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30 Inspiring Picture Books About Writing a Story
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Teachers and parents, use these picture books as mentor texts to show kids the process of writing a story. Read about getting ideas for stories, and the storytelling/story writing process, including story elements.
Some of these books show how writers get ideas.
Others show the challenges of plotting and drafting the words in a story.
All are about a part of the storytelling process and make for helpful mentor texts. Because kids need plenty of examples to encourage them as they develop their own storytelling abilities.
Look for mentor texts that meet your children where they are. In other words, what are your children or students struggling with currently? Is it finding ideas? Start there. Maybe it’s facing the challenges that come with writing a story draft.
I’ve divided this book list into three parts:
- Finding an Idea
- Plotting and Drafting
- The Writer’s Life / Getting Published
Writing isn’t easy. Many of these books show that the struggle of writing is OK and part of the creative process. (And sometimes funny!)
PRINTABLE LIST
The Best Picture Books About Writing a Story
Mentor texts about finding an idea for a story.
Amy the Red Panda Is Writing The Best Story in The World by Colleen AF Venable, illustrated by Ruth Chan Amy’s frustrated with her story, especially when all her friends share their opinions about what the story should be. Then, Mervin the Sloth tossed the letter “O” at her. It’s a letter fight!! Now, she’s got a story to tell. Cartoon panels and cheerful illustrations give this mentor text lots of pizazz.
Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon Stories are everywhere. In fact, Ralph’s teacher helps his classmates and him find story ideas in everyday things.
The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Anne Wildsorf A little girl wants to write the best story in order to win the library’s writing contest. Her family shares their specific opinions about exactly what makes up the best story. And they all are different. Fortunately, her mom encourages her to write from the heart — and that makes for the best story.
Any Questions by Marie-Louise Gay Marie-Louise Gay shares with children about how to get ideas for a story and writing a story. It’s an interactive experience because you get to write part of a story, too. Beautifully illustrated with watercolor and ink.
Idea Jar by Adam Lehrhaupt, illustrated by Deb Pilutti Use The Idea Jar to help young children understand that they can invent their own stories with any ideas. The teacher’s idea jar is filled with words that can be story ideas. These ideas need a story! Watch as the narrator shows what happens when you start with Vikings, then add in a space robot and a dragon. Perhaps this mentor text will inspire a story idea jar of your own.
The One-Stop Story Shop by Tracey Corderoy, illustrated by Tony Neal What a delightful, funny celebration of stories and imagination! When the knight’s dragon is on vacation for some “me” time, the knight goes to the One-Stop Story Shop for help. The shopkeeper gives him some story idea options starting with a feisty ferret character and settings like space, jungle, and the wild west. This story is pure fun!
Picture Books (Mentor Texts) About Writing a Story
Little Red Writing by Joan Holub, illustrated by Melissa Sweet This brave red pencil is so excited to write a story… an exciting story. Laugh-out-loud humor rich with wonderful words and exquisite illustrations show that the writing process is not as easy as it seems. But, it’s worth it in the end. Delightful parallels to Little Red Riding Hood abound — watch out for that Wolf 300 pencil sharpener!
The Plot Chickens by Mary Jane Auch, illustrated by Herm Auch Henrietta is a writing chicken who uses the book Writing Rules to explain story elements and her story writing process with her chicken aunts and you, the reader.
Bearnard Writes a Book by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Misa Saburi I love this darling mentor text story about how to write a story with characters, a problem, and excitement. Bearnard wants to write a story about his friend Gertie, a goose. The first draft isn’t very exciting so Bernard takes a thinking walk. Then, he rewrites and the story gets more adventure and excitement with pirates, a shapeshifter Gertie and a monster. Gertie is inspired to write her own…poems.
Dragons Eat Noodles on Tuesdays by Jon Stahl, illustrated by Tadgh Bentley The big blue monster begins writing a a story with “once upon a time” and adds, “the end.” Little by little, his yellow monster friend helps the blue monster improve his story, so there is a dragon, a knight, a super smart damsel, and a plot. And the story is much better. But wait! The dragon from his story arrives in real life. Yikes. Luckily for the monsters, they remember from the story that dragons only eat noodles on Tuesdays. Yay. But, it’s Wednesday! Ut-oh! This ending will totally crack you up.
This Book Has Alpacas and Bears by Emma Perry and Rikin Parekh A darling story about Alfonso Alpaca who wants to be in a story and tries to write a story but CAN’T because it’s tricky without opposable thumbs. So he sets out to convince his bear friend named Colin to help him, pitching him the marvelous idea of an alpaca story every day. Eventually, he realizes he must prove himself — dancing, standing on his head, gobbling grass, skateboarding, and it works! Together, they write down, share, rewrite, draw, and print out the story! It’s such a funny plot and Alfonso is totally endearing.
Let’s Tell a Story! Fairy Tale Adventure by Lily Murray, illustrated by Wesley Robins Pick the story elements and write a story… Choose something on each page (using the pictures) and invent million of different stories. Do you want to be a prince, a troll, a princess, a black cat, these are just some of the main characters you could be. Then choose your outfits and accessories, where you want to go, who you’ll take with you, how you’ll get there, which path you’ll take, and so on until you get to the end of your dangerous adventure. Then start over and tell a new story! Also read Let’s Tell a Story! Space Adventure by Lily Murray.
Miss Brook’s Story Nook by Barbara Bottner, illustrated by Michael Emberley In the story nook, Miss Brooks teaches the class and Missy about writing stories: plot, characters, action. Missy takes her real-life story of hat-stealing Billy, invents a satisfying ending, and solves her real-life problem in her written story. See how storytelling helps us after all?
Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills Rocket loves reading stories so it’s only natural that he wants to write his own story. He collects words and looks for inspiration which he finds with Owl. Little by little he adds to a story about his new friend owl. This book is sure to inspire storytelling and writing.
A Perfectly Messed-Up Story by Patrick McDonnell Very funny with fantastic art! Louie is happy to tell his happy story until — hey, did you just spill peanut butter on me? As the reader makes more of a mess, and Louie tries to restart the story without success, he gets upset and tells the reader to start treating books with some respect. But as he learns, even when things don’t go perfectly, it will be okay.
I Want to Be in a Scary Story by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Jean Jullien Little Monster wants to be in a scary story. In a conversation between he and the author of the book, Little Monster helps the author write something a little scary and a little funny both. It’s a clever premise to have the interaction between author and main character determine the plot. It shows growing writers and readers a bit about the ever-changing process of storytelling.
Violet and Victor Write The Best-Ever Bookworm Book by Alice Kuipers, illustrated by Bethanie Deeney Murguia Violet Small wants to write the best-ever book with help from her twin brother Victor Small who would rather count his pet worms. But, through brainstorming of the bickering kind and some cooperation, the two invent a suspenseful adventure about a book-eating bookworm. The illustrations are eye-catching, too – mixed media and pencil sketches. I love how the twins each have their own color ink and own color notebook paper for the story. This is a fantastic story about the creative process.
A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen, illustrated by Mike Lowery I love this book because it shows that all of us are writers — even when we can’t write letters or words quite yet! And this determined young writer proves it.
Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise by David Ezra Stein The Little Red Chicken is sure that every story has an elephant of surprise. Papa explains that it’s an element of surprise, not an elephant. Thus begins a hilarious storytelling adventure (with elephants) that will crack you up. The Ugly Duckling, Rapunzel, and The Little Mermaid all have “ Surprise! I’m an elephant! ” moments as interrupted by, guess who, Chicken. Then Papa tells a silly story of his own with no elephants? Surprise! Elephants! (Teachers, wouldn’t this be fun for introducing plot in writing workshop?)
Look! I Wrote a Book! (And You Can Too) by Sally Loyd Jones, illustrated by Neal Layton A little girl with a big personality narrates the basics of writing a story from coming up with an idea to knowing your audience, thinking of titles, problems and solutions, endings, revising, and publishing including an author section, drawings, and cover art. Not only that, she even suggests how to sell your book. (This involves friendly persuasion or, if that doesn’t work, tying someone to a chair.)
The Tale of the Valiant Ninja Frog by Alastair Chisholm, illustrated by Jez Tuya One evening at a campfire, a dad invents a goodnight story with his kids’ help. As Dad starts the story, the kids interrupt with anecdotes, questions, and suggestions. Hilarious adventures ensue and the littlest one saves everyone with a happy ending!
Picture Books Showing the Writer’s Life & Getting Published
My Worst Book Ever! by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Bruce Ingman We adore this delightful story all about the picture book author experience. Allan narrates his process of sitting in his shed, thinking up, and writing a story. But he’s thwarted by one thing after another — a coffee spill, a family vacation, paper-eating snails, an uncooperative illustrator, messy kids, and the printer’s niece called Lucy. It turns out to be his worst book ever! It’s so charming, you’ll want to be a picture book author yourself.
How This Book Was Made by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex I love this humorous account shared by the author and illustrator about their amazing (and slightly unusual!?) process of writing a story and publishing a book. It goes something like this: getting an idea, writing lots of drafts, arguing with an editor, playing cards with a tiger, waiting forever for the illustrations, growing a long beard, printing the book in a huge pile which could be seen from space by ice-cream eating astronauts, sending books on a ship captured by pirates who don’t read, delivering books to places everywhere, and then the most important part — the waiting . . . the long waiting for someone to open a book. Because what’s a book without a reader? Read more in my interview with Mac and Adam .
Author: A True Story by Helen Lester The author of the beloved Tacky the Penguin series shares her writer’s journey starting with her challenges writing as a child all the way to becoming a published author. Kids will be encouraged to know that even if you struggle at first, it’s possible to succeed.
Big Machines The Story of Virginia Lee Burton (How Mike Mulligan’s Steam Shovel and Friends Came to Life) by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrated by John Rocco Jinnee creates wonderful drawings and stories for her two young sons that become beloved picture books like Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel , Katy and the Big Snow , Maybelle, The Cable Car , and The Little House . Reading this picture book gives us insight into an artist’s creative process as well as the process behind writing and illustrating a children’s story. Also on: Big List of Picture Book Biographies .
The Whisper by Pamela Zagarenski The little girl can’t wait to read her teacher’s magical book of stories. Only when she gets home, there are no stories, just pictures. The wind whispers, “ You can imagine the words. You can imagine the stories. . . ” and so the little girl does, finding her inner storyteller. Not only is this story rich with the power of imagination, but the illustrations also evoke stories within stories. Use this mentor text picture book for writing a story — it’s marvelous!
Once Upon a Zzzz by Maddie Frost Once upon a time, the author took a nap so the illustrator decided to write the story. It’s a story about a llama princess and her little Penguin sister who wished on a star that her older sister would be sent to the moon. As Princess Penguin tries to sleep, she realizes that she’s terrified without her big sister. Lucky for the illustrator, the author wakes up in time to help Princess Penguin rescue Princess Llama.
I Am a Story by Dan Yaccarino This informative picture book describes the history of stories: oral tellings around campfires, paintings on cave walls, weavings into tapestries, printings, and more. For me, the writing is a bit too dry but I like that it exemplifies how stories connect us and endure throughout time.
Written And Drawn By Henrietta a Toon Level 3 Book by Liniers This isn’t a picture book but it’s SUCH a wonderful early reader book for children who are developing as readers and writers! It’s about a young writer who gets new colored pencils that inspire her to write and illustrate a story. As it continues, we see her discussing the plotting with her cat — it’s such a great example of the story writing process!! LOVE! Also see: The Big Wet Balloon by Liniers.
KEEP READING
Books for Kids That Celebrate Words
Writing Prompts for Kids
Picture Books About Libraries and Librarians
Little Red Riding Hood
Melissa Taylor, MA, is the creator of Imagination Soup. She's a mother, former teacher & literacy trainer, and freelance education writer. She writes Imagination Soup and freelances for publications online and in print, including Penguin Random House's Brightly website, USA Today Health, Adobe Education, Colorado Parent, and Parenting. She is passionate about matching kids with books that they'll love.
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I stumbled upon your site and am so glad that I did. What I have found has been so helpful and I can see myself making use of it in the future. I am thrilled with your read-aloud recommendations for Writers’ Workshop. I know I must make a trip to the library to check these out. Thank you so much!
I’m so happy the list is helpful!
The article was rather catching and interesting enough to get all possible nuances to remember. I do get pleasure from reading the content and the writing mode of the author, etc as I did when found http://www.onlinetutorforme.com/history-tutor/ . I suggest you write such sorts of articles every day to give the audience like me all the essential information. In my view, it is better to be prepared for all the unexpected situations in advance, so thanks, it was pretty cool.
How can a self-published author of a children’s book get someone like you to review their book?
send me an email and we can talk– I don’t normally review self-published picture books though.
I am a second grade teacher and I love books, literacy and teaching reading. I love your handy lists and ideas! I will be sharing these with my grade level team. Very inspiring!
I’m so happy to hear it! Let me know if you have any specific book list needs. 🙂
Thanks,, your blog is really amazing ! I’m French and I adore books children, even in English ! Thanks to you I discover some new ones !!! And they make me laugh ! TSo thank you very much !
glad you stopped by and found so many good books!
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Black History Month for Kids: Google Slides, Resources, and More!
150 Inspiring Picture Writing Prompts To Spark Creativity (Free Google Slides)
Use a picture to write a thousand words!
Creative writing is a challenge for many students, often because they can’t come up with anything to write about. That’s why we love picture writing prompts. Each one sparks the imagination and helps young writers jump right into crafting a story to match. We rounded up a whole collection of intriguing images for use with kids in grades K-12 along. Plus we designed a set of free Google Slides featuring all of the prompts so you can easily share them with students.
Tip: Start by showing students the picture (or let them choose from among several) without making any comment about what they’re seeing. For kids who still struggle to get started, suggest a potential title or opening sentence, like the examples included here.
Don’t miss our free downloadable. Grab your full set of ready-to-go Picture Writing Prompts Google Slides with all of the prompts below.
Elementary Picture Writing Prompts
Middle school picture writing prompts, high school picture writing prompts, art picture writing prompts.
When kids first see these picture writing prompts, they may or may not immediately feel inspired. If they need some help, ask them questions like “What led up to this moment?” or “What’s going to happen next?”
When Larry fell in love, he fell hard.
When the new sign appeared on Main Street, everyone in town wondered exactly what it meant.
Snowy Footprints
After that crazy day, all that was left to show for it was footprints in the snow.
Dinosaur Bones
“Come with me if you want to live!” Ash said, reaching out a hand.
Undersea Treasure
For years, no one saw the locked treasure chest but the local fish, who wondered what it could contain.
A Game of Fetch
To Scout, it was a game, but to Mr. Freezy, it was much more.
Ladybug Gossip
The ladybug’s picnic was an excellent chance to meet up with old friends and hear all the latest gossip.
We met them when they peeked into our window, watching us as we ate lunch and watched cartoons.
King of the Jungle
It wasn’t the crown that made Amari the king of all he surveyed.
The Final Pitch
It all came down to this—the final pitch in a game that was tied 2-2.
Doggie Massage
Every dog in the neighborhood knew that Rocky gave the best massages and was always willing to lend an ear too.
Skateboard Life
When Charli got her first skateboard, she made herself a promise.
Garden of the Past
The woman walked in the garden every day, never saying a word.
Sunset Friends
They met on the jungle gym every day at sunset, sharing everything about their days.
Pink Umbrellas
When the pink umbrellas first appeared, Toni thought they might be magic.
Firefly Forest
Olivia was surprised to discover that the fireflies didn’t just glow, they also sang.
Robot Spider
When it first crawled ashore, the mechanical spider moved slowly.
Fallen House
Staring at their house, which was now on its side, the whole family was in shock.
Red Riding Hood
If only she’d been riding her faithful steed the day she’d met the Big Bad Wolf, things might have been very different.
Kangaroo Fall
“Well, this is embarrassing,” thought Bouncer, as laughter filled the air around him.
Daci’s big brother said her signs wouldn’t help them find their runaway cat, but he was wrong.
Penguin Bookshop
A visit to Mr. Pickerel’s Penguin Bookshop is always an adventure.
Of all the eggs in the carton, Ella was the one who could always crack you up.
That was the year Min was finally tall enough to ride the Sky Swings, but now she wasn’t so sure.
Rubber Duck Parade
It was truly an honor to be asked to lead the Spring Duck Parade.
Teddy Story Time
Every afternoon, the three friends gathered for story time in their favorite spot in the woods.
Underwater School
Nia thought going to school underwater would be exciting, but some days she really missed going outside for recess.
The day Amos started his journey down the river, the sun was shining brightly.
Turtle Trouble
“None shall pass,” growled the old sea turtle, blocking the way.
Dinosaur Race
Pia was supposed to keep Balthazar on a leash, but once they reached the forest, she set him free and they both began to run.
Finally Seeing Eye to Eye
“So, we meet at last, face to face,” Lord Squeakerton said to his enemy, the Count of Catnip.
It takes a lot to surprise a monkey, but you don’t see something like this every day.
Not Coming Out
The day started out normally enough, but by the end, Chris knew he was in over his head.
Life on Other Planets
“Hurry up,” Grnklor told his robopup. “We have to get back inside before nightfall.”
Reindeer Games
The wind had died down, but the setting sun seemed to take all the warmth of the day with it.
Something to Celebrate
Their classmates could hear their shouts of joy from all the way down the hall.
Home Sweet Mushroom
When the fairies that lived in the garden invited her to stay with them for awhile, Maria wasn’t sure what to expect.
Loch Ness Mystery
“There it is! I told you Nessie is real!” Angus whispered to Lee.
Lonely Bear
It was hard to say who was lonelier that night, Amil or his lost stuffed bear, Jasper.
Sometimes You Lose
When his team lost the championship, Miguel was crushed, but it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him.
Middle school writing prompts can be a little more complex, with pictures that have a lot of potential interpretations. Encourage students to delve deeper into the story by describing how the characters feel and why they behave the way they do.
Morgan was incredibly proud of those shoes, paid for entirely with money from after-school jobs.
Never Lose Hope
With his last bit of energy, Kai scrawled his message in the wet paint.
The keyboard button could only be used once, and no one knew exactly what happened when you pressed it.
Piano Lessons
Before she could even speak, Arya was drawn to the black and white keys.
There was no doubt about it, this was was indeed a very special kind of garden.
No matter how you looked at it, it had been a very rough day to be the Easter Bunny.
Empty Chairs
By sunset, all four chairs were empty, and the only signs of life were the gulls swooping down from above.
Floating Treasure
To the birds, it was simply a convenient place to land, but Ali and I knew it was much more than that.
Shadow Question
That was the day they discovered that just because you were invisible didn’t mean your shadow was.
Letter and Key
The day she turned 12, Vivi’s aunt handed her an envelope containing the family secret.
Space Target
Onyx paused, knowing that once their arrow hit the target, there was no knowing what would happen.
Mermaid Mystery
It was a mermaid—or was it?
World on a String
Her dad had promised to give her the world, but she wasn’t expecting three more planets as well.
Bee Standoff
“This flower ain’t big enough for the both of us!” said Bianca.
Solitary Seat
For as long as anyone could remember, Angus McGee spent his evenings in the same chair next to the woodstove.
Best Friends
When you decide to run away from home forever, you can’t possibly leave your best friend behind.
Dinosaur Demise
In retrospect, setting the time machine to randomly choose a day and time in the past might not have been such a good idea.
Magic Lamps
“Choose wisely,” said the old shopkeeper, “for only one of these lamps is truly magic.”
Message in a Bottle
The message floated at sea for more than 50 years before the day we found it on the beach.
Barrel Boat
Of all the ways to impress someone, Jonah thought to himself, this had to be one of the most ridiculous.
Dragon Guardian
When your parents give you your own dragon guardian, your childhood is bound to be enchanted.
Octopus’s Garden
Wouldn’t you like to be under the sea, in an octopus’s garden in the shade?
Around the Corner
After finally pressing “send,” she couldn’t resist peeking around the corner to watch him read the text.
Beam Me Up!
Milo’s earliest memory was of watching his beloved tricycle float into the sky above him, caught in a beam of light.
Poison Apple
To join the club, all Aaron had to do was creep up and snatch the apple from the skeleton’s hand without being seen.
Giraffe Council
“It is now 3 p.m., and I call this meeting of the Mighty Council of Giraffes to order,” announced Imari.
Mystery Creature
At first glance, it was hard to tell whether the little creature was friend or foe.
As the sky turned orange, Keisha ran faster than ever and used the last of her energy to push off and soar over the water below.
The End of Days
Despite their best efforts, they arrived too late—the battle had already begun.
Out of the Book
“Happily ever after” was about to take on a whole new meaning.
Stopped Clock
I was sure that the time on the broken clock was the clue to solving the mystery.
Dueling Webs
It’s never a good idea to build your web too close to another spider’s, but this time I had no choice.
Do Shoes Grow on Trees?
The day I threw my own shoes into the tree was the day I really started to grow up.
Abstract Art
“So,” asked their art teacher, “what do you think this painting means?”
Wandering Robots
Everything about NB-317 was made of cardboard except his heart—that was made of flesh and blood and very capable of being broken.
Dream Come True
It all started when Quinn watched her favorite movie the night before they assigned partners for the eighth grade science fair project.
Mysterious Cave
The cave was unlike anything we’d ever seen before, and what was more, it almost seemed like the rock was alive.
Storm at Sea
As the rain lashed his face and lightning tore apart the sky, Kiran had to admit he’d always thought it would be a lot more fun being a pirate.
Grasshopper Close-Up
That’s when Javed realized it wasn’t that the grasshopper was too big—it was that he was suddenly very, very small.
UFO Parking
“Well, that’s convenient,” Javdok remarked to Qabow when they saw the sign.
High school writers are ready to dig deep, exploring character development and detailed plots. These pictures offer a jumping-off point to set their imaginations free.
Cyborg Girl
When she was 14, Tasha’s parents finally told her the truth about what she really was.
BBQ Cookout
“So, I’m guessing no one told you I’m a vegetarian?” asked Sadie with a smile.
The latest app was like a time machine, allowing people to look back in time, but it also had a dark side.
She was surrounded by people but never felt more alone.
Hippo Troubles
Like all parents, hippos sometimes really need a break from their kids.
iPad Farmer
Grandpa Jack never failed to surprise us.
Marching Band Blues
Kaleel sat sadly on the bench, watching the rest of the band march away in jaunty time to the music.
Never-Ending Tunnel
The tunnel seemed to stretch to infinity, but Jayma knew what was at the end, and it terrified her.
Carving Out Love
For years, we wondered who “WP” was, and who it was who loved them so much they carved it into a tree for all to see.
Glowing Globe
Just then, the globe began to glow, and Jaxson knew he was about to leap through space and time once again—destination unknown.
See No Evil
It seemed like a funny joke to pose the skeletons in front of old Mrs. Petoski’s house, but then she turned up dead, and the police said it was murder.
Upside Down
It’s an odd feeling to wake up one morning and find yourself able to walk on the ceiling.
Face at the Fence
So much depended on which side of the fence you were on.
Bicycle Race
Finley had trained too hard for this race to come in third—it just wasn’t good enough.
Family Travels
In the picture, my grandmother’s expression is hard to interpret, but she’s told me the story many times.
Laundromat Antics
Dani never expected to meet her first love feet first.
Molly’s mom probably didn’t mean for her to be the one to find the note, but that’s how things turned out.
Through the Storm
Javier knew it would have been smarter to stay put, but he had to make sure his mom was safe before the worst of the storm arrived.
Lifetime Friends
They’d been friends for as long as they could remember—even longer, in fact.
Stray Kitten
“I am NOT taking you home with me,” Kai told the tiny mewling kitten firmly.
Abandoned Greenhouse
Willow was free to leave at any time, but she couldn’t make herself go.
Amani’s earliest memory was razor wire—miles and miles of it.
Church Graveyard
Everyone feels differently in a graveyard, but for me, they’re very peaceful places.
Orb of Death
“Do you really want to know?” Death asked. “Because once you know, you won’t be able to forget.”
Missed Shot
Steve was sure his shot would make it, but it bounced off the rim just as the buzzer rang to end the game.
First Contact
This was it—the moment that would change what it meant to be human forever.
One Life To Live
His face said his life had been a hard one, but his eyes told a different tale.
Winter Walk
Snow fell, creating a blank canvas to record the story of that fateful walk.
Train to Nowhere
It certainly wasn’t the most luxurious way to travel, but then again, no one really wanted to make this trip in the first place.
Modern Mary Poppins
She dropped into our lives on a gray day in midwinter, a hint of the spring that was to come.
All That Remains
Dust motes filled the air of the abandoned hallway, replacing the voices once heard there.
From the day he found the little creature, Luis refused to go anywhere without him.
The Question
Their happily ever after began quietly, with a bouquet of wildflowers.
Night Lights
Misty rain both blurred and emphasized the lights that lit Suri’s way home that evening.
Forest of Fear
At first, Mateo thought it was a joke, but the screams that followed told him there was nothing remotely funny about it.
At the elite level, being a spy meant serious commitments.
The Yellow Door
On their 14th birthday, every resident of Fresnia was required to stand before the Wall of Doors and make a choice.
Graffiti Palace
To strangers, it seemed random, but every mark on those walls had deep meaning for us.
Fossil Fish
Millions of years ago, the fish gave one final flop before lying still in the deep mud.
On the Rails
Aliyah stood on the tracks, uncertain of where to go next.
These picture prompts are all works of art, some more well known than others. Try providing them to students without sharing the titles first, then offer up the titles if they need some help getting started.
The Dance Class (Edgar Degas)
Greek Funerary Plaque (520-510 BCE)
Washington Crossing the Delaware (Emanuel Leutze)
Kyōsai’s Pictures of One Hundred Demons
First Steps, After Millet (Vincent van Gogh)
Lady Lilith (Dante Gabriel Rossetti)
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (Georges Seurat)
After the Hurricane, Bahamas (Winslow Homer)
Drawing Lots for Prizes (Kitagawa Utamaro)
Portions of Field Armor (Jacob Halder)
Sadie Pfeifer, a Cotton Mill Spinner (Lewis Wickes Hine)
Still Life With Monkey, Fruits, and Flowers (Jean Baptiste Oudry)
Man Leading a Giraffe, 5th Century Byzantine
The Three Skulls (Paul Cézanne)
The Madame B Album (Marie-Blanche Hennelle Fournier)
Coiled Trumpet in the Form of a Snarling Feline Face (c. 100 BCE to 500 CE)
Crazy Quilt With Animals (Florence Elizabeth Marvin)
Storytime (Eugenio Zampighi)
Cubist Village (Georges Gaudion)
Zig-Zag Passenger and Freight Train (Unknown)
The Power of Music (William Sidney Mount)
The Large Tree (Paul Gauguin)
After the Bath (Mary Cassatt)
Wedding Gown (Korea, Late 1800s)
The Contemplator (Eugène Carrière)
The Girl I Left Behind Me (Eastman Johnson)
24c Curtiss Jenny Invert Single
Creeping Baby Doll Patent Model
Wrecked Zeppelin (British Library)
Skeleton (Tales of Terror Frontispiece)
Get Your Free Picture Writing Prompts Google Slides
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- Image Prompts
85+ Picture Writing Prompts For Kids (+ Free Printable)
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 actually 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.
Picture Prompt Generator
In this post, we have included a mix of simple pictures, story picture prompts, photographs, fantasy images and even some action-packed images.
You can find the complete list of our picture writing prompts below. We’ve also created a smaller PDF version that includes 30 random picture prompts. Download the printable PDF here .
You might also be interested in the following posts:
- 30 Christmas Pictures To Get You Writing ‘Tis Jolly Season
- 25+ Halloween Image Prompts For Mastering Horror Stories
- How to Use Image prompts To Inspire You
150 Picture Prompts To Inspire
Over 85 picture prompts for creative writing, story-telling and descriptive writing assignments:
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:
- 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, hear, feel and taste.
- Story-Telling: Pick just one image, and tell a whole story based on this one image.
- Story Starter: Similarly you can pick one image, and use it as the starting place of your story.
- 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.
- Idea Generation: Pick one image and try to think of at least 3 story ideas related to that one image.
- 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!
Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.
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70 Picture Prompts for Creative Writing (with Free Slides)
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Visual writing prompts help young writers generate new ideas and overcome writer’s block. We’ve put together 70 picture prompts for creative writing that you can use in your writing centers or lesson plans to get your students’ creative juices flowing.
Picture Writing Prompts for All Ages
Writers of all ages and experience levels can get stuck thinking about what to write. Writer’s block is not just a challenge for reluctant writers. Even professional writers have days when they feel less than inspired.
Visual prompts can result in a vast array of story ideas. A single image viewed by ten writers will result in ten completely different stories. Even if you use verbal cues to get students thinking about the picture, each student will still write a unique response to the image.
Visual creative writing prompts are fantastic for elementary school because younger students often relate more to a pictorial prompt than a written one, but don’t shy away from using these with high school and middle school students as well. Pictures make a fun alternative to your typical writing prompts and story starters and can help shake up your regular routine.
How to Use Picture Prompts for Creative Writing
There’s no limit to the ways you can use writing prompts. Here are some of our favorite ways to incorporate image prompts into your weekly lesson plans .
- Writing Center. Print cards or writing pages with these images on them and put them in a writing center for your students to discover at their own pace.
- Specific Skills. Use story picture prompts to help kids work on specific writing skills. For example, you could work on descriptive writing by having them describe the setting of the picture in detail. Or you could work on character development by having them make up a history for a person in a picture.
- Warm-up Activity: You could pop the pictures into Google slides and project an image on a screen or whiteboard for the first fifteen minutes of class and have students work on a short story as soon as they enter the class.
No matter how you decide to use them—whether at home or in the classroom—photographic writing prompts are a great way to cultivate a daily writing habit and encourage kids to explore new topics.
70 Pictures for Writing Prompts
We’ve selected 70 of the most interesting pictures we could find for this exercise. When choosing photos for writing prompts, we look for high-quality photos with intriguing subject matter, but we try to go beyond that. We want to share images that suggest a story, that make the viewer ask questions and wonder why things are the way they are.
We want to feel propelled to explore questions like, What happened before the photo that led to this moment? What are we witnessing in this photo? What’s about to happen?
A photo doesn’t make much of a story starter if it doesn’t suggest that there might be a bigger picture lurking beneath the surface.
We hope you and your students love these picture prompts for creative writing as much as we do. If you love them, go ahead and scroll to the bottom to grab your own copy.
We’ve included a couple of questions with each picture that you could use to spark pre-writing conversations in your classroom, which can be helpful when working with younger students who might need a little more direction.
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Whose cat is this? What is he looking at? Where is he?
What is the owl thinking about? Is he alone? What does he hope to eat for dinner?
Who are these frogs? What is their relationship with each other? Why are they taking photos?
How did the dog get a phone? Why is he taking selfies? What is he doing with the pictures he takes?
This cat doesn’t look too happy. What’s bugging him? Did he get too many phone calls or is he waiting on an important call that’s taking too long to come?
What do these chicks think of the dog? What does the dog think of the chicks? Do you think they can communicate with each other? If so, what would they say?
Where do these lemurs live? What are they looking at? What is something unusual that might happen to them?
What is this fox doing? Is he yawning and stretching or is he trying to scare someone away? What kind of mischief does he like to get up to?
Is this wolf alone? If not, who is with him? What is he planning to do? Does he have a family to feed or protect?
What is this child doing on the laptop? Can he actually read and type or is he just playing? If he can read and type, how did he learn that at such a young age? What other cool things can he do?
Where is this woman? Is she lost? How did she get to this street? What interesting things might she discover as she explores this new city?
Why is the dog wearing glasses? Can he see through them? What are he and the girl doing? How does he feel about it?
Who are these two little boys? What is their relationship with each other? What is the teddy bear’s story?
Who are these children? Why are they running? Is it a race or are they playing a game? Who’s going to win?
Whose horse is this? Does the little boy own it or does he just visit it? Can the horse talk? How does the boy feel when he’s with the horse?
What is this boy reading? Does the book have magical powers? Does the boy? Do the stories in the book become real or does something else special happen?
Where is this man? How did he get there? What is he looking for?
Who is walking over the bridge? What’s on the other side? Is it worth the risk?
What are these people doing on the elephant? Where are they? Are they tourists or is the elephant their pet? What would life with an elephant be like?
Who made this map? It looks old. Has it been hidden away for a long time? Who discovered it and how? What does it lead to?
Whose typewriter is this? What important or secretive thing might they be working on? What could happen if the wrong person finds their work?
Who are these three stuffed animals? Are they living? What is their story?
Whose ukulele is this? Why did they leave it here? Who might find it?
Where is the owner of the bike? Where does this path lead? What if the bike’s not there when the owner returns?
Whose shoes are these? Why did they leave them here? Why are they so dirty?
Who was reading the newspaper? What was the most interesting thing they read? Where have they disappeared to?
Who put this sign on the old truck? What do you think of it? How did the truck end up in its current condition and location?
Who set the table? Who are they expecting? What special occasion are they celebrating? What could go wrong?
Whose birthday cake is this? Are they having a party? Who is there? Who did they want to have there that didn’t show up?
Who lives here? How do they access their home? What is their life like?
Who built the igloo? Where is it? How does it feel to spend the night inside it?
What is the history of this castle? Who lives in it now? Does it have any special or magical features?
Is this barn abandoned or do people live on the property? What kind of animals might live here? How do they keep themselves entertained?
What is it like living on a houseboat? What kind of community do you think forms among the neighbors? Imagine you live on one of these boats and think about how your daily life might change. What interesting things could you do if you lived here? What would you miss the most?
Where is this hut? Who lives here? What mystery might unfold if a stranger came knocking at their door?
What is this lighthouse called? Who runs it? How often do they leave? What is the most memorable experience they’ve had as a lighthouse operator?
How did this house get here? Does anyone live in it? What would life be like here?
Where is this festive street? Are the people there celebrating something? Where is everybody?
Who lives here? How did they build this house? Are they hiding from something? What does it look like inside?
Whose notebook is this? Why did they leave it here? What’s written in it and how might it change the life of the person who finds it?
What are these women doing? What are they supposed to be doing? Will they be in trouble if they get caught?
Who might be represented in this statue? Why is she being pulled by lions? What amazing things might she have done to deserve a statue in this prominent place?
Where is this? Who is riding in the hot air balloons? Where are they going and why?
How old is this tree? Where is it? What are some of the most fascinating stories it could tell?
Where is this carousel? Who is riding it? Can you think of a special or strange story about how it came to exist in this particular place?
What are these people thinking about? What’s at stake for them? What happens if one of them sneezes?
Where are these penguins? What are they talking about? Which one of them is the leader?
What is this place? Was it designed to be open like this or was it once part of someone’s home or a public building? How have people’s opinions of this place changed over time?
Who are these kids? Is this what they’re supposed to be doing? What happens when their teacher sees them?
Who is supposed to ride in this boat? Where are they going? Will they make it there?
Is this plane special to someone? What did they have to do to get it/build it? Where will they fly to in it?
Who decorated this train car? Which passengers will fill it up? What will they talk about?
Whose skis are these? Why are they sticking out of the snow? How did their owner get down the mountain without them?
Where does this gondola go? Who rides it? How does it feel to ride it?
Who’s driving the monster truck? Why is it at the beach? What is it going to crush? Who is watching?
Where is the boat going? Who is on it? What is their mission?
What city is the helicopter flying over? Why? Is the driver looking for something specific or do they have a special delivery?
What’s the little boy doing in the boat? Is he alone or is someone with him? Where is he trying to go?
Who is in the sub? What’s it like inside? What are they doing?
Whose book is this? What’s it about? What’s happening to it?
How did that piece of land with the house on it break off from the rest of the world? Why? Where is it going? Is anyone in the house?
Who is this girl? Where is she? Who is she shooting at?
Where does this scene take place? Is the lizard/dragon good or bad? What is its relationship with the girl?
What do these books represent? What kind of world is this? What (or who) is inside the books?
What are these dinosaurs discussing? Where are they? What do they do for fun?
Whose cottage is this? Do they still live there? If not, where have they gone? If so, what do they do there?
What is the moth thinking about? Is it alone? What’s the biggest challenge it faces in this moment?
Who is the owl looking at? Has it read these books? What is its greatest talent?
Where are these trees? Why are they pink? Do they have any special powers or features?
What do you think? Which kind of pictures do you like best for creative writing prompts ? Let us know in the comments.
Tuesday 26th of December 2023
I think the idea of using picture prompts is a great idea. It initiates oral language thus building vocabulary. It allows lends itself to students working in small groups to stimulate new ideas. The prompts engage the students and gives the teacher the opportunity to focus on specific writing skills.
luke elford
Wednesday 13th of December 2023
cloey mckay
Tuesday 17th of October 2023
I tried this with myself and my 6th-grade students, and they love it. it gives room for so much creativity.
Nayyar Abbas
Tuesday 30th of May 2023
This is very good idea and it really works, viewing these one try to think one's own way that what these pictures are telling or asking? I also recommend that this idea should also be given to the students for building their creative instinct.
Sunday 26th of March 2023
I LOVE THIS
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Writing Worksheets - Story Pictures
Students can write stories to go along with these pictures. Each worksheet includes a fun cartoon picture, and a few sheets of lined writing paper.
Story Pictures
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Fairy Tale Story Pics
Holiday story pictures.
Read the paragraphs and use editing marks to correct the errors.
Ideas for creative writing journals that involve critical and creative thinking.
Even more worksheets to help teach writing skills.
Students form an opinion on a given topic and write a persuasive essay to support their view.
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How To Use Image Prompts: Writing A Story From A Picture
There's something about a good picture that can transport you to another place and time. Images have the ability to evoke feelings and emotions, which is why they make great prompts for writing stories. They can be used for fiction or non-fiction writing, and they can be used in any genre.
In this blog post, we will discuss how to use image prompts for writing a story from a picture. We will also provide some tips on how to get the most out of an image!
Why Image Prompts Work
Tips for writing a story from an image, image prompt mood boards, using pinterest boards as prompts, using images for fiction writing, what about non-fiction writing can you use image prompts, too.
Every picture tells a story, but that story can vary wildly from person to person. What one person sees in an image might be completely different from what someone else sees. This is why images make such great prompts for writing stories.
When you're looking at an image, try to let your mind wander and see what story unfolds before you. It can be helpful to ask yourself some questions about the image, such as:
- What is happening in this picture?
- Who are the people in this image?
- What are they feeling?
- Where is this taking place?
- What time period is this image from?
- What might happen next?
These are just a few examples.
Asking yourself these questions can help you to develop a richer story from an image. Not only that, but if you have already begun writing a story, you can find an image of a them or setting and use that to help you develop your story further and kick through writer's block.
The good thing about this method is you can use any picture in the world. You do not need to worry about any sort of copyright or permission.
Where to Find Picture Prompts for Creative Writing
You can find images from:
- social media
- the internet- really anywhere .
One tip is to try and use an image that you have not seen before. One that makes you yourself wonder about it's backstory.
Once you have found an image that you would like to use as a prompt, there are a few things that you can do to help you get the most out of it.
First, take some time to really look at the image and take it all in. Let your mind wander and see what story begins to form in your head.
Next, try to spend at least five minutes writing about the image. It can be helpful to set a timer so that you do not get too bogged down in the details.
The important thing is to just let the words flow and not worry too much about spelling or grammar. Whatever you write should just be a mindmap or rough draft - so just focus on getting your ideas down on paper.
Finally, once you have written for five minutes, take a step back and read what you have written.
See if there are any elements of the story that you would like to explore further.
If so, take as long as you need to build these individual concepts out. You could have a fresh page for each concept, or you could just keep writing on the same page, linking it all together.
It's really up to you!
The most important thing is that you have fun and enjoy the process; letting your creative juices flow.
Another trick is to create a mood board with other images that complement the original one. This can help you to come up with new ideas and plot points for your story.
For example, if you are using an image of a beach, you could include pictures of people swimming, sunsets, waves crashing against the shore, etc.
You can do this either digitally or by physically cutting out images from magazines and gluing them onto a piece of card.
This can be used for scenes, themes, universes, or even characters. If you use a story writing journal, you could make a page for each mood board, and your creative mind map on the facing page.
Pinterest boards are a great way to gather visual inspiration for stories.
If you are struggling to find an image to use as a prompt, take a look at other people's boards and see if anything catches your eye. You can simply search for a keyword or theme and a whole range of images will come up.
For example, if you wanted to write a story set in the 1920s, you could search for "1920s fashion" or "1920s party" and get some great ideas!
You can also use Pinterest boards to gather a series of pictures for story writing and create your own mood boards (as mentioned above).
To do this, simply create a new board and start pinning images that you like.
You can make the board as big or as small as you like, and you can add to it whenever you want.
This is a great way to keep all of your visual writing prompts in one place so that you can come back to it whenever you need some new ideas.
If you are writing a fiction story, you can go wild with this! Your only limit is your imagination. The great thing about fiction is that you can make the story as outlandish as you want.
Many people use image prompts for ideas for children's stories.
For example, let's say you are writing a picture book and you found this picture:
You can make up a story about a family of bears who live in the forest. The mother bear is sick and the father bear has to go find food for the family. He leaves the two baby bears with their grandfather.
While he is gone, the baby bears get into mischief. They climb a tree and end up getting stuck. Grandfather bear has to rescue them.
This is just one example of the many stories you could write from this single picture prompt.
Remember, the sky is the limit when it comes to fiction writing! Let your imagination run wild.
Image prompts can be useful for a variety of genres, not just fiction. They can help you get your creative juices flowing when you're feeling stuck, or provide a way to access parts of your imagination you might not otherwise be able to tap into.
For example, I once used an image prompt to write a non-fiction piece about a cultural festival I'd attended. The photo showed people in traditional dress dancing around a bonfire, and it inspired me to write about the history and meaning behind the festival.
So, if you find yourself struggling to write non-fiction, give image prompts a try. You might be surprised at what you come up with!
How do you feel about using visuals to help with your writing? Do you have any tips for using image prompts? Share them in the comments below!
You might also find some of these writing prompts useful:
- 59 KILLER Fantasy Writing Prompts & Plot Ideas For Your Story That Nobody Would Think Of
- 35 Unique OTP Writing Prompts and Ideas!
- 63 Fanfiction Writing Prompts to Spark Your Imagination
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About the author.
Arielle Phoenix
20 Picture-Based Writing Prompts and Ideas for Kids
A picture is worth a thousand words, and that’s certainly the case with visual writing prompts!
Be it a simple object or a fantastical scene, a picture is all it takes to spark a child’s imagination.
That’s why I love picture writing prompts for kids who are learning how to write.
They help alleviate the burden of not knowing where to start while providing creative flexibility for students to pen their own stories.
I especially like to use picture prompts for teaching descriptive writing . They encourage children to focus, study, and evaluate an image with all its colors and scenery, which naturally sparks more descriptive text .
get this picture prompt printable for free!
What is picture prompt writing.
If you’re unfamiliar with picture prompts, they are a type of writing prompt that uses an image to start a story.
Students then create a story, using the picture as either the setting or simply a jumping off point.
The benefit of visual writing prompts is that it gives students a place to start. Not only that, it encourages them to use more adjectives and write in more detailed sentences.
Most students need some guidance beyond “write about this.” The again, too many details can be overwhelming.
Picture prompts give kids just enough information to act as a stress-free starting point, and from there, they can tell their own stories.
They aren’t necessary for every writing activity, but they’re a fun and simple way to spark creativity—and they often prompt students to think (and write!) outside the box.
How to Use Picture Writing Prompts
Students who struggle to write may naturally gravitate towards picture prompts.
In fact, picture writing for kids is particularly helpful for reluctant writers who struggle with expressing themselves in words.
The prompts can be paired with any number of writing activities, from freewriting to journal writing to creative writing.
Choosing pictures for kids to write about will largely depend on the skill level and age of your student.
As a general rule of thumb, you want to use the most interesting pictures for writing prompts you can find.
As kids get older, their writing world expands, so their prompts can be more in-depth and structured.
You can even try using two unrelated prompts and have your students develop a story that incorporates both perspectives.
Here are a few more specific ways to use visual writing prompts:
1. Choose pictures that aren’t so clear-cut. Ambiguous images lead to more brainstorming, providing plenty of room for interpretation and creativity.
2. Give students ample time to look at and study the image.
3. Give them 5-10 minutes to write everything they can think about when they look at the picture.
4. Use the 5 Ws to start the conversation. This encourages young writers to look closely for clues about a possible storyline.
- What? What’s going on in the image?
- Where? Where is it taking place?
- Who? Who or what is the subject of the scene?
- Why? What caused the scene in the image? Why did it happen?
- When? What happened before the picture? What happens after?
5. You can also give them a series of pictures for story writing . This is a great option for older elementary up to middle school students.
As you can see, picture prompts are pretty open-ended. You can tweak and use them whichever way works best for your student.
Want to try using picture prompts?
We’ve provided 20 creative, engaging visual prompts below.
Have fun!
For more writing fun, try these fall-themed prompts , winter writing prompts , or one-sentence story starters .
20 Picture Writing Prompts for Kids
The icebreaker.
- Something mysterious caused the cracking.…
- What do you think is underneath this sheet of ice?
- How far will the cracks spread? What will happen?
The Gardener and the Magical Plant
- It’s not an ordinary seed sprouting…
- What do you think will grow?
- Who is planting the seedling?
Adventures Of The Dive Club
- Did they find treasure under the sea?
- What did they capture on camera?
- Where in the world are they?
The Lion and the Lost Lambs
- It was an unlikely friendship…
- Do the lambs feel safe with the lion?
- What is the lion thinking?
Runaway Cow
- Why is the cow so far away from the rest of the herd?
- What is the cow looking at?
- What’s going through her mind?
Sunset at the Meadow
- The tire swing was still swaying as they left…
- Who was playing here?
- Where are the birds going?
A Kitty of a Different Kind
- Why does the cat have different eye colors?
- It’s not just his eyes that made him different…
- What is the cat’s name?
The Missing Plane
- Where is the plane going?
- How did it get lost?
- What happens next?
Best Friends in a Snowstorm
- What are their names?
- How did they become friends?
- What are they talking about?
The Icky Sticky Ice Cream Cone
- The person who dropped this ice cream was startled…
- What made them drop their ice cream?
- Describe the scene, the emotions, etc.
A Bug’s Life
- What is the bug doing?
- What is his name?
- His friends made fun of him because he was green…
The Secret Spy Frog
- What or who is the frog watching?
- Why is the frog hiding?
- What is his secret mission?
The Surprise of a Lifetime
- What is this little boy’s story?
- What or who surprised him?
The Hidden House in the Woods
- There is something very special about this house…
- Could this be the house everyone in the village spoke of?
- Who lives there?
Beneath the Waves
- Who took this photo?
- Where are all the fish going?
- Are they running away from someone/something?
The Boy and the Giant Roly-Poly Pumpkin
- It was no ordinary pumpkin…
- What’s inside the pumpkin?
- What is the boy going to do with it?
The “Cat-tastrophe” Shower
- The cat made such a mess…what happened?
- What is the cat thinking?
- What does he do after getting bathed?
World-Famous PupStar
- What is the dog’s name?
- What made this dog famous?
- Why is he taking the photo?
The Sinking House
- What do you think caused the house to sink?
- Where are the people who lived in the house? Are they still there?
- Use your imagination!
The Dinosaurs and the Broccoli Forest
- Why are these dinos eating broccoli?
- Where are all the other dinosaurs?
- Are there other animals in the forest?
Download and Print FREE Picture Prompts (PDF)
No matter what grade your kids are in, they will love these fun (and often funny!) elementary picture writing prompts.
The concepts are suitable for a wide age range and can be used by first graders all the way up to middle school students.
Now when you hear the dreaded, “ I have nothing to write about! ” just pull out these picture prompts, provide pencil and paper, and let your young writers create!
About The Author
Jordan Mitchell
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Picture Prompts for Creative Writing
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Picture Writing Prompts: How to Use Them with Examples
by Yen Cabag
If you find yourself staring at a blank page not knowing what to write, you know exactly how many students feel when asked to work on a writing assignment! The good news is that giving students or kids a picture to start with can be a great launching pad. This is why picture writing prompts can be very powerful.
What are visual writing prompts?
Picture writing prompts refer to a picture that you use as a starting point for writing. It can be a fantastical scene, or even an everyday object, that sparks a child’s imagination and gets him or her to start writing. The output can be a work of fiction, or it may be a descriptive essay. The point is that it helps them get over writer’s block by giving them something concrete to start with.
Here are some of the advantages of using picture writing prompts:
You give your students specific things to write about.
One of the biggest hurdles to writing is the first sentence. Having something to start on means half the battle is over! This is especially helpful for students who have trouble starting on any writing project, but can soar on their own once they get started.
The scene in the picture sets automatic boundaries
Sometimes, struggling writers have trouble because they have too many ideas flying around in their minds that they don’t know which one to pick. Having the picture set the boundaries, ironically, helps promote creativity rather than stifle it. It tells the child what he or she can write about, and also possibly what NOT to write about.
It helps children practice descriptive writing
Do you know that children actually have the natural skill of describing things? You can see this happen, for example, when a child goes somewhere and comes back describing everything that happened. The problem is that when it comes to writing, they may get stuck because they’re not sure what to describe.
Giving them a picture to describe helps them put down in words that they actually already do verbally: by actually describing something that they see.
The picture helps the child think up more adjectives than they normally would.
Instead of the perpetual battle of asking a child, “What next?” or “Come on, you can describe things more than that,” the picture itself serves as the trigger for adding more adjectives.
Picture prompts give them enough information to start while still letting them soar.
Yes, the picture prompt can trigger a story, but it still lets students have free rein of where they want to go. For example, the picture might portray a mountain, and the child might write about a hero that journeys from a mountain home all the way to an ocean adventure!
How to Use Picture Writing Prompts
If you want to use picture writing prompts for your budding writers, here are some tips to get you started.
1. Pick pictures that your writers can relate to.
One of the most important advice to writers is: “Write what you know.” Bear this in mind when picking picture writing prompts, particularly for younger writers.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you pick pictures that are very self-explanatory. On the contrary, consider using images that have a bit of ambiguity. This can give your students greater chance to brainstorm and give their own interpretation.
2. Find interesting or thought-provoking pictures.
Every story needs some kind of conflict to get it going. This is why the pictures you pick shouldn’t always be idyllic. Consider also pictures that have contradictory elements. For example, if you want to show a picture of a happy family, perhaps having one of the children frowning off to the side can trigger a good story idea.
3. Consider using two separate prompts.
For older students, you might use two unrelated images and ask them to write a story that includes both elements. This adds to the challenge.
4. Train them in the basic elements of storytelling.
Sure, having pictures to start a story is a good launching pad. But if your students don’t know the basics of storywriting, you’ll probably get nothing better than a narrative that goes, “and then,” “and then,” “and then.”
Instead, show them how stories generally proceed on a “because of that” trajectory, where one thing causes another, and conflict escalates until it comes to a satisfying conclusion. This way, you’re training budding writers to be effective storytellers, not just descriptive writers.
5. Give them time to contemplate on the image.
The muse doesn’t always come exactly when summoned. Even though you’re using a picture writing prompt, it doesn’t mean that your students will automatically start writing! Be sure to give them enough time to obseve and study the picture.
6. It can be open-ended or guided.
Although you choose to prompt writing using a picture, remember that you still have the option of including a question or not. For example, you might bring your students’ focus to a certain aspect of an image. Or you might opt to stay absolutely silent and just let them go wild. It’s really all up to you!
7 Examples of Picture Writing Prompts
With that said, we hope the following picture writing prompts can result in amazing output from your students!
Picture Writing Prompt #1
Possible guide questions:
- Where are these people going?
- What challenges do you think they will face?
- What do you think happens during this trip?
Picture Writing Prompt #2
- What do you think is the castle in the distance?
- What kind of characters do you think are in this scene?
- What is the role of the row boat in the story?
Picture Writing Prompt #3
- Who do you think are in the van?
Picture Writing Prompt #4
- What do you think are these children doing?
- Who would you want to make the main character? What sets him or her apart from everyone else?
- What challenges do you think your main character will face?
Picture Writing Prompt #5
- Who are the characters in this scene?
- What do you think happens in the story?
Picture Writing Prompt #6
- What do you think is happening in this scene?
- What do you think happens next?
Picture Writing Prompt #7
- What is it like in this scene?
- What kind of persons are the characters in this scene?
- What do you think is happening this particular day?
Using Picture Writing Prompts
Picture writing prompts are a great tool to get students, especially reluctant writers, to get the creative juice going.
But remember, it’s still just one of many tools in teaching them good writing. You will still need to go through the basics of storytelling, good grammar and word choice, and all the other fun elements of learning to write well.
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- 35 Adventure Writing Prompts to Kickstart Your Story
- 35 Sci-Fi Writing Prompts to Inspire Your Next Epic Story
- 30 Thriller Writing Prompts To Get You Writing
- 32 Fantasy Writing Prompts To Help Relieve Your Writing Slump
Yen Cabag is the Blog Writer of TCK Publishing. She is also a homeschooling mom, family coach, and speaker for the Charlotte Mason method, an educational philosophy that places great emphasis on classic literature and the masterpieces in art and music. She has also written several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion is to see the next generation of children become lovers of reading and learning in the midst of short attention spans.
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Picture story writing
- Post author By scoringtarget
- Post date 08/12/2021
- Categories In English Grammar
Picture story writing for high school students. How to write a pictorial writing? Look at the picture and write a description.
To get more videos for SSLC students visit our YouTube channel. This channel is very useful for high school students.
Two model Picture story writing is given for your practice. Study these pictorial writing and practice for for your exam.
What is pictorial writing?
Ans: Pictorial writing is an art of writing or expressing ideas by looking at the picture. We need to write in a paragraph.
Pictorial writing tricks
1. Look at the picture clearly.
2. Image your own ideas about the given picture.
3. Make a meaningful sentences on each object.
4. Concentrate on sentence structure & punctuation.
5. Check again the spelling and paragraph.
pictorial writing work sheet:
1. Study the picture given below. 1×3=3
Write a description or an account of what the picture suggests to you in a paragraph.
In this picture we can see a wood cutter is cutting down the tree. Villagers are surprised why this fellow is cutting down this valuable and useful tree. Under these tree children are playing, villagers are taking rest and some birds have nest in them. Trees are very useful for all creatures. So save the trees.
2. Study the picture given below. 1×3=3
In this picture we can see a picnic scene. My family is very happy family. On Sunday we went a picnic with my lovely mother, father and sister. We rode on a big elephant with the help of Mahout. That time we saw a deer. Crocodiles are swimming in the small pool. This garden is very beautiful. We all enjoyed a lot.
Watch this video for explanation of how to write pictorial writing to score more marks in the exam.
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Brian Dietzen on Co-Writing an ‘NCIS’ Episode Honoring David McCallum: ‘The Ritual of a Memorial Is Something I Wanted Everyone to Be Able to Share’
The actor who plays Jimmy Palmer talks about giving Ducky his due... and also how things might shake out as his character enjoys an inter-office love interest.
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Brian Dietzen ‘s Jimmy Palmer is now the chief medical examiner on “ NCIS ,” having taken over that function as the character’s mentor, David McCallum ‘s Ducky character, slid into an emeritus role a few seasons ago. When McCallum died in September, it fell into Dietzen’s real-life lap to become something of a grief examiner, as he took on the duty of co-writing a farewell salute to Ducky — and to David — along with one of the series’ longtime executive producers, Scott Williams.
As McCallum’s primary scene partner for 20 seasons, Dietzen had a vested interest in celebrating Ducky for the third episode he has co-written for the show. (He talked about his writing debut for his series in an extensive interview with Variety almost exactly two years ago.) In this catch-up, he discusses wanting to provide both the audience and himself some catharsis with the double-duty on this episode… and what’s up for Jimmy Palmer beyond the current grief, with the show having the formerly bumbling character as one of its most solid rocks two decades into a historic run.
What was it like for you, to be co-writing a tribute episode, so soon after the death of the man you’d worked so closely with for 20 years?
You know, when you lose a friend, and then you process your grief by writing something immediately, that’s to be consumed by the masses — not writing and journaling about what you’re feeling, but writing something for performance, for public consumption… it was very strange in a way. But also very cathartic.
How quickly did the show move toward thinking about how to handle the death, and how did you come into the writing part?
You have some clips in the episode, but there are only so many you can work into 42 minutes when you also have to spotlight the team’s emotional responses… and have a crime, which no “NCIS” episode is ever going to go without, as a rule.
God knows we could have done a show where it was just clip after clip of David, and these wonderful, long diatribes that he’s had. But we wanted to make sure that there was something that brought the team together one last time with Ducky, and so we found a way to have this be something that Ducky had left undone, and that the team felt a need to honor their fallen friend by finishing something for him. You know, when you lose someone, it can sometimes feel like, “What do I do? What do I do with my hands? What do I do with my body right now?” And you can feel jittery, because this is a part of grief. And so our team actually gets to go into action, and not just sit in their distress but actually affect change in someone else’s life, and by proxy fulfill a wish of Ducky’s.
Was there anything that you specifically wanted to channel into the remembrance of the person or the character?
One of the biggest things that I wanted to talk about and explore had to do with the loss of any friend or a loved one, but that really works really hand-in-glove with the character of Ducky: He told so many stories, over the course of the last 20 years at NCIS, and that I think is what a lot of people remember that character for. I certainly will; me playing Jimmy Palmer, I listened to so many of those stories, some of them long, some of them very short and quippy. Ducky had a lot of those, and David had a lot of those over the course of his almost 70 years in Hollywood. The name of this episode is “The Stories We Leave Behind.” So that’s what I wanted to do to honor him, to recognize that those stories are earned and meaningful. You add ’em up altogether and you have a very full life, and that very full life is all we really leave behind to affect people; once we’re gone, those stories become our legacy.
You and your lab partner, Kasie (Diona Reasonover), have an interesting scene, where you discuss guilt that comes after a death over not having fully expressed feelings. And then that scene ends with an “I love you.” It’s like you’re telling the audience that we should feel good about actions having proved love… but hey, maybe we should be going beyond that with words.
Yeah. I’ve experienced that before and I have loved ones that have experienced that before, where you lose someone and you go, “Oh, man, did they know?” When my mom passed away, did she know how much I loved her? And of course she did, but still the question persists, and it still nags at you. And I think there is that moment for Kasie of saying, “You know what? I do love you.” It doesn’t hurt to say. There’s an “Our Town” sort of thing that happens there where it’s like: “Why are these people not saying they love one another every moment of every day? If I were able to go back and do it again, I would be doing that in a heartbeat.” And I love that idea that if if your eyes are open to (learning from) that, then maybe you savor that moment a bit more when you get to connect with someone on a Saturday morning, or the sandwich tastes a little better, and there’s something about life that you will look at and appreciate more than before you had lost anyone.
What were some of your thoughts about David, observing him up-close for almost 20 years? He had huge fame at an early age with “Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” then fell out of sight, then seemed to have a very casual relationship with the limelight when it came back to him, less intensely, in his career’s third act.
A lot of us would marvel at how young he seemed. You know, he was cast in this show when he was 70 years old, and everyone said, “Oh, he looks like he’s in his late 50s” when we started this show. And the guy had it figured out. He knew what stressed him out, and he avoided that. I remember saying, what’s the secret to the longevity and that sort of stuff, and he said, “I try not to stress myself too much. You know, if I find things that do stress myself out, I try not to do those things, or I try to get help with those from other people.”
But I think that some of the balance that you’re kind of alluding to — that he didn’t crave to be some rocketing, huge superstar — was that he loved his family more than anything. And I think that’s where his heart was a lot, and I’m so glad that over the past five, six years, he was able to spend a lot more time not just in California but in New York with all of his grandkids. He had a wonderful grounding that way.
David had been pretty much full-time with the show through the 15th season, and then he got on a semi-retirement path, it seemed, cutting his workload down to being on just half the episodes in a season, then six, then three, remotely. From the outside we didn’t necessarily know whether that was being realistic about what he could do health-wise, or whether that was just wanting to enjoy life. But fans did appreciate that he didn’t leave the show outright.
And what was incredible was that he was largely a very, very healthy person, keeping himself well. I mean, he was doing Pilates. And he still just hit the scenes hard. I mean, the scene that keeps being shown for these promos is a scene from a show where the character of Gibbs has just left (in the opening stretch of the 2021-22 season), and Jimmy is having a tough time with that and says, “We just lost Gibbs. Bishop just left, and I lost Breena last year, and I’m just about ready for people to stop leaving. I’m having a tough time here.” And David says — or sorry, Ducky says — “Change is the essence of life, and our pain is a small price to pay for his peace.” That scene, when we filmed that, that was probably one of the last handful of scenes that he and I got to film in person together. He just knocked it out of the park. And that was him at 88 years old, and just tremendous.
So, as far as him pulling back and wanting to do less, I think it had very, little to do with health or ability or anything like that, and much more to do with “what’s smart for my life, what’s good for me — but I never want to stop doing this, because it feeds my soul, it feeds my creative energy.” He always had been and always will be an actor. But he also wanted to just spend time with family. And he was so encouraging of me in my journey in taking over the role of medical examiner on the show. He couldn’t have been more supportive and more kind.
As someone who was his primary scene partner, you had a great introduction to the public, since an audience that had watched him for decades was going to be riveted to the few scenes they got with David every week, but with you as foil, he was not going to be sucking up all the oxygen.
To focus on Jimmy for a minute, the character has been considerably elevated over the years. His personal life has been highlighted. What do you foresee for any of that this season or going forward?
Jimmy’s been on on such a ride. Over the course of the last few years, Jimmy certainly has seen some tough stuff between obviously the biggest event of his life, which is the loss of his wife during COVID, and then his team shifting. And then, with the addition of Gary Cole and Katrina Law, there’s a very different team dynamic that this show has right now, and I absolutely love it. Being able to have Jimmy actually fall in love is great to play — not to mention, I get to do more scenes with Katrina Law, who’s an absolutely fantastic actor, and we work very well together. So we will definitely see some advancement of the Jimmy and Jessica storyline. That doesn’t necessarily mean that everything’s smooth sailing all the time. He loves her enough that he blurted out “I love you” in front of an entire bullpen full of people, and she was kind enough to say it back, later in the episode. But, yeah, there’s gonna be some stuff that they’re gonna go through that maybe is some growing pains, and maybe even some bigger stuff than that.
I’ve also already shot some stuff this season that is just some terrific, classic NCIS comedic stuff that I love digging my teeth into. Our writers have really given ussome incredible scenes to do. We have this truncated season of only 10 episodes, so everyone kind of feels like, “Oh, I get one at-bat, basically, this year,” and everyone swings hard and swings for the fences. Not to pat ourselves on the back too much, but when I read these scripts, I’m like, man, it’s just banger after banger. So, yeah, the comedic bits have been fantastic, the Jimmy and Jessica stuff has been great, and then, of course, you know, the crimes… There’s always the crimes.
It’s still a little surprising to see an inter-office romance treated comfortably on “NCIS,” for anyone who remembers the Tiva years, when the romantic tension between Tony and Ziva was always paramount and those lines into clear consummation wouldn’t be crossed. Then the audience got a real romance on the sister show, “NCIS Los Angeles,” and it seemed the franchise got a little friendlier with the idea that this doesn’t have to be played purely as torture. You can see why for a lot of years the show did not lean into anything like that, but at the same time, maybe the audience enjoys some contentedness.
No one can appreciate more than you the irony that, as a former bit player, you are one of the rocks of “NCIS” — along with Sean Murray, a year-one anchor the show’s O.G. viewers depend on.
Oh, I called it from day one! I got this one-day guest star role that I was gonna go audition for and I was like, “If I play my cards right, this is gonna turn into over two decades’ worth of work.” No, of course I couldn’t know, but I’m just happy and blessed to still be playing a character that’s changed and evolved quite a bit. And people keep enjoying the stories that we’re telling, and if we keep telling good ones, then I think hopefully they’ll keep ordering some more.
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Special counsel report paints scathing picture of Biden’s memory
Hur’s report could reopen a line of attack that biden’s team has tried hard to tamp down.
President Biden , during interviews with the special counsel investigating his handling of classified documents, had trouble recalling the years he served as vice president. He could not pinpoint, even within several years, when his son Beau had died. His memory about a crucial debate on troop levels in Afghanistan was hazy.
The first day of questioning, at the White House in early October, Biden could not recall when his vice-presidential term had ended. “If it was 2013 — when did I stop being vice president?” he asked, apparently not recalling that he left office in January 2017.
The next day, as the interviews continued, he could not remember when his term began, saying, “In 2009, am I still vice president?”
Special counsel Robert K. Hur’s report, while concluding that criminal charges were not merited for Biden’s careless handling of classified documents , painted a devastating portrait of an 81-year-old president whose age has become a central issue in his reelection campaign, saying his memory was “significantly limited” and that he had “limited precision and recall.” One reason prosecutors concluded they would have trouble pursuing a case was that a jury might see Biden as an appealing — if forgetful — senior citizen.
“At trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the prosecutors wrote in their report released Thursday. “Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
Biden responded to the special counsel’s report in an angry appearance at the White House on Thursday evening. “I know what the hell I’m doing,” he told reporters.
He expressed particular fury at Hur for using his son’s death, which he said he remembers every single day, as a means of questioning his acuity. “I don’t need anyone to remind me of when he passed away,” Biden said in remarks that were unusually emotional.
In essence, the report cleared Biden of any legal hurdles. But it opened — or reopened — a series of political questions.
The report was released a day after Biden twice misstated which German leader he had met with at an event in 2021, saying he spoke with Helmut Kohl, who left office in 1998 and died in 2017, rather than Angela Merkel. Several days earlier he confused the current French president, Emmanuel Macron, with a predecessor, Francois Mitterrand, who died in 1996.
Biden has mixed up the names of his Cabinet members, and during an event in 2022 he called out for a recently deceased congresswoman, attempting to acknowledge her from the stage and apparently forgetting that she had recently died. At another point he struggled to recall the name of the prime minister of Australia and referring to him as “that fellow Down Under.”
Biden throughout his career has been a gaffe-prone politician who can meander into verbal cul-de-sacs, a trait that at times he has worn as a relatable badge of honor. But in recent years, his verbal missteps have often been seen through the prism of old age, a perception that has been difficult for him to alter after urging skeptics to “just watch me.”
Hur was charged with determining whether Biden mishandled national secrets, but he repeatedly returned to Biden’s ostensibly poor memory. The coming days and weeks will clarify how much of a political penalty Biden will pay for the unflattering portrait.
But his political rivals wasted little time seizing on it. “It just affirms what most Americans already know, which is the president is a good man but cannot continue to serve as our commander in chief beyond January 2025,” said Rep. Dean Phillips (Minn.), who is challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination.
Some Biden allies initially downplayed the severity of the report, saying it would be largely forgotten within days. But as the full scope of the report emerged, Biden officials and allies conceded the portrait of Biden would have lasting consequences and provide a gift to the Trump campaign. Still, they forcefully rejected any talk of the president stepping aside and not running for reelection.
Inside the White House and throughout the Democratic Party, Democrats directed their fury at Hur, assailing him for his characterization of Biden’s mental fitness and arguing that he went far beyond his mandate of determining whether the president or his aides committed crimes. They cast the report as a partisan shot from a Republican prosecutor, albeit one assigned to the task by Biden-appointed Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“It’s a partisan document,” said Jim Messina, who ran Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign and is supporting Biden’s reelection. “You have got a Republican person here who can’t find anything to charge the president with, so he is taking a few partisan political shots.”
But Democrats also conceded privately that Biden’s age has always been his biggest vulnerability. In recent weeks, the Biden campaign has found more ways for the president to connect personally with voters, believing that would help counteract any concerns that he has lost a step.
Last month, Biden brought food from a restaurant called Cook Out to a private home in North Carolina, chatting with the family about his administration’s student loan forgiveness program. He has also made stops in recent weeks at a barbershop in South Carolina and a boba tea store in Nevada, visits that aides say rocket around social media and improve Biden’s image among voters, particularly younger ones.
Biden’s aides, who insist that he is sharp and detail-oriented despite the occasional verbal stumble, also attributed his struggles to recall specific dates during the Hur interviews to their timing on Oct. 8 and 9, when he was preoccupied by Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel a day earlier.
“I was so determined to give the special counsel what they needed that I went forward with five hours of in-person interviews over two days on Oct. 8 and 9 of last year, even though Israel had just been attacked on Oct. 7 and I was in the middle of handling an international crisis,” Biden said in a statement just after the report was released. “I just believed that’s what I owed the American people.”
The White House also emphasized that — unlike in a similar probe of former president Donald Trump — the special counsel decided against prosecuting. “The bottom line is the special counsel, in my case, decided against moving with any charges. This matter is now closed,” Biden said on Thursday.
Yet it’s clear that Hur’s language frustrated Biden’s circle. His attorneys, White House special counsel Richard Sauber and personal attorney Bob Bauer, wrote a letter to Hur vigorously objecting to his comments about Biden’s memory.
“The President’s inability to recall dates or details of events that happened years ago is neither surprising nor unusual, especially given that many questions asked him to recall the particulars of staff work to pack, ship, and store materials and furniture in the course of moves between residences,” the lawyers wrote. “The same predictable memory loss occurred with other witnesses in this investigation.”
They argued that Hur was treating Biden differently from other witnesses who also had trouble recalling long-ago events, and that he did so “in prejudicial and inflammatory terms.”
“You refer to President Biden’s memory on at least nine occasions — a number that is itself gratuitous,” they wrote. “This language is not supported by the facts, nor is it appropriately used by a federal prosecutor in this context. We request that you revisit your descriptions of President Biden’s memory and revise them so that they are stated in a manner that is within the bounds of your expertise and remit.”
However, it appears that Hur did not alter the report in response to the attorneys’ arguments.
The report cites Biden’s recorded conversations with his ghostwriter in 2017 , saying they are “often painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.” It added, “In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse.”
In addition to recounting Biden’s troubles with dates, the prosecutors suggested he had confused other matters as well. “His memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he ‘had a real difference’ of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact, Eikenberry was an ally.”
Biden is also portrayed as a pack rat who haphazardly stored classified documents in a crowded garage. Documents related to Afghanistan, they wrote, were found “in a badly damaged box in the garage, near a collapsed dog crate, a dog bed, a Zappos box, an empty bucket, a broken lamp wrapped with duct tape, potting soil, and synthetic firewood.”
That state of affairs, they said, could be used by Biden’s attorneys to suggest to a jury that he was merely messy and forgetful, not someone who was intentionally trying to hoard classified documents.
“A reasonable juror could conclude that this is not where a person intentionally stores what he supposedly considers to be important classified documents, critical to his legacy,” the report stated. “Rather, it looks more like a place a person stores classified documents he has forgotten about or is unaware of.”
In a statement Thursday, House Republican leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), called the special counsel’s assessment of Biden’s memory one of the “most disturbing” aspects of his report.
“A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office,” said the statement by Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
Trump is facing charges under more serious allegations for taking classified documents, particularly his alleged refusal to return them when asked. And Trump, 77, has struggled with his own memory issues, most recently confusing former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley , his chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, with former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Michael Scherer, Praveena Somasundaram and Mariana Alfaro contributed to this report.
More on classified documents
Here’s what we know: According to a long-awaited special counsel report, prosecutors will not charge President Biden in the classified documents investigation . Here are the key findings from the report , which painted a scathing picture of Biden’s memory . The Justice Department has a criminal probe involving former president Donald Trump’s personal properties . Here’s an explanation of what classified documents are and the penalties for mishandling them.
When and how classified documents were found: A comprehensive look at when, where and how the two batches of classified documents were found in unauthorized locations in Biden’s former private office and his Wilmington, Del., home.
How Trump, Biden cases compare: There are key differences between the discovery of classified documents at Biden’s home and former office and Donald Trump’s retention of hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. Here’s our fact check . Nonetheless, the furor over the classified documents could make it harder for Democrats to blast Trump .
Judge fines Donald Trump more than $350 million, bars him from running businesses in N.Y. for three years
The judge who presided over a civil business fraud trial against Donald Trump on Friday ordered the former president, his sons, business associates and company to pay more than $350 million in damages and temporarily limited their ability to do business in New York.
Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the former president and the Trump Organization to pay over $354 million in damages , and barred Trump “from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years,” including his namesake company.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office brought the case, said that with pre-judgment interest, the judgment totals over $450 million, an amount “which will continue to increase every single day” until the judgment is paid.
“Donald Trump is finally facing accountability for his lying, cheating, and staggering fraud. Because no matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law,” James said in a statement, calling the ruling “a tremendous victory for this state, this nation, and for everyone who believes that we all must play by the same rules — even former presidents.”
The ruling also bars Trump and his company from applying for any bank loans for three years.
In his first public remarks after the ruling, Trump said, “We’ll appeal and we’ll be successful.”
Speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night, Trump bashed the ruling as “a fine of 350 million for a doing a perfect job.” He also repeated previous attacks by calling the judge “crooked” and the attorney general “corrupt.”
Trump did not take any questions from reporters after speaking for about six minutes.
The judge’s decision is a potential blow to both Trump’s finances and persona — having built his brand on being a successful businessman that he leveraged in his first run for president. Trump is currently running for the White House for a third time. This case is just one of many he is currently facing, including four separate pending criminal trials, the first of which is scheduled to begin on March 25.
Engoron also ordered the continued “appointment of an Independent Monitor” and the “the installation of an Independent Director of Compliance” for the company.
In posts on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump called the ruling “an illegal, unAmerican judgment against me, my family, and my tremendous business.”
“This ‘decision’ is a complete and total sham,” he wrote.
During the trial, Trump and executives at his company, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, attempted to blame exaggerated financial statements that were the heart of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud case on the accountants who compiled them. Engoron disagreed.
“There is overwhelming evidence from both interested and non-interested witnesses, corroborated by documentary evidence, that the buck for being truthful in the supporting data valuations stopped with the Trump Organization, not the accountants,” he wrote.
In explaining the need for a monitor, the judge cited the lack of remorse by Trump and his executives after the fraud was discovered.
“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways,” Engoron wrote.
“Defendants’ refusal to admit error — indeed, to continue it, according to the Independent Monitor — constrains this Court to conclude that they will engage in it going forward unless judicially restrained,” he added.
The ruling also bars the Trump sons — who’ve been running the company since their father went to the White House — “from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of two years.” Both were fined over $4 million, plus interest, for their roles in the scheme.
Donald Trump Jr. posted on the social media site X that “We’ve reached the point where your political beliefs combined with what venue your case is heard are the primary determinants of the outcome; not the facts of the case! It’s truly sad what’s happened to our country.”
In a statement, Eric Trump called the judge “a cruel man.”
“He knows that every single witness testified to that fact that I had absolutely NOTHING to do with this case (as INSANE as the case truly is),” Eric Trump said.
He also attacked the ruling as “political vengeance by a judge out to get my father.”
Trump attorney Alina Habba called the verdict “a manifest injustice — plain and simple.”
“Given the grave stakes, we trust that the Appellate Division will overturn this egregious verdict and end this relentless persecution against my clients,” she said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Trump Organization called the ruling “a gross miscarriage of justice. The Trump Organization has never missed any loan payment or been in default on any loan.”
High legal costs
An appeal in the case would likely take years, but Trump could have to post a bond for the full amount if he does so.
Read more: Trump faces about $400 million in legal penalties. Can he afford it?
The judgment is the second this year against Trump after he was hit last month with an $83.3 million verdict in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him. Trump has said he plans to appeal that verdict as well, but would have to post a bond for that amount as well.
James had been seeking $370 million from Trump, his company and its top executives, alleging “repeated and persistent fraud ” that included falsifying business records and financial statements. James had argued those financial statements were at times exaggerated by as much as $2.2 billion.
James contended the defendants used the inflated financial statements to obtain bank loans and insurance policies at rates he otherwise wouldn’t have been entitled to and “reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.”
Trump had maintained his financial statements were conservative, and has called the AG’s allegations politically motivated and a “fraud on me.”
“This is a case that should have never been brought, and I think we should be entitled to damages,” Trump told reporters when he attended closing arguments in the case on Jan. 11.
Trump testimony knocked
The monthslong civil trial included testimony from Trump and his oldest children . The former president was combative in his day on the stand, blasting James as a “hack” and calling the judge “extremely hostile.”
Trump repeatedly complained about Engoron before and throughout the trial, and the judge slapped him with a partial gag order after he started blasting the judge’s law clerk as well. Trump’s complaints led to a flood of death threats against the clerk, as well as Engoron, court officials said, and Trump was fined $15,000 for twice violating the order.
Among the examples cited as fraud by the attorney general’s office during the trial was Trump valuing his triplex home in Trump Tower in New York City at three times its actual size and value, as well as including a brand value to increase the valuation of his golf courses on the financial statements, which explicitly said brand values were not included.
Another example pointed to by the attorney general clearly got under his skin — a dispute over the value of Mar-a-Lago, his social club and residence in Florida. Trump’s financial statements from 2011 to 2021 valued Mar-a-Lago at $426 million to $612 million, while the Palm Beach County assessor appraised the property’s market value to be $18 million to $27 million during the same time frame. Trump had also fraudulently puffed up the value of the property by saying it was a private residence, despite having signed an agreement that it could only be used as a social club to lower his tax burden.
Trump maintained during the trial the property was worth much, much more .
“The judge had it at $18 million, and it is worth, say, I say from 50 to 100 times more than that. So I don’t know how you got those numbers,” Trump testified, adding later that he thinks it’s actually worth “between a billion and a billion five.”
In his ruling Friday, Engoron said he didn’t find Trump to be a credible witness.
“Overall, Donald Trump rarely responded to the questions asked, and he frequently interjected long, irrelevant speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial. His refusal to answer the questions directly, or in some cases, at all, severely compromised his credibility,” the judge wrote.
Michael Cohen testimony ‘credible’
James’ investigation into the former president’s business began in 2019 as a result of congressional testimony from his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen , who told the House Oversight Committee that Trump would improperly expand and shrink values to fit whatever his business needs were.
Cohen testified during the trial about his role in the scheme, and said while Trump didn’t explicitly tell him and then-Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to inflate the numbers in the financial statement, he was like a “mob boss” who tells you what he wants without directly telling you.
Trump claimed Cohen’s testimony exonerated him while also painting him as an untrustworthy liar because he admitted having previously lied under oath.
In his ruling, Engoron called Cohen an “important witness” and said he found his testimony “credible.” “This factfinder does not believe that pleading guilty to perjury means that you can never tell the truth. Michael Cohen told the truth,” the judge wrote.
Former CFO ‘evasive’
Engoron was less forgiving about former Trump CFO Weisselberg, who previously pleaded guilty to carrying out tax fraud at the company.
Weisselberg’s “testimony in this trial was intentionally evasive, with large gaps of ‘I don’t remember.’”
“There is overwhelming evidence that Allen Weisselberg intentionally falsified hundreds of business records during his tenure” at the company, the judge wrote. “Weisselberg understood that his assignment from Donald Trump was to have his reported assets increase every year irrespective of their actual values. The examples of Weisselberg’s intent to falsify business records are too numerous to itemize,” he added.
The judge permanently barred Weisselberg “from serving in the financial control function of any New York corporation or similar business entity operating in New York State,” and ordered him to pay the $1 million he’s already received from his $2 million separation agreement from the company as “ill-gotten gains.”
AG initially sought less
James filed her suit seeking $250 million in damages from Trump in 2022, and the judge appointed a monitor to oversee the company’s finances that November.
In a summary judgment ruling the week before the trial started, Engoron found Trump and his executives had repeatedly engaged in fraud. The “documents here clearly contain fraudulent valuations that defendants used in business, satisfying [the attorney general’s] burden to establish liability as a matter of law against defendants,” the judge wrote, while denying Trump’s bid to dismiss the case.
Engoron summarized the Trump defense as “the documents do not say what they say; that there is no such thing as ‘objective’ value; and that, essentially, the Court should not believe its own eyes.”
The order, which Trump appealed, held that Trump’s business certificates in New York should be canceled, which could have wreaked havoc on Trump’s company and forced the sell-off of some assets.
Engoron backed off of that decision in his ruling Friday, saying the addition of the “two-tiered oversight” of the monitor and the compliance director makes that move “no longer necessary.”
Trump had complained about the summary judgment ruling while he was on the witness stand. “He said I was a fraud before he knew anything about me, nothing about me,” Trump said. “It’s a terrible thing you did.”
Adam Reiss is a reporter and producer for NBC and MSNBC.
Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.
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‘dune: part two’ is the best sci-fi film since ‘the matrix’.
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Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Javier Bardem and Timothee Chalamet reprise their roles in 'Dune 2'
The release calendar ruined a perfectly good lead. I was primed and ready to write that Dune 2 is the best science fiction film of the last twenty-five years. After fact-checking the release date of The Matrix , I discovered it was released on March 31, 1999. So, technically Dune 2 is “the best sci-fi film of the last 24 years and 335 days” which is not a pull quote destined to appear on the back of the Bluray release. (And I’ll likely receive emails telling me that Dune 2 is better than The Matrix , and those folks can make a good argument for that assessment.)
As the film opens, House Atreidas has fallen, and its lone heir, Paul (Timothee Chalamet) is on the run, hiding among the Fremen in the barren expanse of the northern deserts of Arrakis. House Harkonnen, in league with the Emperor (played by a miscast Christopher Walken), led the slaughter of Paul’s entire bloodline in an effort to monopolize the valuable spice mined on Arrakis.
As House Harkonnen moves to consolidate its power, tales emerge of a messiah rallying the Fremen into a powerful force capable of overthrowing the ruling Houses. The Harkonnens are concerned by religious zealots. Martyrs have followers, and nothing is scarier than someone fighting for a holy cause. The Fremen messiah must be stopped before the Fremen uprising grows beyond the Harkonnen’s control.
It’s difficult breaking a film into two pieces, and then have the second piece delayed for four months due to the various Hollywood strikes. The first film felt like a lengthy set-up for the action to come. When the credits rolled on Dune , it became clear that we were hitting the pause button midway through the second act of a 330-minute film.
Dune 2 is the much-anticipated pay-off, a vast improvement over the mythology-laden first film. Epic battles scenes, palace intrigue, romance and religious prophecies abound. We even get a new, younger villain from House Harkonnen, Feyd-Rautha, played by Austin Butler ( Elvis ). A Paul versus Feyd-Rautha showdown feels like an inevitability from the moment Butler hits the screen and shows off his character’s lethal fighting skills. Butler certainly shows his acting range, but I would’ve appreciated a Big Bad who can’t simply be written off as “psychotic”.
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An unrecognizable Austin Butler ('Elvis') plays Feyd-Rautha, the Harkonnen who would be Emperor in ... [+] 'Dune 2'
Director Denis Villeneuve ( Blade Runner 2049 , Arrival ) wisely expands his universe in this second film by providing an in-depth look behind the curtain of House Harkonnen. The production design of these segments plays like a 21st-century homage to the visionary black-and-white world of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). The bleached look of the Harkonnen’s world contrasts brilliantly with the earth tones of the Fremen’s desert lairs. At times, however, the incessant black and white costuming makes you think that House Harkonnen made it’s fortune selling S&M gear and latex outfits.
The novel Dune was written by Frank Herbert in 1965. Herbert’s sci-fi world-building is epic, embracing politics, organized religion, spirituality, sociology and more. For years it was considered impossible to adapt to film. David Lynch created an interesting misfire in 1984, and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s attempt at a cinematic adaptation of the Herbert novel resulted in an amazing 2013 documentary about the “impossibility” of bringing Dune to the silver screen.
Denis Villeneuve ( Blade Runner 2049 , Arrival ) has clearly cracked the code, although the sixty-year-old story he’s adapting certainly has some flaws. At its core, Dune 2 is a white savior narrative. The image of a young white man leading people of color to paradise was a trope for decades before the 21st century decided to grant agency to the black and brown characters populating cinematic epics since the days of the silent Tarzan films and Charlton Heston playing Moses in The Ten Commandments .
It may simply be my middle-aged film critic’s brain, but Chalamet is a bit of a lightweight physically and when it comes to gravitas. It’s a lot to ask the baby-faced actor to carry the full weight of the film. Veteran actor Javier Bardem sells Chalamet as the messiah Maud’Dib better than Chalamet himself. As the young actor strides through the desert with his cloak billowing in the wind, he occasionally looks like he’s advertising the Atreides Collection for Prada rather than single-mindedly freeing an oppressed populace.
I couldn’t help but envision someone like Riz Ahmed ( Sound of Metal ) as Paul Atreides. The white savior and the gravitas issues disappear with a single casting choice, but the financial analytics would’ve knocked $ 30 million off the production budget without a young star like Chalamet to attract the Gen Z filmgoers of the world.
Any negative observations or criticisms I’ve leveled at the film are truly just quibbles. I’m not the kind to complain that we never see original, epic science fiction on the big screen anymore and then nitpick the best sci-fi film of the 21st century. Hollywood rumor mills are suggesting that Villeneuve may head back to the science fiction well for his next film, an alleged adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s classic sci-fi novel Rendezvous with Rama . After the two Dune films and (to a somewhat lesser extent) his Blade Runner sequel, I’m onboard to go anywhere Denis Villeneuve wants to take me.
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Taylor Swift Admits She Was ‘Lonely’ While Writing Her ‘Folklore’ Album During the Pandemic
The pop superstar made the revelation during her Eras Tour stop in Australia.
By Mitchell Peters
Mitchell Peters
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Taylor Swift is opening up her emotional state during the pandemic .
Taylor Swift Fan Killed in Car Crash While Heading to Eras Concert in Australia
Halfway through her Eras Tour stop at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday (Feb. 17), the 34-year-old pop superstar paused to reflect on being “lonely” while writing her 2020 album, Folklore , during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“[I was] imagining that, instead of being a lonely millennial woman covered in cat hair drinking my weight in white wine, I was a ghostly Victorian lady wandering through the woods with a candle in a candlestick holder,” Swift said in a fan-captured video before performing her song “Betty.”
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“I wasn’t expecting to make an album. Early on in quarantine, I started watching lots of films. We would watch a different movie every night,” she told Entertainment Weekly . “I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t seen Pan’s Labyrinth before. One night I’d watch that, then I’d watch L.A. Confidential , then we’d watch Rear Window , then we’d watch Jane Eyre .”
She added, “I feel like consuming other people’s art and storytelling sort of opened this portal in my imagination and made me feel like, ‘Well, why have I never done this before? Why have I never created characters and intersecting storylines? And why haven’t I ever sort of freed myself up to do that from a narrative standpoint?’”
Swift and Alwyn split last April after six years of dating.
Swift’s three-night stand at Melbourne Cricket Ground launched Friday (Feb. 16) and wrapped Sunday (Feb. 18). Next, she’s scheduled for back-to-back concerts at Sydney’s Accor Stadium (Feb. 23-25). Other international stops include Singapore, France, Sweden, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Europe and Canada.
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Fani Willis: Defiant Georgia prosecutor fights to stay on Trump case
- Published 7 days ago
- Indictments of Donald Trump
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Watch: Fani Willis' surprise testimony in 75 seconds
The top prosecutor in the Georgia election case against Donald Trump took the stand to vigorously defend her relationship with a fellow prosecutor during a combative hearing on Thursday.
Mr Trump's lawyers alleged that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's relationship with Nathan Wade, whom she hired, proved a conflict of interest.
The claims could upend the election-subversion charges against Mr Trump.
Over two hours of heated testimony, Ms Willis looked increasingly aggravated.
"It is a lie, it is a lie," she said at one point in response to questions, prompting a visibly perplexed Judge Scott McAfee to call a brief recess.
The first female district attorney in Fulton County, Ms Willis charged Mr Trump and 18 co-defendants last year with conspiring to overturn the former president's 2020 election loss to Joe Biden in Georgia.
But last month, that case was undermined by claims from one of Mr Trump's co-defendants, Mike Roman, who said Ms Willis and Mr Wade - who she hired as special prosecutor for the Trump case in late 2021 - had an improper relationship and benefitted financially from the arrangement.
In a legal filing, Mr Roman alleged Ms Willis overpaid Mr Wade for the special counsel role and that the two took luxury holidays together that were paid for by Mr Wade. Those trips included two cruises to the Bahamas, and trips to Napa Valley, California, and Caribbean resorts in Aruba and Belize.
Both Ms Willis and Mr Wade acknowledged the relationship in early February, but they have denied any conflict of interest or financial impropriety.
On Thursday, defence lawyers pushed both Ms Willis and Mr Wade on how he was reimbursed for his work and whether Ms Willis repaid him for her share of vacations while they were dating.
Ms Willis is an "independent strong woman... she is going to pay her own way", Mr Wade testified, adding she typically paid him back in cash, meaning no records were available.
The district attorney offered a more forceful counter, saying she didn't "need anybody to foot my bills".
Mr Wade once told her "the only thing a woman can do for him is make him a sandwich", Ms Willis testified. "There was tension always in our relationship, which is why I would give him his money back."
At other points in her testimony, Ms Willis worked to bring the attention back to Mr Trump's case.
"You're confused. You think I'm on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020," she said to lawyer Ashleigh Merchent, referring to the main case.
Ms Willis' testimony followed that of a former friend and employee, Robin Yeartie, who claimed the district attorney's relationship with Mr Wade began before he joined the Trump case - contradicting both of their timelines.
She saw the pair hugging and kissing years before the case, Ms Yeartie told the court, so she had "no doubt" the relationship started in 2019.
Ms Willis offered a fiery counter to her former friend, insisting no romantic relationship began until two years later. And she echoed claims made by Mr Wade in court. He claimed that his cancer diagnosis in 2020 would have prevented a physical relationship.
"Mr Wade had a form of cancer that makes your allegations somewhat ridiculous," she told defence lawyer Steven Sadow. "I'm not going to emasculate a black man … so I don't think we should discuss it further."
Judge McAfee has said he could disqualify Ms Willis from the case if evidence supports the defence's claims. Ms Willis' removal would delay and potentially derail the proceedings against Mr Trump entirely, a trial with major consequences for the 2024 election.
After a day of dramatic testimony, experts told the BBC it's still unclear who came out on top.
It's a "credibility contest" for the judge to decide who wins, said Atlanta defence attorney Andrew Fleischman. Mr Wade was nearly flawless in his well-rehearsed testimony, Mr Fleischman said, but Ms Willis' tone could put her at risk.
"Fani Willis's demeanour has been so extreme that that might incline him to disqualify her even if he is not sure of the other stuff," Mr Fleischman said.
Ms Willis will resume her testimony on Friday at 09:00 local time (14:00 GMT).
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Picture Prompts
145 Picture Prompts to Inspire Student Writing
A school year’s worth of short, accessible image-driven posts that invite a variety of kinds of writing.
By The Learning Network
Image from our related Picture Prompt “ Creative Juices .”
We’ve been publishing our Picture Prompts series four days a week since 2016. Below, we’ve rounded up all the prompts we published for the 2021-22 school year.
These short, accessible, image-driven prompts invite students to pen short stories, poems and memoirs; share experiences from their lives; analyze illustrations, graphs and charts; and tell us their opinions on hot-button issues.
You can find even more in our roundups for the 2016-17 , 2017-18 , 2018-19 , 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. That’s nearly 900 prompts, many still open for comment by students 13 and up. We have also published a short, visual post highlighting four popular prompts from this school year.
To learn how you can use Picture Prompts to build literacy skills, promote critical thinking, inspire discussion and foster creativity in your classroom, watch our three-minute tutorial video or our on-demand webinar . For dozens more ideas, see our lesson plan, “ How to Teach With Our Picture Prompts (and Other Times Images) .”
If you use this feature with your students, or if you have other ideas for how to use photos, illustrations and graphics to encourage writing, let us know in the comments.
What story does this image inspire for you?
Phone Booth in the Wilderness Roller Coasters In the Waves In the Lunchroom Den of Toys Butterflies Flight Delays Two Roads Dog Park Friendship Under the Sea Found in the Crowd Under the Desk Barren Landscape Park Bench Other Selves On the Court Holiday Party Little Red House Candy Cornucopia Doors Mystery Money Royal Dining Up in a Tree Around the Fire Galaxy Plundered Shelves Confetti Solo Climb At the Fountain Heated Conversation Yellow Creatures Meadow in Starlight Storm On the Subway Giant Jar Family
Share experiences from your own life.
Pet Ownership Creative Juices Horror Stories One Great Summer Memory Dining Out Riddle Me This Your Go-To Recipes Hitting the Road Comic Con Craze October Thrifting Harry Potter Self-Compassion Holiday Shopping Giving Gratitude Festive Wear Measuring Time Winter TV Shows Sacred Spaces Your Tech Local Celebrities Winter Olympics Wildlife in Winter Group Chat Winter Getaways D.I.Y. Taste Test Spring Fashion March Madness Mask Withdrawal Your Favorite Tree Rites of Spring Fortuitous Finds Hanging Out Heartbroken Best Pizza? Everyday Pleasures Musical Instruments
What do you think this image, chart or cartoon is saying?
Hands Blasting Out of a Phone Dings and Pings Pulling at a Reflection Memorial Twisting Track Elephant and Donkey Tiny Dollar Clouds Vision Test The Whole World Work and Home Bedroom Staring Crossed-Out Words Clicking Her Heels Weapon Burger Quitting Spoonfed Brady Mesmerized Skates Melting Man Lit-Up Landmarks Literary Allusions A Brick on an Egg Listening and Clapping Between the Ears Smiling X’s on Bubbles Eyeballs Inside Vs. Outside Amazon Boxes Area Closed High Wire Very, Very Tired
What’s your opinion on this issue?
A New Social App Morality Plays Flamboyant Fashion Home Games Powering Down Facebook Outage Old Glory Custom Cars Tourist Surveillance E-Scooters, E-Bikes Motorcycle Adventures Veterans Day Book Lovers Speed Skydiving Gift-Giving, Gift-Getting Solstice Favorite Moments in Sports Your Word of the Year Guilty Pleasures Smart Watch Wordle True Love? Prized Possessions Audiobooks Separate Together TV-Themed Trips Forgiveness Life at Sea Constructive Criticism Electric Cars Little Free Libraries Met Gala #VanLife Responding to the Shooting in Uvalde
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July 22, 2020 We've been publishing our Picture Prompts series four days a week since 2016. These short, accessible, image-driven prompts invite students to create short stories, poems and...
Amy the Red Panda Is Writing The Best Story in The World by Colleen AF Venable, illustrated by Ruth Chan Amy's frustrated with her story, especially when all her friends share their opinions about what the story should be. Then, Mervin the Sloth tossed the letter "O" at her. It's a letter fight!! Now, she's got a story to tell.
Jan 18, 2024 Creative writing is a challenge for many students, often because they can't come up with anything to write about. That's why we love picture writing prompts. Each one sparks the imagination and helps young writers jump right into crafting a story to match.
Over 85 picture prompts for creative writing, story-telling and descriptive writing assignments: What is this girl looking at? How is she feeling at this moment? Where are these two cats going? Where did they come from? What are they feeling? What is this girl thinking about?
Over 140 Picture Prompts to Inspire Student Writing 13 In our related Picture Prompt, we invited students to write a short story or poem inspired by this illustration. Glenn Harvey By...
Use story picture prompts to help kids work on specific writing skills. For example, you could work on descriptive writing by having them describe the setting of the picture in detail. Or you could work on character development by having them make up a history for a person in a picture.
Writing Worksheets - Story Pictures Students can write stories to go along with these pictures. Each worksheet includes a fun cartoon picture, and a few sheets of lined writing paper. Story Pictures Fishing FREE Write a story to go along with the picture. The illustration shows a father and son on a fishing trip.
How do you find inspiration for what you write? In this activity, we invite you to create your own short story inspired by photographs and illustrations from our Picture Prompts series. Think...
16 reviews Writing Fiction Story Starters and Prompts Engage pupils with these lovely picture story writing templates Help your pupils come up with some brilliant narratives using this fantastic set of story templates for writing.
Picture writing prompts consist of an image — and sometimes a short sentence — to prompt a student to begin writing. They are a fun addition to any writing practice, and, best of all, kids love them. Indeed, visual prompts are an incredible writing tool.
Developing writing- picture story Level: intermediate Age: 13-15 Downloads: 90 : Picture story Level: elementary Age: 17-100 Downloads: 85 : story picture 2 parts Level: advanced Age: 12-17 Downloads: 83 : Picture Story: Father and Son - The first day of the holidays Level: elementary Age: 9-17 Downloads: 69 :
Tips For Writing A Story From An Image Image Prompt Mood Boards Using Pinterest Boards As Prompts Using Images for Fiction Writing What About Non-Fiction Writing? Can You Use Image Prompts, Too? Why Image Prompts Work Every picture tells a story, but that story can vary wildly from person to person.
1. Choose pictures that aren't so clear-cut. Ambiguous images lead to more brainstorming, providing plenty of room for interpretation and creativity. 2. Give students ample time to look at and study the image. 3. Give them 5-10 minutes to write everything they can think about when they look at the picture. 4.
Picture Prompts. Hundreds of dynamic picture prompts, each with discussion questions and a suggested writing prompt. Encourage creativity to flourish in every classroom. Explore Pictures. 1. Free Pictures and Counting….
By: Paul Jenkins August 22, 2023 Writing You're staring at a blank page, the cursor blinking mockingly. Writer's block has struck again. But wait! Have you tried using picture prompts? They're not just for kids, you know. Visual stimuli can unlock your creativity, transporting you to places and situations you'd never dream of.
A long list of picture writing prompts 1. A secret garden hidden behind an old, ivy-covered wall, with flowers that glow in the dark. 2. A futuristic city floating in the sky, connected by transparent walkways. 3. An underwater town with buildings made of coral and colorful fish swimming in the streets. 4.
How to write a picture story | 6 steps lernfoerderung 55.1K subscribers Join Subscribe 938 211K views 7 years ago How to .... educational videos #picturestory #englischlesson #writing 6...
If you're a visual learner, here are 10 images you can use as picture writing prompts. 1. Hands in a River. Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash. Dirty hands dig into the ground as a body emerges onto a riverbank out of the ocean. What horrific events led to this moment? 2.
If you want to use picture writing prompts for your budding writers, here are some tips to get you started. 1. Pick pictures that your writers can relate to. One of the most important advice to writers is: "Write what you know.". Bear this in mind when picking picture writing prompts, particularly for younger writers.
Two model Picture story writing is given for your practice. Study these pictorial writing and practice for for your exam. What is pictorial writing? Ans: Pictorial writing is an art of writing or expressing ideas by looking at the picture. We need to write in a paragraph. Pictorial writing tricks. 1. Look at the picture clearly. 2.
140 Picture Prompts to Inspire Student Writing. A school year's worth of short, accessible image-driven posts that invite a variety of kinds of writing. Image from our related Picture Prompt ...
Brian Dietzen talks about co-writing an 'NCIS' farewell episode for Ducky in honor of David McCallum, a few months after the actor's death at 90. ... "The Stories We Leave Behind," airs Monday ...
Odysseus' landing attempt comes after a failed US mission last month. Astrobotic Technology shared this January 18 image of the Peregrine lunar lander in space. The Earth is visible (background ...
Special counsel Robert K. Hur, who issued a report Thursday on Biden's handling of classified documents. (Steve Ruark/AP) 10 min. President Biden, during interviews with the special counsel ...
Less than a week after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created through in vitro fertilization are considered children, two of the state's major IVF providers have suspended services ...
Judge fines Donald Trump more than $350 million, bars him from running businesses in N.Y. for three years. The state AG's office said that when factoring in pre-judgment interest, the amount ...
The release calendar ruined a perfectly good lead. I was primed and ready to write that Dune 2 is the best science fiction film of the last twenty-five years. After fact-checking the release date ...
Taylor Swift reflected on being "lonely" while writing her 2020 album, "Folklore," during the pandemic during her Eras Tour stop in Australia.
Watch: Fani Willis' surprise testimony in 75 seconds. The top prosecutor in the Georgia election case against Donald Trump took the stand to vigorously defend her relationship with a fellow ...
Write a short story, poem or memoir inspired by this photograph. | Related Picture Prompt Andrew Testa for The New York Times. Phone Booth in the Wilderness. Roller Coasters. In the Waves. In the ...