All students (elementary/middle/high) live for taking vacation. 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 vacation writing prompts.
For 1st and 2nd graders:
Prompt 1: Tell us something really fun you did this summer.
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?
Prompt 3: Would you rather spend one day at a theme park like DisneyWorld, or two days at the beach?
Prompt 4 At the carnival, do you prefer to ride a rollercoaster or the merry-go-round?
Prompt 5: Describe your favorite place to eat when you’re on vacation.
For the older grades:
Prompt 6: 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”?
Prompt 7: 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?
Prompt 8: 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.
Prompt 9: Many students complain that they don’t get enough vacation time. Why do you feel you should get more vacation days?
Prompt 10: Write about a vacation tradition that they feel is unique to their family or culture.
Prompt 11: 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.
Prompt 12: Create a new holiday and write an essay explaining the new holiday and how it would be celebrated.
Prompt 13: 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.
Prompt 14: On vacation you rode in a hot air balloon. Describe the things you saw from above.