All students (elementary/middle/high) live for taking vacations and these prompts for stories about vacations will surely show it. Whether it’s a 3-month boondoggle in the summer, or a short week long jaunt in spring, most students can’t wait for vacation to begin. Have your students share the joys and pitfalls of family vacations with these fun vacation writing prompts.
For 1st and 2nd graders:
→ Writing Prompt 1: Tell us something really fun you did this summer.
→ Writing Prompt 2: You went on a picnic with your family on vacation, but someone forgot to close the car windows. Now there are bears in the car! How would you get them out?
→ Writing Prompt 3: Would you rather spend one day at a theme park like DisneyWorld, or two days at the beach?
→ Writing Prompt 4 At the carnival, do you prefer to ride a rollercoaster or the merry-go-round?
→ Writing Prompt 5 What is your favorite thing to do in the summer?
→ Writing Prompt 6: Describe your favorite place to eat when you’re on vacation.
→ Writing Prompt 7: What is your favorite ride at an amusement park? Why do you like it so much?
→ Writing Prompt 8: What is the one ride at an amusement park that you don’t ever want to go on? Why do you feel that way?
→ Writing Prompt 9: Your family goes to the beach one hot, sunny day. After you pick your spot on the beach to lay your blanket and towels, another family places their towels right next to yours. The only thing is, they are a family of monsters! Describe them and then write about what you would do.
For the older grades:
→ Writing Prompt 10: This year your family has decided to have a “stay-cation” rather than a traditional vacation. That means you will have a local vacation; you will stay in your own neighborhood. What types of things can you do locally? Does your town have certain celebrations? Can you plan on a backyard camp-out or do you have a bowling alley near by? What would be your idea of a perfect “stay-cation”?
→ Writing Prompt 11: For your vacation this year, your parents have laid out three options for you. You can either go on an African Safari, or visit a castle in England, or you can go to a dude ranch in Montana and ride in a covered wagon. Which do you prefer and why?
→ Writing Prompt 12: Your parents played a game of pin the tail on the donkey, only instead of a donkey they pinned a world map to decide where you would vacation this year. The pin landed on Morocco! What do you think are the types of things you can do in Morocco? What types of clothes will you need to pack? If you don’t know anything at all about the country, write your essay and then look Morocco up to see if you were even close in what you think it would be like.
→ Writing Prompt 13: Write a travel brochure for someone who is coming to visit your town. Mention all of the different restaurants or activities that your town offers. If you don’t know of any, contact your Chamber of Commerce and find out what types of things you can do where you live.
Prompts for Stories about Vacations Continue
→ Writing Prompt 14: Would you rather visit a historical museum, an art museum or a dinosaur museum? Why did you pick the one you did?
→ Writing Prompt 15: Which is more fun? Visiting an amusement park or going camping on the beach?
→ Writing Prompt 16: For your vacation this year, your brother wants to go to the beach and your sister wants to go to the mountains. Who’s side are you on?
→ Writing Prompt 17: What did you do this summer? Describe a particular day from your summer vacation that was extraordinary or fantastic. If you did absolutely nothing at all this past summer, write about the most boring day you had. Use descriptive language that sets the mood and creates the environment for the reader.
→ Writing Prompt 18: Many students complain that they don’t get enough vacation time. Why do you feel you should get more vacation days?
→ Writing Prompt 19: Write about a vacation tradition that is unique to your family or culture.
→ Writing Prompt 20: Your best friend is contemplating joining you on your spring break vacation. Write a letter to your parents explaining why he should come with you.
→ Writing Prompt 21: You’ve been given a choice. You can either have the next 10 days be 110 degrees or it can snow for the next 10 days. Which do you choose and why?
→ Writing Prompt 22: Pick three words that describe your summer vacation. Write about how each word applies to something you did or enjoyed (or disliked) during the summer.
→ Writing Prompt 23: On vacation you rode in a hot air balloon. Describe the things you saw from above. Also, how did you feel? Were you queasy or calm? Excited or scared?
→ Writing Prompt 24: If you could plan your next family vacation, where would you go?
→ Writing Prompt 25: Which is your favorite season and why?
