Writing Activities for Kids

Printable Shamrock Writing Paper

March 5, 2019 By Terri Thompson

If you were to write a story about St. Patrick’s Day, what would you write about?

Leprechauns? Shamrocks? Rainbows?

No matter what your idea is, you’ll need some great Shamrock Writing Paper to write it on.

Use this fun free printable Shamrock Writing Paper to inspire your kids to write St. Patrick's Day stories and other creative ideas.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

St. Patrick’s Day Writing Prompts

If you don’t already have a great idea for a story, here are some fun writing prompts to get you started.

You’ll never believe what I found at the end of the rainbow…

I followed the leprechaun through the forest…

My favorite thing about St. Patrick’s Day is…

I forgot to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day and this is what happened…

But, you don’t have to just write a story. You can use this paper to make a list of things that are green, facts about Ireland, or a report about the history of St. Patrick’s Day.

You can even use it for a spelling test!

How to get your printable Shamrock Writing Paper

It’s so easy to get a copy of this fun shamrock writing paper.

Follow the links below, save to your computer, and print as needed.

I’ve provided two different copies for your convenience. The first link is full color and the second link is in black and white.

Print your full color writing paper here.

Print your black and white writing paper here.

Please note: This printable shamrock writing paper is for home or classroom use only. Selling or using this paper as part of a paid product is prohibited.

You may also enjoy one of these St. Patrick’s Day activities:

St. Patrick’s Day Word Search

Fun Shamrock Crafts for Kids

St. Patrick’s Day Word Scramble

St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt at EDventures for Kids

Get inspired with a fun St. Patrick’s Day book!

Inspire your young writers with one of these fun St. Patrick’s Day books.

Do you want to do more activities with your kids?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Punctuation Stickers Activity for Kids

February 8, 2019 By Terri Thompson

I’m a writer, so punctuation comes naturally. It seems like it’s something I’ve always known.

But, I know that’s not the case. Once upon a time way back in elementary school, I learned the basics – how to end a sentence.

Do you use a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point? The choice is important.

If you’ve got a child working on these basic grammar rules, I’ve got an easy DIY punctuation activity you can make in minutes, Punctuation Stickers.

This grammar activity, Punctuation Stickers, is a fun way to practice adding the correct punctuation to the end of a sentence.

You only need a few simple office supplies and about five minutes to prep this game. Trust me, it’s easy!

Supplies Needed:

White printer paper
Dot Stickers
Black marker

How to make your Punctuation Stickers game:

Start by coming up with a few sentences. I only planned on six sentences, two for each type of punctuation.

Make the sentences simple and obvious. For example, start your questions with a question word like who, what, when, where, or how.

Write down each of the sentences on your white paper. Leave enough room to add a sticker at the end.

Next make your punctuation stickers. This step couldn’t be easier.

Add the punctuation marks you need on the dot stickers. I had two periods, two question marks, and two exclamation points.

Your game is done. See how easy this is?

Play this punctuation activity:

Game play is simple. Just choose the correct punctuation sticker and place one at the end of each sentence.

This missing punctuation game is most beneficial for kids who are just beginning to learn about punctuation and need some additional practice. It’s also an easy at-home check-in so you can see if your child has mastered this skill.

Extend the fun:

If you child is beyond the basics but still needs practice, extend the difficulty of the sentences. Or, you could even offer them a paragraph. Just make sure to leave enough room for your stickers.

Make it bigger! Tape a piece of brown wrapping paper to your wall and cover it with sentences. This is also a fun way to learn when your child is tired of sitting.

If you don’t want to (or don’t have time to) write your own sentences, just download and print the sentence strips from this Cut & Graph Punctuation Game. Use your punctuation stickers to put at the end of each of the sentence strips.

With a little practice, it won’t be long until your kids are completely comfortable choosing punctuation to end a sentence.

Fun reading games for kids:

If you’d like to work on more reading at home with your kids, your best bet is to pick up a book. But, sometimes it’s fun to play a game! Here are some reading games I recommend:

Do you want to do more activities with your kids?

Halloween Shape Poems Writing Activity

October 2, 2018 By Terri Thompson

Most of the projects we’ve done for Halloween have been crafts.

We do love crafts, especially holiday crafts. But, I did want to sneak in a little learning with some Halloween Shape Poems.

My 2nd grader can get overwhelmed quite easily when it comes to writing, but she’s always responded well to poetry.

She gets excited about writing poetry, so many of our at-home writing projects are about poetry.

When considering after school projects, it’s important to keep your kids interests in mind. I don’t want to contribute to burn out!

Create the poetry invitation

I kept the set-up for this project easy by going with simple Halloween-inspired shapes.

I don’t have any printables for you this time because I drew the shapes on construction paper.

We used a ghost and a pumpkin. A witch’s hat and candy corn are a couple of other simple shapes you could consider.

Don’t worry about perfection. My pumpkin is a bit wonky, but I think I’m the only one that noticed!

Draw your shape, outline it in black, and cut it out.

Then, take a ruler and draw straight lines approximately 1-1/2 inches apart. My girls still write big, so I wanted to give them plenty of room. Plus, I didn’t want to overwhelm them with too many lines.

Write your Halloween Shape Poems

The fun thing about these Halloween shape poems is that you already know your subject. Your subject is the shape of your paper.

Sometimes choosing a topic can be the biggest hurdle to jump when it comes to creative writing.

The only rules about shape poems are that the poem should be about the shape and it should fit inside the shape. Other than that, anything goes!

Get a little creative when you write these fun Halloween shape poems. It's a fun Halloween writing activity for elementary kids.

Each girl wrote at their own level. My 2nd grader decided to write a rhyming poem and had fun with some silly rhymes.

My kindergartner just wrote a few lines about pumpkins. She came up with the lines and I wrote them for her. This is not a project I would have done with her alone at this point, but because she always wants to participate, I gave her extra help to keep it skill appropriate.

I love the poems the girls came up with and they are quite pleased with it themselves.

They’ve already added music to the ghost poem. If they keep that up, I may have to start calling them aspiring song writers.

Note: This post was originally published on October 21, 2014. Updated and republished October 2, 2018.

Get inspired to write with some Halloween poetry

Here are some great Halloween poetry books to share with your kids that will provide inspiration for this writing activity.

Do more fun activities with your family

Printable Apple Writing Paper

August 4, 2018 By Terri Thompson

It’s almost impossible to write without any inspiration.

Inspiration can come from anywhere, such as a writing prompt, picture, a question, an idea, or maybe some pretty themed writing paper.

This fun printable Apple Writing Paper can be a great source of inspiration for your young writers. Combine it with a writing prompt or a brainstorming session and the words will start flowing.

Practice writing with this fun fall-themed free printable Apple Writing Paper. Includes both full color and black and white options.

What can you write about?

What would you write about on this paper?

Let’s have a brainstorming session!

You could write about a trip to an apple orchard, your favorite apple recipe, or about an animal that likes to eat apples.

Record the results of an apple taste test or record your observations of the inside (or outside) of an apple.

Use this paper for an apple science project.

Or, write a story about a kid (or animal) named Apple.

What are your ideas?

How to get your printable Apple Writing Paper

It’s so easy to grab a copy of this printable apple writing paper.

All you need to do is click the link(s) below, save to your computer, and print.

I’ve provided two different versions for your convenience. One is in full color and the other is identical, but in greyscale.

Print your full color apple paper here.

Print your greyscale apple paper here.

Please note: This printable apple writing paper is for home or classroom use only. Selling or using this paper as part of a paid product is prohibited.

If you enjoyed this Apple Writing Paper, the above photo is perfect for sharing on Facebook or saving on Pinterest.

You may also enjoy one of these apple activities:

Apple Counting Rocks

Mini Apple Print Notebook

A is for Apple Print Wreath Kids Craft

Awesome Apple Science Experiments

Apple Browning Science Experiment at Kitchen Counter Chronicle

Pumpkin and Apple Mini Books

September 7, 2017 By Terri Thompson

Sometimes, all it takes to get a kid interested in writing is a special book to hold their thoughts.

My daughter spends a lot of her time at school writing in spiral notebooks or composition books. So, I thought I’d spark her interest at home with some special fall-themed mini books for creative writing.

These Pumpkin and Apple Mini Books are little, so they’re not too intimidating. Plus, they’re filled with lined paper to make writing easier.

Make these simple DIY Pumpkin and Apple Mini Books to encourage writing. If you're stuck for ideas, try one of the seasonal writing prompts in the post.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed

Red and orange card stock (1 sheet for each mini book)

*Note: You can also use construction paper. It just won’t be as durable as the card stock.

Lined notebook paper

Cardboard for templates

Scissors

Stapler

How to make your pumpkin and apple mini books

Before beginning, create a pumpkin and an apple template from your cardboard.

Make it small enough that you can cut two apples (or pumpkins) on each sheet of paper. If you use a template, it will be easy to make sure all of your pages are the same shape and size.

If you are unsure of your drawing abilities, search for simple clip art or coloring pages. You should be able to find something online to serve as your template.

Trace two apples on your red card stock and two pumpkins on your orange card stock. Cut each one out.

Next, take 3 sheets of notebook paper per mini book. Fold the pieces of paper in half and trace one apple (or one pumpkin) on one side of your folded paper. Now you can cut all 6 pages of your mini book at once. I used this method to save myself some cutting time.

Stack all of your cut-out pieces so that you have a piece of card stock on the top, 6 pieces of notebook paper in the middle, and another piece of card stock on the back.

Attach all the pages together with your stapler. I found that one staple on the side of each book did the trick.

These mini books are very simple to make and an older child should be able to do the process from start to finish on their own. I made the books myself because I wanted to surprise my second grader with a fun writing invitation.

Create a writing invitation

To set up the writing invitation, I added the pumpkin and apple mini books to a small basket with a pencil holder full of a variety of pencils.

I also added a couple of index cards with some pumpkin- and apple-themed writing prompts to the basket. I love writing prompts because sometimes the most overwhelming thing about writing is choosing the topic. Writing prompts help narrow down the topics and spark your kid’s imagination.

Apple Writing Prompts:

My day at the apple orchard…

My favorite things made from apples are…

I planted an apple seed one day and…

Pumpkin Writing Prompts:

How do you carve a jack-o-lantern?

I grew the biggest pumpkin and I took it to the fair…

My jack-o-lantern came alive tonight…

What stories will your kids come up with? Happy writing!

If you enjoyed these Pumpkin and Apple Mini Books, the above photo is perfect for sharing on Facebook. Or, you can share the photo below on Pinterest.

Writing Activities for Kids

Printable Shamrock Writing Paper

St. Patrick’s Day Writing Prompts

How to get your printable Shamrock Writing Paper

You may also enjoy one of these St. Patrick’s Day activities:

Get inspired with a fun St. Patrick’s Day book!

Do you want to do more activities with your kids?