model a few examples together and chart a story path.
6. Emoji Stories are easy fun writing activities
Students choose 3–5 emojis and write a story that connects them. This is a quick, fun, and non-threatening way to encourage creative thinking and sequencing. Advantage: Visually engaging, low-stakes, and tech-friendly.
Potential Frustration: Some students may find it hard to build a full story from small symbols.
Support: Allow them to add a “wild card” element of their choice.
7. Dialogue Duels
Here’s a great one for practicing writing dialogue. Give pairs of students two characters (e.g., a grumpy wizard and a scared robot) and a silly conflict (e.g., who gets the last cookie). They write only the dialogue between the characters. Advantage: Focuses on a manageable piece of writing (dialogue only); often funny and fast-paced.
Potential Frustration: Students might not know how to format or structure dialogue.
Support: Provide a mini-lesson or anchor chart with dialogue rules.
8. Unlikely Friends is a fun writing activity for reluctant writers
Ask students to write a story about two very different characters who become friends (e.g., a cactus and a cloud). Great for stretching imagination and practicing narrative writing. Advantage: Encourages empathy and stretches the imagination.
Potential Frustration: Students might get stuck on making the friendship believable.
Support: Brainstorm with sentence starters like “They had nothing in common until…”
9. My Life as an Object
Students write a journal entry from the point of view of a random object: a backpack, a pencil, a slice of pizza, etc. Bonus points for dramatic flair! Advantage: Invites creativity in a non-personal way—students don’t have to write about themselves.
Potential Frustration: Some may struggle with perspective-taking.
Support: Offer a list of “thinking questions” from the object’s POV.
10. Secret Story Boxes
Fill shoeboxes or envelopes with 3–5 random items (e.g., a feather, an old key, a toy dinosaur). Students open a box and write a story that includes all the items. Advantage: Tangible prompts make writing more playful and engaging.
Potential Frustration: Students may not immediately see how the objects connect.
Support: Use graphic organizers to map out connections.
11. Six-Word Memoirs
Students write short “memoirs” in exactly six words. It’s challenging in a good way and lowers the intimidation of longer writing assignments. Advantage: Very low-pressure—just six words! Great for building confidence.
Potential Frustration: Students might feel “stuck” or limited by the word count.
Support: Encourage drafting longer and then trimming down.
12. Playlist of My Life is a fun writing option
Students create a fictional or real playlist of 5 songs and write a short explanation for each—what memory or feeling it represents, or how it connects to their “character.” Advantage: Personal and expressive; blends music and writing.
Potential Frustration: Some students might not have favorite songs or struggle to connect them to moments.
Support: Allow fictional characters or moods instead of personal experience.
You can see how easy it is to add a creative, non-threatening element to writing practice. These are experiences you can refer back to when teaching how to write longer pieces. Remind students of the success they felt, and that they have been writing all year, it’s just been wrapped up in fun!
Find a year’s worth of seasonal Role-and-Write resources bundled here, and you’ll be set! These fun writing activities are even great for the days before a break, when returning from a break, and for writing centers.
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