Keeping kids writing over the summer does not have to mean handing them a workbook full of boring exercises. These free summer writing prompts are designed to feel more like a fun conversation than schoolwork, with silly choices, imaginative questions and plenty of room for children to share their own ideas.
Our printable summer writing pages include fun Would You Rather questions and open-ended creative writing prompts, all with a sunny summer theme.
Kids can imagine the perfect summer superpower, decide whether they would rather go to summer camp or stay at home, and even choose which animal they would take to the beach!
The pages shown here are part of a larger summer literacy printable pack, which you can download as a PDF and use throughout the summer holidays.
Free Printable Summer Writing Activities
Summer is the perfect time to encourage relaxed, pressure-free writing. Without the usual school routine, children can take their time, think about their answers and enjoy writing about topics that actually interest them.
These printable summer writing activities give children a starting point, which can be especially helpful for kids who stare at a blank page and insist they have absolutely no idea what to write!
The prompts are fun and imaginative rather than overly academic. There are no right or wrong answers. A child can choose the silliest answer possible, write a serious explanation or turn their response into a whole story.
What Age Are These Summer Writing Prompts For?
These summer writing prompt pages are ideal for children around ages 6 to 10, although you can easily adapt them for younger or older children.
Younger kids can talk about their answer first before attempting to write it down. An adult can also help by writing a few key words for them to copy or use as spelling prompts.
Children who are becoming more confident writers can use the handwriting lines to write several sentences explaining their choice. Encourage them to use words like because, but, so and if to make their answers more detailed.
Older children can take the same question much further. Instead of writing just a few sentences, challenge them to write a full paragraph, a persuasive argument or even a short story inspired by the prompt.
These pages can work well for homeschool, summer school, tutoring, classroom activities before the end of term or simply as an easy summer learning activity at home.
Summer Would You Rather Writing Prompts
Would You Rather questions are brilliant for getting reluctant writers talking and thinking.
The first printable asks children whether they would rather go to a summer camp or stay at home. After making their choice, they can trace the words “I would rather” and then continue writing their own answer.
This is a great opportunity to encourage children to explain why they made their choice. Would they choose summer camp because they could make new friends and try exciting activities? Would they rather stay at home because they could sleep late, play with their toys and spend time with their family?
The second page asks children whether they would rather build sandcastles or swim in the pool. Again, there is no wrong answer. The important part is encouraging children to give reasons and add details.
You could also use the questions as conversation starters before children begin writing. Ask each child to make their choice, then see if they can persuade someone else to agree with them.
More Summer Would You Rather Ideas
Once children have completed the printable pages, keep the game going with more summer-themed choices.
You could write these on slips of paper and pick one each day, use them for a family game, or ask children to choose one and write a longer response.
- Would you rather spend the whole summer at the beach or in the mountains?
- Would you rather have unlimited ice cream or unlimited watermelon?
- Would you rather be able to breathe underwater or fly through the sky?
- Would you rather sleep in a tent or stay in a hotel?
- Would you rather find a treasure chest on the beach or discover a secret cave?
- Would you rather have a water balloon fight or a giant bubble party?
- Would you rather visit a water park or an amusement park?
- Would you rather go swimming with dolphins or ride a friendly dragon over the ocean?
- Would you rather have summer all year round or have one month of every season?
- Would you rather build the biggest sandcastle in the world or make the biggest ice cream sundae?
- Would you rather go on a road trip or travel somewhere by plane?
- Would you rather spend a day as a lifeguard or an ice cream seller?
- Would you rather be tiny enough to live inside a sandcastle or big enough to walk across the ocean?
- Would you rather have a pet crab or a pet seagull?
- Would you rather stay up all night watching the stars or wake up early to see the sunrise?
For children who need an extra challenge, ask them to write about both options before explaining their final choice.
Imaginative Summer Writing Prompts
The printable pack also includes open-ended summer writing prompts that give children more freedom to use their imagination.
One asks:
If You Could Have Any Superpower for the Summer, What Would It Be and Why?
This is such a fun question because the answer can be absolutely anything. Maybe a child would choose to fly so they could travel anywhere for free. Perhaps they would control the weather and make every day sunny, or freeze time so the summer holidays never had to end.
Children could invent a completely new superpower too. What about the ability to make instant ice cream, talk to sea creatures, turn into a mermaid or teleport straight to the beach?
Encourage children to explain not only which superpower they would choose, but how they would use it.
If You Could Take Any Animal to the Beach With You, Which One Would You Choose and Why?
Would it be a dog who loves splashing in the waves? A penguin who could help keep everyone cool? An elephant who could spray water from its trunk?
Children might even choose a wild animal or an imaginary creature. A friendly dragon could provide shade with its enormous wings, while a dolphin would make an amazing swimming companion.
This prompt can easily turn into a bigger creative writing activity. What happens when the animal arrives at the beach? Does everything go according to plan, or does chaos follow?
More Fun Summer Writing Prompt Ideas
There are so many directions you can take summer creative writing. Try asking children what they would do if they woke up and discovered their garden had turned into a water park, what they would pack for a trip to a desert island, or what would happen if their ice cream suddenly started talking.
They could invent a brand new summer holiday, design the perfect playground, describe their dream day at the beach, write a postcard from an imaginary destination or create a story about finding a mysterious message in a bottle.
Other fun prompts could include imagining the best treehouse ever, inventing a new ice cream flavour, describing a day when it rained lemonade, writing about a secret underwater city or planning the ultimate summer party.
The more unusual the question, the easier it can be to get children excited about writing.
How to Use These Printable Writing Pages
You do not need to complete all the pages at once. In fact, they work really well as a simple once-a-day or once-a-week summer activity.
Give children time to talk about the question before they write. Talking helps them organise their thoughts and often leads to much more detailed answers.
You can also join in. Choose your own answer and explain it, or let everyone in the family answer the same question and compare your choices afterwards.
For children who love drawing, encourage them to illustrate their answer on the back of the page. They could draw their summer superpower in action, their chosen animal at the beach or the two Would You Rather choices.
Download the Free Summer Writing Prompts PDF
The three summer writing pages shown here are included as part of our larger summer literacy printable PDF.
Download the full set, print the pages you want to use and keep them ready for quiet summer mornings, road trips, homeschool lessons, rainy days or those inevitable moments when someone announces, “I’m bored!”
These fun summer writing prompts are an easy way to keep handwriting, creative thinking and literacy skills ticking over during the holidays, without making summer feel like school.
More Summer Learning Fun
Summer learning can be simple, playful and fitted around everything else you have planned. Keep a few printable activities ready for quiet moments and mix them with reading, crafts, outdoor play and plenty of time to enjoy the summer.
- Free Printable Comic Strip Templates For Kids
- Summer Crack the Code Worksheets
- Summer Magnetic Tile Challenge Cards
- Roll and Cover Summer Math Game
- Free Printable Summer Initial Sounds Worksheet
- Summer LEGO Area and Perimeter Worksheets
If you enjoyed these summer writing prompts, be sure to explore more of our free summer printables and activities for kids here at In The Playroom.