10 Fall-themed Writing Prompts
Colorful leaves. Pumpkins. Football. Cooler weather. Raking. Apple pie. Candles. What are signs of autumn to you?
Students are more likely to write if the topics are related to something that is going on at the moment, so let’s cash in on the season by using these fall-themed writing prompts. Some of the prompts you’ll find below are simply fun prompts; others are tutorials complete with printables.
While they are enjoying these ten seasonal prompts, you are giving them practice in opinion writing, description, figurative language, poetry, and more. Shhh! It’s our secret!
These prompts {and tutorials} are appropriate for grades 5 – 12.
Ready? Fun awaits . . .
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1. A fable by Aesop
“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8 NIV).
King Solomon was not the only one who wrote about ants and their industriousness. Aesop, too, wrote about them in his cautionary fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper.” While the ants are looking ahead and storing up food for the winter, the grasshopper lives for the day and plays. Then winter hits. What happens to the grasshopper?
Watch this classic Disney video “The Grasshopper and the Ants” on YouTube and find out. Write your reaction to the video and its story in one or two paragraphs or write your own fable with animals to teach a truth about life.
Note: The grasshopper in the video occasionally spits. In real life, grasshoppers spit a brown liquid, probably for self-defense.
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2. Poetry
What better way to learn to write than to imitate good writing? Students will read a short poem about autumn’s glories and then imitate a portion of it. Follow this link to download this prompt’s colorful, free printable. >>
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3. Opinion
We’re now in the season of fall. Or is it autumn?
Think about the weather, activities, events, sports and other things that are associated with the fall season and create a new name for it. Explain your reasoning.
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4. Description
October is Apple Month. It’s also pear, pineapple, pizza, popcorn poppin’, pretzel, cookie, pork, and pasta month. Who knew?
Choose one of the foods above or another one you enjoy. Describe how it looks, feels, smells, and tastes. Make your reader’s mouth water!
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5. Opinion
You have a friend whose birthday usually falls on the first day of autumn. What are appropriate gifts to give a person whose birthday is that day? Make a list of at least five gifts.
Note: The gifts don’t all have to be items. They can be events or experiences as well.
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6. Figurative language
This prompt is a tutorial on alliteration, consonance, and assonance. Follow this link to enjoy James Whitcomb Riley’s famous poem “When the Frost Is on the Punkin.”
Note: Riley misspells “pumpkin” on purpose because he is incorporating a country dialect into his poem.
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7. Story writing
October is National Book Month. Now that the weather has cooled down some, it’s the perfect time to snuggle up with a good book.
Think of a favorite book you have enjoyed recently. Now put yourself into it. You can be one of the characters in the book, or you can be yourself and step into the story.
What happens next? What happens to you now that you are in the story? How does the original story change with this new character—you—in it?
Choose one passage from the book and change it so that you are in it somewhere.
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8. Baseball?
Take a peek at these twelve words: strike, fly, ace, assist, bag, bench, curveball, juiced, bat, mustard, mound, and stretch.
What do these words have in common? They are all words you’ll find in baseball.
Use three of those words in three different sentences but use them in ways other than their baseball meanings.
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9. Five senses
Colorful leaves. Apples. Pumpkin pie. Soccer. Football. Cooler weather. We’re into autumn.
Make a list of at least seven things you like about autumn. Be sure to include items from all five senses: sight, taste, touch (or sensation), smell, and hearing.
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10. Explain
Some families celebrate Halloween and some do not. If your family takes part in Halloween festivities like trick-or-treating, explain in one or two paragraphs why you do so. If your family does not recognize Halloween, use one or two paragraphs to explain why. Base your paragraph(s) on one or two clear reasons why your family does or does not celebrate Halloween.
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Looking for fun middle school writing prompts? Look no further!
Engage your teen writer with these intriguing high school prompts.
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Some of these prompts appeared originally as daily writing prompts by Sharon Watson on SchoolhouseTeachers.com.
