Family writing activities · ages 9–14

20 story starters for kids

Original story ideas for ages 9–14, plus a printable planning sheet. Choose a beginning, change anything you like and decide what happens next. Free, with no account or email required.

Choose one idea. Who is your character, what do they want, and what could they try? You can change the setting, combine two starters or invent your own. A parent can write down your spoken sentence without changing your words.

Curious mysteries

  1. Every Tuesday, a new door appears in the school corridor. This week, it has your character’s name on it.
  2. The library returns a book nobody borrowed, with tomorrow’s date written inside.
  3. A tiny trail of flour leads from the bakery to a locked music box.
  4. Your character finds a map of the neighbourhood with one extra house drawn on it.
  5. At the town clock’s twelfth chime, every dog looks towards the same empty bench.

Unexpected friendships

  1. Two rivals must look after a garden where the plants only grow when people cooperate.
  2. A new neighbour sends messages by paper aeroplane, but the first one lands in the wrong window.
  3. Your character offers to teach a robot one game that has no winners.
  4. A shy drummer and a very loud painter try to make a present together.
  5. The last two passengers on a bus discover they are carrying the two halves of the same kite.

Worlds with unusual rules

  1. In a city above the clouds, umbrellas are used to travel down to school.
  2. Your character visits a market where the only currency is a story nobody has heard.
  3. A village wakes to find that every shadow is a day ahead of its owner.
  4. The moon opens a lost-property office and asks your character to return a missing summer.
  5. On an island of enormous musical instruments, the bridge is suddenly out of tune.

Small choices, big adventures

  1. Your character fixes a broken compass, but it points towards things that need help.
  2. A family picnic is interrupted by a snail carrying a very urgent invitation.
  3. Cleaning an old bicycle reveals a pedal that can pause the rain for one minute.
  4. Your character promises to deliver a seed before sunset, but it keeps changing its destination.
  5. A handmade boat sails back up the stream with a message from an unexpected captain.

The print button opens your browser’s print menu. Only the planning sheet prints. You can also choose Print from your browser menu (Ctrl+P or ⌘P). On a phone, look under Share or the browser menu; if printing is unavailable, copy these four headings onto paper. Select A4 or Letter and check the preview.

My story plan

Choose a starter above or invent your own. Keep this sheet on paper; nothing you write here is sent to Plumakids.

Character — who are they and what do they want?

Place — what can they see or hear?

Problem — what gets in their way?

First sentence — in my own words

What happens next? Write or draw your ideas.

Plumakids · Public writing resource · plumakids.com/story-starters-for-kids

Need a way to get started? Try the step-by-step writing activity →