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40 picture writing prompts

Pick a picture. Listen to the questions, talk about them, then write. Every picture has five questions that are read aloud, a word bank and sentence starters for three levels.

A sunny kitchen. A dad flips a pancake in a pan while a girl lays the table and a cat sits on a chair.A busy kitchenAt homeGrandma Ruth and a boy water tomato plants in a garden. Bees fly around bright flowers.Grandma Ruth's gardenAt homeA picnic by the riverAt homeA girl and her little brother sit in bed under a lamp. Their mum reads them a story from a big book.Bedtime storyAt homeA boy and his mum fix a bike chain in the yard. They have tools and a little puddle of oil.Mending the bikeAt homeThe reading cornerAt schoolChildren use magnifying glasses to look at a plant, a snail and a pebble on a table.The science tableAt schoolA playground gameAt schoolThe lost lunchboxAt schoolPainting the muralAt schoolPeople wait at a bus stop in heavy rain. A girl holds a yellow umbrella and a boy splashes in a puddle.The rainy bus stopWeather and seasonsSledging on the snowy hillWeather and seasonsA girl and her grandad fly a bright kite on a hill. The wind blows the girl's hair and the grass.A windy kite dayWeather and seasonsTwo children kneel by a rockpool and look at crabs and starfish. The sea sparkles behind them.A morning at the rockpoolWeather and seasonsA family and their dog walk through a muddy field. A child jumps in a puddle and the dog is covered in mud.A muddy walkWeather and seasonsThe market stallOut and aboutOn the top deckOut and aboutA girl and her dad choose books from a tall shelf in a library. A librarian smiles at a desk.A visit to the libraryOut and aboutThe swimming lessonOut and aboutA girl and her grandma wait on a station platform. A train arrives and people get ready to board.Waiting on the platformOut and aboutAt dusk, a red fox walks across a garden lawn. Two children watch from an upstairs window.A fox in the gardenAnimalsA mother duck leads her ducklings across a path to a pond. Two children stop to let them pass.Ducklings on the pathAnimalsA girl feeds hens in a farmyard while a goat watches from a gate. The sun rises behind a red barn.Morning on the farmAnimalsA hedgehog sniffs a saucer of water under a hedge. The moon shines and the garden is quiet.A hedgehog at nightAnimalsA boy throws a ball for his puppy in the park. The puppy leaps in the air with its ears flying.A puppy in the parkAnimalsThe cave entranceAdventureThree friends climb a rope ladder to a wooden treehouse in a big oak tree.The treehouseAdventureThree children row a small wooden boat towards a green island in the middle of a calm lake.Rowing to the islandAdventureA hot-air balloon with a striped pattern lands softly in a field. Children run towards it.A balloon landsAdventureA friendly robot with round eyes waters flowers with a watering can. A girl watches and smiles.A robot in the gardenAdventureFriends sit around a table. A big cake with lit candles is in the middle and a boy is about to blow them out.The birthday cakeCelebrationsThe street partyCelebrationsLantern nightCelebrationsChildren on a stage play drums, recorders and a piano. A nervous girl stands at the front to sing.The school concertCelebrationsChildren run an egg-and-spoon race on a school field. One girl is ahead and a boy has dropped his egg.Sports dayCelebrationsA pot of blue paint has spilled across the floor. A boy looks shocked and a cat has blue paws.The spilled paintProblems to solveStuck in the treeProblems to solveThe sandcastle and the waveProblems to solveA girl hops on one foot with one shoe on. A puppy sits under a bench and has a shoe in its mouth.The missing shoeProblems to solveThe inside-out umbrellaProblems to solve
For grown-ups and teachers

Each prompt follows the same routine: look, listen to the five questions, talk to a partner, then write. The questions move from what you can see, to feelings, to what happens next and what you think. Starters are tagged Level 1, 2 and 3 so one picture works across a mixed class.

Nothing children type is sent anywhere. It is saved in this browser only. How to help without taking over. Back to the writing course.