15+ Fun Video Writing Prompts For Middle School Kids

We talked about writing prompts. We talked about image prompts and now it’s time to introduce you to video writing prompts! Just like any other type of prompts, video prompts are designed to inspire and encourage reluctant writers to write for pleasure. The best thing about using video writing prompts in the classroom is that your students can see and hear different scenarios playing in front of them. Instead of reading paragraphs of text, which can be overwhelming and even boring for some students. 

Video prompts are also really beneficial for younger writers who might struggle to develop interesting ideas or visualise a story in their head. The visual aspect of them means that students can see the main character in front of them and even the setting the story could take place in. This takes out a lot of the hard work that would normally be needed to come up with good story ideas. 

Another thing we noticed about using video writing prompts in the classroom is the level of creativity in students. When students view video prompts, they hear the sounds, see the colours and gain a better understanding of the prompt. This allows them to explore different questions about the prompt and even consider “what if” scenarios. All this goodness develops the student’s excitement in the topic and even motivates them to write for pleasure – Rather than seeing writing as a chore! 

For more ideas for Middle School students, check out this list of over 150 writing prompts for middle school.

Fun Video writing prompts

1. Dragon Invasion

This video prompt is about finding a dragon egg in your backyard. It encourages kids to write a short story about raising and taking care of a baby dragon. While the prompt does have some narration, students can use the video to write their own script between them and the dragon. 

2. Caveman in the City

Now, this is a funny one. Your middle school students will definitely love it! Imagine if you found a young caveman crying in a dumpster – What would you do? There are so many ideas to explore with this cute video prompt. For example, what would you say to the caveman or will your story involve time travel? It’s all up to you and your imagination!

3. The Prince of Darkness

Everyone loves a fairytale, but it’s not easy to write your own fairytale. This video writing prompt focuses on a young prince who is cursed with the power of darkness. Everything is explained in the video, all you need to do is give him a happy ending or not. 

4. Ninja Cats Rescue Mission

Cats are cute, but have you ever wondered what they do at night? Well… here’s one idea – Maybe they’re ninja cats. Napping during the day and fighting crime throughout the night. In this video, one of the ninja cats has been cat-knapped (or kidnapped) by someone! Who has kidnapped the cat and why? How will the ninja cats save their friend in this scenario?

5. Year of the Rat

One day you are a normal kid, the next day you’re a rat being yelled at by your mom! That’s a tough life. How will you survive? Why did you even turn into a rat? Can you even turn back into a human?

6. Cupid’s Lost Love

If you lived in a world with no love and happiness, what would it look like? In this Valentine’s day special prompt, you have to bring back the love by helping cupid out. This is a versatile prompt which can be used for quick writing activities like writing a letter or a list of items or to write a whole short story. 

7. Talking Trees

There’s an ancient belief that every 10 years, trees come alive! They don’t just walk about, but they also talk. While on a camping trip with your family you meet a talking tree and start a conversation with it – What happens next? Watch the video to get more clues!

8. New Planet

Imagine travelling in space to a distant planet. No-one knows what’s on there or who even lives there. But it’s your job to find out and report back with this fun sci-fi video writing prompt. Check out our planet name generator for more inspiration.

9. Master Cook’s Menu

The skill of a chef isn’t just about how well they can cook, but also about how creative their menu is. In this prompt, you are a head chef at a top restaurant who needs to create a brand-new dish for your customers.

10. Video Game Creator

We all love playing video games. Now imagine if you could create one! In this video prompt your task is to use the clues and information provided to create your very own video game.

11. A Pirate’s Life

Yo ho, it’s a pirate life for you and me! In this video writing prompt you have to imagine that you’re the child of infamous pirate living out at sea with your father.

12. New Kid’s Guide

It’s not easy being the new kid on the block or school. This cute video prompt is about writing a guide for new students who are starting at your school.

13. Raining Donuts

So hungry! Imagine if it rained doughnuts. Sounds good, right? But it can all go wrong! In this prompt, you’ll be inspired to write your own story about doughnuts and overcoming the potential struggles of this strange natural disaster.

14. The Strange Key

A boring afternoon cleaning house turns exciting when you find a strange key that opens up portals. What will you do with it? What possible problems could you have? Watch the video to find out!

15. Message in a Bottle

A simple message in a bottle has you travelling across the ocean to a very mysterious island. In this rescue mission, you discover many things and face many obstacles. Watch this video prompt on YouTube for more clues.

More video writing prompts to be added weekly to our Youtube channel! Please subscribe to stay up-to-date.

How to Use Video Writing Prompts

Now that you’ve seen some fun video writing prompts, here are a couple of ideas for using them for your middle school or even elementary school students:

1. Warm-up Writing: Start your writing or English lesson with a quickfire round using these video writing prompts. Encourage your students to share their ideas of how they might end the story or how they might help the characters in the prompts. 
2. Homework/School Project: Since these video writing prompts can be accessed from anywhere via Youtube, you can ask your students to write an entire story and share it with their classmates. In fact, you can ask your students to publish their books online using the Imagine Forest story creator. 
3. Team Writing Projects: Split your students into groups of 5 and get all the groups to work together on the same video writing prompt. They can work together to collaboratively come up with different endings to the prompt. Then each team can present their endings in front of their class and see how the endings compare with each other.
4. More than just stories: These video prompts can encourage kids to write more than just short stories. They can be used to encourage students to write letters, scripts, comic strips, opinion-based essays or whatever else is on your syllabus. 

Would you like a video writing prompt on a particular subject? Contact our team and we’ll be happy to transform your idea into a fun video prompt.