85+ Picture Writing Prompts For Kids

In our picture prompt generator above, we have included a mix of simple pictures, story picture prompts, photographs, fantasy images and even some action-packed images.

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85+ Picture Prompts To Inspire

A picture is worth a thousand words. So how many words can you write for these 85 picture writing prompts for kids and grow-ups alike? Pictures, whether something as simple as an apple or as complex as an action scene can spark the imagination in more ways than one.

Of course, when looking at pictures you can take the literal route, and describe whatever you see in front of you. Or you can explore your imagination, and think about the ‘What Ifs..’ of a picture. What if that person is upset? What if this picture is of a broken family? What if the world looked like this years ago?

A picture can have so many hidden meanings and can hide so many secrets. The slightest detail could mean everything. Just imagine you’re a detective solving a crime from one picture alone. Examine every detail, write it down and think why. Only then can you fully understand a picture.

For more inspiration take part in our daily picture writing prompt challenge. Each day you will be given a new picture prompt to write about.

Free Printable

We’ve also created a smaller PDF version that includes 30 random picture prompts, along with same to write your own descriptions.

Download the printable PDF here.

How to Use These Prompts

Picture prompts are the perfect writing stimulus especially when you hit writer’s block. Here are a number of ways you can use these picture writing prompts to spark your imagination:

1. Descriptive Writing: Directly describe everything you see in extreme detail. You could even go beyond the physical appearance of things, and explore your other senses, such as smell, hearing, feel and taste.
2. Story-Telling: Pick just one image, and tell a whole story based on this one image.
3. Story Starter: Similarly you can pick one image, and use it as the starting place of your story.
4. Collaborative Story-Telling: In a group of 5 – 7 students, each student can have a random picture. The first student uses their picture as the story starter, and then the next student continues the story based on their own image. Keep going until the final student ends the story.
5. Idea Generation: Pick one image and try to think of at least 3 story ideas related to that one image. 
6. Daily Writing Challenge: Give your students 7 images, and tell them to write a description for each image every day. 

These are just some ways to use images as writing prompts. You can also check our post on 8 fun story-telling games using image prompts for more ideas. 

Did you find our picture writing prompts useful? Let us know in the comments below!