Writing Short Stories by and for Kids

By George Edward Stanley and Joel Heffner

How do you get children to think and write creatively? Teaching them how to write short stories is one excellent way. Everyone can create a short story. The difference between a story written by an adult and one written by a very young child is mainly a matter of details and writing style.

Teachers can start with a bare-bones story and ask students to expand upon it. A bare-bones children’s story has nothing more or less than it needs to have to still be called a short story. It presents a problem, various unsuccessful ways that a child might think of to solve the problem, and a final solution.

A template with missing words can be used to get started. Later, students can come up with their own original ideas. For example, you might want to use a template like this one:

The Mystery of the __________ Noise

__________ heard a __________ noise in the __________. __________ decided to find out what it was.

__________ looked _____________________________. But all _________ found was ___________________________.

Then __________ looked ___________________________. But all _________ found was _______________________________.

Finally, __________ looked ___________________________. That’s when __________ found ___________________________.

__________ said, “___________________________________ ______________________________.”

Then ____________ went back to bed and fell sound asleep.

Here’s an example of a bare-bones story that was developed using the template. It was developed for third and fourth graders:

The Mystery of the Funny Noise

Mary Smith heard a funny noise in her room. She decided to find out what it was.

She looked in the closet. But all she found was a pile of dirty clothes.

Then, she looked behind the door. But all she found was her teddy bear.

Finally, she looked under the bed. That’s where she found the dragon.

She said, “If you’re going to sleep in my room, you’ll have to be quieter.”

Then she went back to bed and fell sound asleep.

Students might be asked to expand upon such a bare-bones story by adding sentences to it. Here’s an example of how adding sentences has made the story better. This version, written by George Edward Stanley, appeared in Highlights for Children:

The Mystery of the Funny Noise

Mary Smith heard a funny noise in her room. She had never heard anything like it before. She decided to find out what it was. She got out of bed and put on her robe and slippers.

She looked in her closet. She looked and looked. But all she found was a pile of dirty clothes. I forgot to put those in the dirty-clothes hamper, she thought.

Then she looked behind the door. The squeaking noise it made scared her. But all she found was her teddy bear. She picked it up and set it on a chair.

Finally, she looked under the bed. That was where she should have looked in the first place. That’s where she found the dragon. It looked so lonely that she couldn’t ask it to leave.

She said, “If you’re going to sleep in my room, then you’ll have to be quieter.” She gave the dragon a pillow and a blanket.

Then she went back to bed and fell sound asleep.

[Note: The late George Edward Stanley wrote more than a hundred books for children. You can find some on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. He allowed me to write this article in the late 1990s. I think it's time to let another generation learn from him.]