After writing up my post about how the act of writing can help your mental health, I started thinking about children; how they might enjoy writing while they’re at home and – going by those I know – in need of plenty of ways to occupy their time and unleash their creativity.

When I visit schools for author sessions, I always start by asking the kids, ‘how many of you like to read stories?’ and there is always a flurry of hands up within seconds (not unsurprisingly, since they’re sitting on the carpet waiting to hear one). I then ask, ‘how many of you like to write stories?’ and I’m always glad to see a lot of hands shoot right back up again.

Creative writing is something which children can get a huge amount of enjoyment from, while also improving their literacy skills and, of course, fostering a love of reading and writing that will be invaluable as they get older.

And so all of this got me thinking of some writing prompts for kids in our current at-home situation. I hope someone, somewhere, finds them useful:

• Imagine you are a pet in your house – a cat, a dog, a goldfish or whatever kind of pet you have – and write a story about a day in the life of your pet

• If you don’t have a pet, write a story about the day you get your dream pet

• Write a story about discovering some buried treasure in your garden – how do you find it, how do you dig it up and what do you do with it?

• Imagine all the food in your fridge could talk – what would the cheese say to the butter? What happens when you close the fridge door?

• Think about what would happen if characters from your favourite TV show came to life in your living room

• Write a story about finding out that your next-door-neighbour is a circus clown and keeps an elephant in their back garden

• Imagine you discover you have magical powers – what will you do with them?

• Write a story about your teacher turning into a superstar singer and giving you lessons on your computer by singing and dancing

• Write a story that rhymes

• Imagine aliens have landed and can’t find any people because we’re all staying at home

• Think about being a hundred years in the future – what would that be like? Will we all have VR glasses and robots to make our packed lunches?

• Write about someone really famous moving in next door. Who are they, and what’s it like to meet them?

• Write a silly story about something that makes you laugh

• Imagine you’re grown up and have your dream job – are you a singer or an astronaut, a doctor or a dancer, a hairdresser or a vlogger?

• Imagine there was no such thing as television – what would we do instead of watching TV?

• Write about finding a book with magic pages that sucks you into it’s imaginary world

• Imagine you can see in the dark – what happens at night when you look out your window?

• Write a story about whatever your missing – seeing your family and friends, going back to school, going out to play… imagine what it will be like to do these things again

To be honest, some of these I think I’ll give a go myself for my own entertainment. And even though I’m not tremendously talented in the drawing department, I might even try my hand at sketching a few pictures to go with them. Why not?

Do let me know if any budding writers out there give one or two of these a bash. I always enjoy a good read.

Take care all,

Rachel