Year 5 Writing Activities

By Year 5, children are expected to be able to write creatively and independently. Help them to achieve this with these fun writing activities!

1. The Story Relay

A wonderful place to start writing with your Year 5 child is within the story genre. They are sure to have the most reference in this area as they will have read lots of narratives and seen a great many movies. A fun way to begin with stories is by telling them verbally before moving into the physical act of writing. A story relay is a great activity that works both verbally and in writing. Here’s how to play step by step:

Step 1: Generate a selection of story starters. Single sentences work well.

Step 2: Gather a group of children to play the game and give each child a position in the story (first, second, third etc…). This will give them an idea of when it will be their turn to contribute.

Step 3: Select one child to pick out the opening sentence from your selection of story starters. Read aloud the opening and then it is time for the children to contribute.

Step 4: Move around the group in the assigned order, asking each child to continue the story on from what they have just heard. For an extra challenge, encourage them to think about the sounds in the words they are using, helping them to decode and spell new words. This reinforcement of phonics within the context of a fun activity helps to cement their understanding and application of these important skills.

*You can record the audio of your story so that you can listen back to it later.

This format works exactly the same in written format as the children pass around the story until it is complete, when it is then read aloud for the whole group to enjoy at the end.

2. A Day in the Future

This is a great home learning activity to do with your primary school child as it can kick start their thought process about what career they might like to pursue in the future. Explain that they have been transported 20 years into the future and they need to write a diary entry about what happened to them that day. You can allow children the freedom to write in their own format, or you could provide them with these key questions:

• What did you do in the morning, afternoon and evening?
• Where did you spend your time and why?
• Who did you spend your day with?
• How did you feel throughout the day?

3. Collaborative Playwriting

Arranging your children into teams and challenging them to write together can be a wonderful way to freshen up the writing process and help children develop their writing skills. This idea can be very fun for children as they get to write their own parts for a play script they then go on to perform.

Begin the activity by arranging children into groups of no more than 4 (more than this and they can find the activity difficult to manage). Then provide each team with a real-world scenario that they can write about. It is best to start with something familiar to the children, such as something that may happen at school or at home. It is important to assign a narrator role so that one child has the job of setting the scene and writing stage directions, whilst the other three children write the lines that they will deliver. You can add a challenging twist by asking children to include a certain number of adverbs, similes, relative clauses, etc.

4. The Ultimate Robot

By asking your child to produce their own artwork or design drawings can lead to a wonderful written piece as a follow-up activity. One such example of this format is to challenge children to design their own ultimate robot. You can supply children with the written brief below and then ask them to begin their own design process.

Design a robot to help you complete your daily tasks. This new robot should help you optimize your daily routine and save you time in the process. Think carefully about the features it will need to help achieve this brief.

Once the design is complete, your children can write the instruction manual for the robot, explaining all of their most interesting and useful features. For example, does it do the chores your mum gives you? Or maybe, it is an athletic robot, who can go outside and have a sports day with you. The possibilities are endless!

5. ‘What If’ Writing

What if… humans had wings and could fly? What if… penguins could talk? What if…an alien landed in your back garden? What if… babies could do times tables?

Writing prompts beginning with ‘what if’ can spark the wonderful imaginations that children have. These prompts can inspire excellent creative writing and you might be surprised by what they come up with and how good their writing is whilst they are drafting their ideas. Give it a try and see for yourself! Make sure to get imaginative with these creative writing tasks.

6. Speed Writing

This is a very simple idea and one that encourages your child to get creative, and not worry too much about grammar and spelling accuracy. It is all about having fun with writing and getting some of their most interesting ideas down on paper or screen.

Simply set up an alarm or timer to go off in 15 minutes. Then display a writing prompt for the whole group to see (here are some text prompts and some picture prompts). Now challenge your child to write as much as possible on the topic before the time runs out. Remind your child that for this activity, it is about them displaying their creativity rather than their accuracy! If you are a teacher looking for morning starter activities for Year 5 students, this one is perfect to get their brains warmed up and running at the start of the day. It also aids in classroom management by keeping students focused and engaged right from the start.

7. A Day In the Life

Writing from the point of view of someone else can prove a challenging exercise for children. However, it is useful to practice and it can often prove one of the most enjoyable writing experiences for young authors.

To begin with, you’ll need to compile a list of popular job titles (e.g. President, Doctor, Teacher, Police Officer, Fire Fighter etc.). Then challenge your child to select one of the professions and put themselves in the shoes of someone employed in that area. They must then try to write a short diary about a day in the life of that person. They should try to imagine the main tasks that they complete during the day. If they want, they can use headings to organize their diary entries, imagining the main tasks they complete during the day. Utilize available writing resources to help guide and inspire their creativity.

8. Night Zookeeper

Night Zookeeper makes writing fantastically fun for children aged six to twelve.

Our writing program for kids turns learning into a game, to keep your child engaged and entertained while they develop skills such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation. There are thousands of educational resources and writing activities available on the program, including word games that boost vocabulary, creative writing prompts, interactive reading & writing lessons, and printable worksheets.

Sign up today to get a 7-day FREE trial!

More writing activities & prompts

• Year 5 Writing Prompts
• Creative Writing Prompts for Kids
• Primary Writing Prompts
• Primary Writing Activities
• Picture Writing Prompts

Related content

• Primary English
• Primary Writing Curriculum
• English Resources