37 Writing Prompts for Teens

American movies and TV love to romanticize being a teenager, as the most important years of your life that you’ll never forget.

Certainly, these are important years, but for most people, these are also a very brief period of time in a person’s life, which many teenagers struggle to understand.

So, by using writing prompts, they can step back and get some perspective on this time, which absolutely can be great and exciting for them.

How to Use These Prompts

These prompts are designed to be used to help teenagers think more about their daily life and how things are changing around them.

These questions can be done once a week, over an extended period of time, to help open up how students think about the world around them.

They can also be used daily, which helps to get through the prompts quicker while still making students think over an extended period of time.

These questions also lend themselves to being discussed in small groups, which will help to open students to new thoughts and ideas.

The Writing Prompts for Teens

  1. How much freedom do you have as opposed to your peers? Why do you think this is?
  2. How much time do you spend online? Do you enjoy this time, or does it make you feel anxious or upset in some way? Why?
  3. Do you think how teenagers, broadly speaking, use the internet is going to be something they regret? Explain.
  4. How much influence has how your parents or guardians raised you changed who you are?
  5. Are you religious? Is this how you’ve always felt?
  6. Do you think you fit into a clique? What clique is that? Explain.
  7. Have you committed an act of teenage rebellion? What was it, and why did you do it?
  8. What is your favorite class in school? What makes it special?
  9. What is your least favorite class? Why?
  10. If you could restructure high school, how would you change it? Why?
  11. How important is school spirit in high school?
  12. Do you think that you’ll always listen to the same music that you listen to now? Why?
  13. Do you have opinions on politics? Where do those opinions come from, and do you think they’ll change over time?
  14. Is there a different time period that you’d prefer to be a teenager in? Why?
  15. Do you think that your friends now will be your friends forever? Why?
  16. How well do you feel you understand civics? Why?
  17. How would you raise your own children differently than your parents raised you?
  18. How many things in a day do you do that embarrass yourself? How many will you remember after you graduate high school?
  19. What do you want to do for a career? Do you think this will be your actual job one day? Why?
  20. If you could live in any country on Earth, would you still choose the United States? Why or why not?
  21. What type of books do you read? Why?
  22. How do you spend your free time? Is there something that you would like to do but don’t?
  23. Do you have a job now? Do you like it? Why?
  24. Are you good at saving money for the future?
  25. What subject should they teach in school, but don’t? Why?
  26. What is the most important thing in your life right now? Will it always be? Explain.
  27. Is spending time alone worthwhile? Explain.
  28. Has anyone close to you died? How did you handle it?
  29. How important are random acts of kindness?
  30. Do you like group work in schools? Why or why not?
  31. Has any single class changed your outlook on life? How so?
  32. What responsibilities do you have, and which is most important? Why?
  33. Does high school start too early? Why? What would happen if school started later in the day?
  34. How much pressure do you feel regarding your future?
  35. Have you had a romantic relationship yet? If not, what has prevented this? If yes, then what did you learn from the experience?
  36. What are your core beliefs about life? Explain.
  37. What is the biggest waste of time in your life? Why is it a waste?

Looking for more?

Needing more writing inspiration or other resources for students? Feel free to look throughout the rest of our website, and share this with friends or colleagues who may find it useful.

Psst… don’t forget to take a look at our other prompts – maybe writing about a mystery or ancient Egypt could be your next move! Or robots, or ambition. We’ve got it all here for you, and then some.

Make sure you check back soon as we add new resources for you every day.

If anything is missing, please reach out to us! We love hearing from you all. Thanks.