Summer Writing Activities: 30-Day Summer Writing Challenge for Students

Summer Writing Activities for Students:

Not sure how you’re going to keep your students (or your own children) on the up and up with their writing over the summer?

A summer writing challenge is your answer!  Fill their writing time with summer writing prompts that are engaging and fun!

The idea here is for students to take on a 30-day writing challenge.  Each day presents new writing prompts that are engaging and fun for kids.  This concept is also perfect for teachers who are looking for summer writing ideas in summer school.  Each day requires students to write two pages (front and back).  Some of that writing might include brainstorming, creating lists, or using graphic organizers.  You can give students one writing prompt at a time or you can turn it into a journal (shown in image below).

A challenge is incentivizing by nature because of its name.  That said, here are a few ideas for rewards upon completion of the summer writing prompts.

• Organize a get together at the beginning of the school year for students who complete the challenge.  You likely will not have the same students from year-to-year, so I’ve scheduled the celebration during lunchtime and had pizza delivered.
• Offer a reward the encourages MORE writing!  I’ve incentivized this challenge with my own daughter by allowing her to pick out her favorite journal from Barnes and Noble.  Obviously, it’s much less structured writing, but I love that it encourages free writing.  Writing just for the fun of writing!
• Bind their writing!  Let students know that you will “publish” their summer writing if they complete the challenge.  If you have access to a binding machine, that is easiest.  If not, local print shops can also do it for you.  As an added bonus, students may decide to share their most prized writing activity with classmates.  Viewing students as “authors” this way is incredibly esteeming.  It also encourages students to continue writing.

Summer Writing Prompts for Kids:

The summer writing challenges that I offer on my website and in my TPT store include the following:

• 2 opinion essays
• 2 persuasive essays
• 2 descriptive writing activities
• 2 narrative writing activities
• 1 “how-to” essay
• 5 journal prompts
• 5 story starters
• 2 recipes activities
• 3 newspaper articles
• 1 packing list activity
• 2 book reports
• 1 biography
• 1 restaurant review
• 1 autobiography

The variety of writing prompts offers students opportunities to practice core writing concepts that align with instruction at school.

I would also like to note that, even though this is a 30-day writing challenge, I have allowed my students and my own children the length of the summer to finish it.  In some cases that is actually closer to 60 days.  This offers some flexibility with vacation schedules, camps, and other summer fun.

At this moment, I have two levels available.  The first product was created for students in 1st and 2nd grade.  The second product was created for students in 3rd and 4th grade.  The grade levels are NOT listed on the products themselves.  This allows teachers and parents to determine which product best meets the needs of their students or children.  If you’d like to grab both levels at a discount, you can grab there here.  As always, please let me know if you have questions!

Happy writing this summer!  Please feel free to share any other summer writing ideas in the comments!

Other Blog Posts you may be interested in:

• Summer Break Activities for Students
• Fun Father’s Day Activities
• Alphabet Countdown to Summer Activities for Upper Grades