50 Would You Rather Writing Prompts for Kids
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Ask a nine-year-old to write an opinion paragraph and you will often get four minutes of silence, a chewed pencil, and a first sentence that says "I think it is good." Ask that same child whether they would rather have a pet dragon or a pet dinosaur, and they will answer before you finish the question — and then argue with you about it. Closing that gap is the entire job of would you rather writing prompts.
A two-option choice does something an open prompt cannot. It hands the student an opinion for free. Nobody has to decide what they think, because the moment they hear the two options their brain has already picked one. All that is left is the part you actually want them practicing: explaining why. That is the whole skill of persuasive writing, and this format lets a child get straight to it without spending the first ten minutes of the lesson staring at a blank page.
Below are 50 prompts in five sets — opinion and persuasive, imagination and narrative, school and everyday life, big ideas, and a silly set built for the kids who hate writing. Every single one is written as a writing task, not a read-aloud question. If you want the speaking-and-brain-break version instead, that lives in our would you rather questions for the classroom list. This page is for the notebook.
Why These Work as Writing Prompts
The opinion arrives instantly. The hardest part of opinion writing for a child is not the writing — it is having a position worth defending. Most prompts ask a student to form an opinion and explain it in the same breath, which is two jobs. A forced choice does the first job for them. By the time the pencil moves, they already know their answer, so 100% of their effort goes into reasons and evidence.
The structure is built into the prompt. Claim, reasons, conclusion — the shape teachers spend weeks drilling is baked into the format. The claim is "I would rather ___". The reasons are "because". The counterargument is literally the other option, sitting right there in the prompt where the child cannot miss it. You are not teaching structure in the abstract; the prompt is already shaped like the paragraph you want back.
There is no blank-page freeze. A student who does not know how to start can copy half the prompt into their first sentence and be legitimately, correctly underway. That single mechanical foothold is often the difference between a full paragraph and a blank page with a name on it — and it works because there is nothing to remember, nothing to look up, and no risk of being wrong.
It differentiates without extra prep. One prompt covers your whole room. A struggling writer produces a choice sentence and two reasons. A confident writer produces a topic sentence, three developed reasons with examples, a counterargument and a conclusion. Same prompt, same board, same lesson — you only change the expectation, which means no second worksheet and no student who obviously got the "easy" version.
And it is impossible to get wrong. Both options are defensible, so nobody loses marks for choosing badly. For a child who has learned that writing is where they fail, a task with no wrong answer is not a small thing. It is the thing that gets them writing at all.
How to Use Them
The whole mini-lesson takes 15 to 20 minutes and follows the same four steps every time. Keep the routine identical and students stop needing instructions by about the third session, which is when the format starts saving you real time.
Step 1 — Choose (2 minutes). Read the prompt out loud twice, then ask for a quick show of hands so everyone commits before writing. Committing publicly matters: a student who has raised a hand for option A will not spend the writing time still deciding. Note the split on the board — you will use it later.
Step 2 — List three reasons (3 minutes). Not sentences. Bullet points, fragments, single words. This is the step teachers skip and it is the one that decides whether the paragraph has anything in it. Say "three reasons, no full sentences, go" and time it. Younger students can do two.
Step 3 — Write the paragraph (8 to 10 minutes). Quiet writing, sentence starters visible on the board, no hands up for spelling. Tell them plainly that spelling does not count on a first draft of this — the goal is reasons on paper, and stopping to ask how to spell a word is how a good idea gets lost.
Step 4 — Share (3 to 5 minutes). Two or three volunteers read theirs out, and the class listens for one thing only: the best reason. Naming a strong reason out loud teaches the rest of the room what "developed" sounds like far faster than any rubric does. If nobody volunteers, read two anonymously yourself.
Put these on the board every time. Four starters, unchanged all year: I would rather ___ because ___. One reason is ___. Another reason is ___. Some people would choose ___, but ___. The repetition is deliberate. Students who see the same frame for a term stop needing it, and you can see exactly when that happens.
Set the expectation by grade band. For Grades 2 and 3, a complete piece is a choice sentence plus two reasons — about four or five sentences total, and that is a genuine success. For Grades 4 to 6, ask for a topic sentence, three reasons with an example attached to at least one, a sentence that acknowledges the other side, and a closing sentence. Same prompt, roughly double the output. Grade 1 can do it orally with you scribing, and Grades 7 and 8 can take any prompt from the opinion set and expand it into a full five-paragraph essay across two lessons.
50 Would You Rather Writing Prompts, Sorted Into 5 Sets
Straight persuasive paragraphs on topics students already have loud opinions about. Best for Grades 3 to 6, and the set to use when you are formally teaching claim-and-reasons structure.
- Would you rather have a longer school day or a longer school year? Write a paragraph explaining your choice.
- Would you rather have homework every night or one big project every month? Write a paragraph that convinces your teacher.
- Would you rather have a class pet or a class garden? Write a short letter persuading your principal to say yes.
- Would you rather learn from books or from videos? Give three reasons for your choice in one paragraph.
- Would you rather have recess before lunch or after lunch? Explain your thinking in five sentences.
- Would you rather take a written test or give a presentation? Write a paragraph defending your pick.
- Would you rather wear a school uniform or choose your own clothes? Write an opinion paragraph with a strong final sentence.
- Would you rather have a four-day week with longer days or a five-day week with shorter days? Convince a parent you are right.
- Would you rather every classroom had a tablet for each student or a library corner full of books? Argue for one.
- Would you rather be graded on effort or on results? Write your paragraph, then add one sentence for the other side.
Choice-driven story starters. The student picks a side and the choice becomes the opening of a narrative, so there is no "I don't know what to write about" stage. Works from Grade 2 up.
- Would you rather find a door to another world in your closet or a map to a hidden island? Tell the story of what happens next.
- Would you rather be able to fly or turn invisible for one day? Write a story about how you use it.
- Would you rather have a dragon the size of a cat or a cat the size of a dragon? Describe one full day with your pet.
- Would you rather wake up inside a fairy tale or inside a spaceship? Write the first paragraph of that story.
- Would you rather talk to animals or understand every language on Earth? Write a scene where your power solves a problem.
- Would you rather travel 100 years into the past or 100 years into the future? Describe the first thing you see.
- Would you rather live in a treehouse city or an underwater town? Describe your home using all five senses.
- Would you rather have a robot best friend or a magical talking backpack? Write a story about the day it stopped working.
- Would you rather shrink to the size of a beetle or grow as tall as a building? Write about your walk to school.
- Would you rather be the hero of the story or the narrator who knows everything? Explain your choice, then write three sentences in that voice.
🎮 More Questions in the Game
🎮 Play Would You Rather Free Online — No Download Needed
▶️ Play Free NowSmall, familiar choices from a normal day — which makes them ideal daily journal prompts. Students write from personal experience, so the reasons come easily even from your quietest writers.
- Would you rather sit at the front of the class or the back? Write a paragraph explaining why.
- Would you rather work alone or in a group? Give two reasons and one example from your own life.
- Would you rather pack your lunch or buy it at school? Explain your choice in a journal entry.
- Would you rather walk to school or ride the bus? Describe the trip and explain which you prefer.
- Would you rather be the class helper for a week or the line leader for a month? Explain your decision.
- Would you rather have art class every day or PE every day? Write a paragraph that could convince your class.
- Would you rather read quietly on your own or listen to the teacher read aloud? Explain what helps you learn best.
- Would you rather have your writing displayed on the wall or read out to the class? Describe how each one would feel.
- Would you rather do your chores in the morning or at night? Write a journal entry about your ideal routine.
- Would you rather have a friend in every class or one best friend all day? Explain your reasoning in a paragraph.
Wider-lens dilemmas with genuine trade-offs, and no political or religious content. Strong for Grades 5 and 6, and the best set for teaching counterarguments because both sides are defensible.
- Would you rather clean up every ocean or replant every forest? Write a paragraph explaining which matters more.
- Would you rather invent something that saves time or something that saves energy? Convince your reader.
- Would you rather be known for being kind or for being clever? Explain your choice in a full paragraph.
- Would you rather help one person a lot or many people a little? Write your answer, then add a counterargument.
- Would you rather live in a town with no cars or a town with no litter? Describe what a day there would look like.
- Would you rather fix one problem in your school or one problem in your town? Explain your pick and give a plan.
- Would you rather have more free time or more money to spend? Defend your answer with three reasons.
- Would you rather always tell the truth or always keep a promise? Write about a time this was hard for you.
- Would you rather be remembered for one big achievement or a hundred small kind acts? Explain your thinking.
- Would you rather protect endangered animals or protect wild places? Argue for one, then explain why the other still matters.
Deliberately ridiculous, because a child who is laughing forgets to be worried about writing. Use these first with any student who freezes on a serious prompt, and accept two good sentences as a win.
- Would you rather have spaghetti hair or broccoli fingers? Describe your morning routine.
- Would you rather sneeze glitter or hiccup bubbles? Write about the worst possible moment for it to happen.
- Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet unicorn? Write the note you would leave for the pet sitter.
- Would you rather hop everywhere or crab-walk everywhere? Tell the story of your trip to the shop.
- Would you rather eat pizza at every meal or ice cream at every meal? Explain in three sentences, then draw and label it.
- Would you rather have a nose that glows or ears that flap? Write a funny paragraph about picture day.
- Would you rather be covered in fur or covered in feathers? Describe exactly how it feels.
- Would you rather live in a giant shoe or a giant teapot? Write an advertisement selling your home.
- Would you rather have a rewind button or a fast-forward button? Write about the day you used it too much.
- Would you rather talk like a robot or sing every sentence? Write a short scene of you ordering lunch.
Sentence Starters & Paragraph Frame
Copy this straight onto the board or the top of a worksheet. It is deliberately short — a frame students can memorize is worth more than a detailed one they have to keep re-reading.
Sentence starters
I would rather ___ than ___. · The first reason is ___. · Another reason is ___. · For example, ___. · Some people would choose ___, but ___. · That is why I would rather ___.
The paragraph frame
1. Say your choice. One clear sentence naming which option you picked. No warm-up sentence before it.
2. Give your best reason. Then explain it in a second sentence — the explaining sentence is the one that earns the marks.
3. Give a second reason with an example. A real example from their own life is always stronger than a general one.
4. Say what someone might argue. One sentence naming the other option's best point, then one sentence answering it.
5. Finish with your choice again. Restated in different words, not copied from sentence one.
For Grades 2 and 3, use steps 1, 2 and 5 only. Add step 3 once they are consistent, and add step 4 last — the counterargument is genuinely the hardest move in the frame, and it is worth teaching on its own with a prompt the whole class has already written about.
Extension Ideas
Run a class debate from the paragraphs. Once everyone has written, split the room by choice, give each side three minutes to pick their two strongest reasons, and let one speaker per side present. Students who have already written their reasons speak far better than students asked to debate cold — and they hear their own writing being used as ammunition, which is a lesson in itself.
Graph the votes. The show of hands from step 1 is free data. Tally five prompts across a week and you have a bar chart the class generated about themselves. Younger students compare bar heights; older ones convert to percentages and discuss whether a 60/40 split is a strong result or a close one.
Write the opposite view. The next day, hand back the paragraph and ask them to argue the side they rejected. This is the single most useful extension on the page. It separates "what I believe" from "what I can argue", which is the exact skill that carries into essay writing later, and it forces genuine perspective-taking without any lecture about it.
Turn a prompt into a story. Take any prompt from the imagination set, keep the choice as chapter one, and add a problem in chapter two. Two lessons, two pages, and a complete narrative with a beginning that the student never had to invent.
Build a class book or bulletin board. Pin the best paragraph from each prompt beside the vote tally. By the end of a term you have a visible record of the class arguing with itself, which parents love at open evening and which quietly signals that writing is something worth displaying.
Let students write the prompts. Once the format is familiar, ask each student to invent one prompt for the class jar. They will write better ones than you expect, they will be desperate to see theirs picked, and you will never run out. If you want a bigger pool to draw from in the meantime, the free game has hundreds more.
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▶️ Play Free Now❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What grades are these writing prompts for?
Grades 2 through 6 is the sweet spot, and the same prompt stretches across that whole band because you change the expectation rather than the prompt. In Grades 2 and 3, a finished piece is a choice sentence plus two reasons — roughly four to five sentences. In Grades 4 through 6, expect a full paragraph with a topic sentence, three developed reasons with examples, one sentence acknowledging the other side, and a closing sentence. Grade 1 can do it orally with the teacher scribing, and Grades 7 and 8 can turn any prompt in the Opinion set into a five-paragraph essay.
How long should the writing take?
Plan for 15 to 20 minutes end to end. That is about 2 minutes to read the prompt and choose a side, 3 minutes to list reasons, 8 to 10 minutes of quiet writing, and 3 to 5 minutes of sharing. If you are using one as a daily bell-ringer, cut it to 10 minutes and skip the sharing on most days. For a graded piece with drafting and editing, spread the same prompt across two sessions.
Can I use these for homeschool?
Yes, and they work especially well one-on-one because you can talk the reasons through out loud before any writing starts. With a single child there is no vote to run, so replace it with a debate: you take the opposite side and make them defend theirs. For multiple ages at one table, give everyone the same prompt and vary only the length — the six-year-old dictates three sentences while the eleven-year-old writes a full paragraph with a counterargument.
Are these good for reluctant writers?
They are one of the best tools available for a reluctant writer, because the two things that usually stall them are already solved. The child does not have to invent an idea, and there is no wrong answer to be marked down for. Start such a student on the silly set, accept two sentences as a complete success, and never correct spelling on a first draft of these. Most reluctant writers produce more words on a silly prompt in ten minutes than on a serious one in thirty.
Can I use them as journal prompts?
Absolutely — a two-option choice is an ideal daily journal prompt because it removes the what-should-I-write-about problem that kills most journal routines by week three. Put one on the board each morning, ask for a date, a choice and a because, and let students keep the same notebook all term. Reading back through a year of choices at the end is genuinely good writing about themselves, and it makes a lovely portfolio piece for a parent evening. You can also play the free game to pull a fresh prompt each day.
