Fun Writing Games To Get Your Middle School Students Excited About Creative Writing

Writing Games Can Help Spark Creativity And Increase Student Engagement.

Some middle school students LOVE writing, and others might need a little push. When working with students who view writing as a chore, it can be helpful to turn the writing activity into a game. This adds a bit of fun to your writing class while encouraging students to produce more writing than they would in a normal writing session. Let’s take a look at two of my favorite creative writing games for middle school students. 

You can make both of these games on your own. You can also find pre-made, no-prep versions of the games here.

Partner Plot

This game is a great way to help middle school students develop plots for their stories. It is perfect as an introduction activity to a creative writing assignment, or as a way to teach plot in a short story unit. 

There are two versions of this game. In the simplified version, the students each get a handout that is broken up into three sections: beginning, middle, and end. Set a timer for five to ten minutes and give both students time to write the opening of their story in the beginning section of their organizer. When the timer goes off, have the students switch papers with their partners. Give each student two minutes to read their partner's writing, and then reset the times for another five to ten minutes. Have the students keep their partner’s organizer. Now the students have to write the middle section of their partner’s story on their partner’s organizer. When the timer goes off, have them switch papers again. Give them two more minutes to read the additions that their partners made to their stories. Reset the timer for a final ten minutes. This time, have the students write the ending to their stories. 

The more complex version of this activity has the students start off with organizers that are broken up into four sections: exposition and conflict, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. The process is the same as the simplified version. Set the timer for each section, and have the students swap papers every time the timer goes off.

It’s always fun to give students a chance to share the stories they’ve come up with at the end of class. Some can get silly, especially if one of the students tries to derail the plot of their partner's story or change the genre. If you don’t have an even number of students, you can still play this game in groups of two, three, or more. Simply have the group sit in a circle and pass their papers to the person to their right whenever the timer goes off.

Written Charades

Written charades is a game designed to help students add more descriptive details to their writing. This works like a regular game of charades. Only, instead of acting out the words, they read their written descriptions out loud.

The rules are pretty straightforward. Have a bowl in the front of the classroom filled with strips of paper. Each paper will have either a setting or an event written on it. Some examples might include phrases like the playground, a movie theatre, the first day of school, or a big soccer game. Break the students up into two groups. Have each student come up, pick a slip of paper from the bowl, and then return to their seat. They can look at their own slip of paper, but they cannot tell anyone else what their paper says. 

Once everyone is seated, give the students ten to fifteen minutes to write a paragraph describing that setting or event. They should use as many descriptive details as possible, but they cannot use the words written on their slip of paper. They are also not allowed to use synonyms. For example, if their slip of paper says, “the doctor’s office,” they are not allowed to write “pediatrician’s place of work” in their paragraph. Tell the students to write about things that they can see, hear, feel, smell, and taste. Have them use as much figurative language and sensory details as possible. 

When the timer goes off, have the students take turns reading their descriptive paragraphs aloud. After each reading, give their group members thirty seconds to try to guess what their team member is describing. The team with the most correct guesses wins.

Conclusion

Sometimes our students need us to bring an element of playfulness to our writing classrooms. If your students are in a writing slump, or if you have reluctant writers who struggle to find the joy in writing, try adding some writing games to your classroom.

If you are working on a creative writing unit, click here to receive a free copy of my Creative Writing Planning Guide!