Free Kindergarten Writing Activities Your Students Will Love

I’ve shared before that writing is one of the most challenging things we ask kindergarten students to do. This can make it difficult to keep students motivated to practice writing. If you’re looking for some engaging activities that encourage your students to write, keep reading; I’m sharing three free kindergarten writing activities that your beginning writers will love!

3 Free Kindergarten Writing Activities

One of the first things we explain to young kindergarteners is that writing is just talking put on paper. This is why it’s so important to use topics for writing activities that students would be excited to talk about in general. If they have a lot to say about the topic, they will be more motivated to write about it!

All of the free writing activities that I’m sharing in this post are centered around a pet theme. Students LOVE to talk about pets, whether it’s an actual animal at their house or a pet on their wishlist. There is always plenty for them to say, between describing the animals or expressing their (often strong) opinions! 

I decided to compile three different writing activities into one free resource. These activities can be used throughout your daily learning routine to get your students excited about writing practice.

1. Pet Writing Center

This first activity is a perfect way to introduce students to pet vocabulary. This will be helpful as they complete future writing activities! 

This instant center comes with printable pet picture vocabulary cards for a wide variety of animals. It also comes with illustrated word strips for student to practice tracing or writing the vocabulary words. 

This open-ended center can be differentiated for the learners in your classroom. Plus, you can present the activities in many different ways to keep them engaging for your students. 

For example, you could use the illustrated picture vocabulary cards to put together a write the room activity. Students can put a blank piece of writing paper on a clipboard and walk around the classroom, looking for the picture cards that you’ve hung on various surfaces. When they find a card, they can write it on their paper.

This activity could also be used as a partner activity. Students could split the word strips between them and then place the picture cards face-down on the table. They can take turns choosing a card from the table to see if it matches one of their word strips. If it does, they will write the word on their strip. If it doesn’t, they put it back on the table and mix up the cards.

2. Pet Writing Prompts

A common complaint from young writers is that they don’t know what to write about. Staring at a blank piece of paper can be overwhelming for kindergarteners who still have to put a lot of effort into the physical task of writing and letter formation. 

You can make the process slightly easier and more motivating by giving your students picture writing prompts. This is another example of giving students something that they can easily talk about and, eventually, write about. 

Each writing prompt comes with an engaging picture that students can describe with their writing. The prompts are differentiated to help you meet the needs of individual students in your class. Some students might need a sentence frame while other students would benefit from a traceable sentence frame. There is also a blank page with just the picture for students to reference.

The writing prompts include a five-star writing checklist, which encourages students to be more independent writers. This makes it easier to use these prompts for literacy centers, early finishers, and morning work.

3. Dog Writing Craftivity

Another fun way to get students excited about writing is to pair it with a craft! This instant craft doesn’t require anything more than scissors, glue, and crayons if your students will color their dog crafts. The craft comes with two sizes of themed writing paper, depending on how much your students will want to write. It also has a simple topper to use instead of the full craft, if you are short on time.

As with the other two activities I shared in this post, you can use this writing craftivity in multiple ways. Students could use it for informational writing practice by writing facts about dogs. You could also pair this activity with a fictional book about dogs, which is a great way to extend your read-aloud discussion. 

No matter how you choose to use this dog-themed writing craft, it allows you to display your students’ writing on a fun bulletin board. This is so motivating for young writers! They are always eager to find their writing up on the wall and are so proud when they see other people reading what they have written!

Free Printable Writing Activities

If you’re interested in grabbing these free printables for writing practice in your classroom, just fill out this form and I’ll send them straight to your inbox. 

These free activities will also give you a taste of what you’ll receive as part of the Kindergarten Writing Toolbox Membership. This membership is designed to help you find high-quality writing activities that are developmentally appropriate for your kindergarteners. We know how important repetition is for young learners, and it often takes some supplemental activities to give our students the practice they need. The Kindergarten Writing Toolbox Membership will help with that!

Take a Closer Look at These Writing Activities

Would you like to take a closer look at these writing activities? Check out this video walkthrough of these free resources. If you like these quick videos for kindergarten teachers, consider subscribing to the Teaching Exceptional Kinders channel on YouTube!

Save These Free Writing Activities for Kindergarten

Be sure to save this post if you’d like to come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite board of writing activities for kindergarten. You’ll be able to quickly find these posts when you want to add some engaging activities to your writing lesson plans!