A good writing journal is a excellent tool to help kids and teens give voice to their emotions and experiences, develop self-awareness and explore their creativity.
This list includes a variety of journals that encourage young writers, from journals where they can explore their creativity to journals with prompts that encourage mindfulness and build emotional intelligence.
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Writing Journals
I have kept a diary since I was 9-years-old. As an adult I so enjoy looking back at the childhood experiences that I thought were important enough to record for posterity. I encourage all parents to give their children the opportunity to create their own life chronicle. Believe me, you'll love looking back at your children's memories, too.
Q & A a Day for Kids: A Three-Year Journal. I first saw this in the New York Public Library's gift store (a dangerous place for my wallet) and fell in love. It might be my favorite of all the journals collected here. Each page features a question with space below designated for a child to write his answer for three consecutive years. It will be so much fun to see the different answers as time passes, and children will get a sense of how their tastes, interests and lives have changed and grown.
TIP: I had one writer and one pre-writer when I first got this book. For the pre-writer I wrote down his answers myself. I love looking back at them!
Wreck This Journal. This one is not specifically for kids, but I they will love it, and is great for active kids who may not want to "sit down and write." Each page has instructions to get journalists to be destructively productive! Creative prompts include things like, "poke holes in this page with a pencil", "figure out a way to attach these two pages together", "draw a line while in motion." This journal would be great fun for kids who are full of restless energy.
Choose Kind Journal: Do One Wonderful Thing Every Day. Drawing on the popularity of the book, Wonder, this journal encourages children to write down their thoughts about showing compassion for others. Each day asks a question about showing kindness, or how the child has being on the receiving end of another's kind deed, and provides quotes from Wonder as inspiration.
642 Things to Write About: Young Writer's Edition. This is a writing journal that will last a long time! It is also a great choice for voracious writers. Creative writing prompts encourage kids to let their imagination run wild and the space allowed for writing varies from full to quarter pages.
Me: A Compendium: A Fill-in Journal for Kids This is an excellent writing journal for children who are daunted by the idea of writing large amounts of text. The journal's bold graphic design invites the young writer to answer simple, but creative questions, giving them the option to expand upon their thoughts or to illustrate their ideas. It is also a good choice for very young writers.
Reading Journal for Kids (Who Love to Read). This stellar reading journal is from Melissa Taylor, the educator and literacy specialist behind the blog, Imagination Soup. What sets this journal apart from other reading journals, and the reason why I've included it on this list of writing journals that encourage self-reflection, is the inventiveness and variety of the writing prompts which encourage kids to think creatively and critically about the books they have read. We know that reading builds emotional intelligence and being able to think critically about books can help kids understand their own emotional reactions to stories.
My Stuffed Animal Journal. Does your child have a huge collection of stuffed animals? The Stuffed Animal Journal is a clever way to keep track of soft friends and for kids to harness their imagination to write stories starring their favorite plushies. Each stuffed animal gets a dedicated two pages with space for kids to draw a portrait, record vitals, favorites and give a little background about the lives of their favorite friends.
My Travel Journal. If your children have trouble writing about their travel adventures without specific writing prompts, this is a good travel journal option.
Rip the Page!: Adventures in Creative Writing contains writing prompts and inspiration to get kids writing in unusual and creative ways. I highly recommend it for kids ages 7 and up (the publisher recommends ages 9 and up). The author also wrote a companion book, Leap Write In!: Adventures in Creative Writing to Stretch and Surprise Your One-of-a-Kind Mind.
Journal Sparks: Fire Up Your Creativity with Spontaneous Art, Wild Writing, and Inventive Thinking. This is not actually a journal but a companion book to encourage journalist to combine writing with art to explore how to express themselves. The book contains extensive how-to instructions for interactive journaling, using poetry, collage, watercolor, free writing and more.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the economy standby composition book. You can buy the traditional black, ruled book for under $5, or you can even get 100% Recycled Paper version. If your kids decorate it with stickers, collage items or cover it with their art, it gives them a sense of ownership and encourages them to crack the spine and start writing.
I shall leave this post with a page from my son's journal from age 4. Its insanity still makes me smile.
Susan Call Hutchison (ReadAloudReadAlong.com) says
I love journaling as a way to build the writing side of literacy. Kids love books they have written themselves. And as they grow older, they are glad to have the memories. Don't even need to say how much it will mean to parents and grandparents!
Erica MomandKiddo says
I completely agree, Susan!
Jacquie@KCEdventures says
I love journals for kids especially during the summertime! We're working on a fun nature journal for this year's vacation. And my daughter is excited to use her travel journal on our excursions. I also love the grandparent journals that can be used to share memories with the family (I gave one to my grandmother years ago and received it back this year as a gift - completed with many wonderful stories and old photos). You're right -- they are a place to keep memories. Great ideas!
Erica MomandKiddo says
A grandparent journal is a fun idea.
PragmaticMom says
Love, love, LOVE your journal ideas and selections!! It's exactly what we need to get my kids writing a little.
Belinda Brock says
I really enjoyed this post and love journals. We had a family journal in which we used to make entries and respond to each other. When one of us was finished, we placed it on the bed of the next person we wanted to read it. Sometimes it was easier to write things down than talk about it.
Erica MomandKiddo says
Thanks, Belinda. I agree, writing is a nice change from talking sometimes.
Natalie says
What a great post! Perhaps I'll give my daughter one of those books as a summer gift, but, to be honest, I don't expect her to really get into creative writing until she is at least 8 or 9... So far every time she did the journal for 2-3 days and dropped it entirely...
Bonnie says
I just loved this post. I have been thinking of how to encourage my 6yo son to write more because he dislikes it. I'm thinking we might try out a summer journal as a start and these ideas from your post provided much needed inspiration.
Erica MomandKiddo says
Thanks, Bonnie. The summer is a good time to start a writing routine since there is less pressure.
emily says
Hello! Nice journal suggestions. I also especially like your tip of encouraging writing stamina and fluency and not spelling . Sometimes it s easier for children to write when they don t get stopped up by trying to ask or worry how words are spelled. By the way the best paper writing service that I saw: speedypaper.net/
Dee says
I have a child that just turned 5 and another that will soon be 4 and I may begin to homeschool them, but either way, I think journaling will be a great addition to our day. We started using a couple of spiral notebooks, but now I am looking for a blank journal that has thick pages that won't bleed when my child uses markers (or at least minimal bleeding) but I don't really know where or what to look for. It looks like your son is using marker in his journal, which one do you use? or do you have a suggestion of one with thick pages? Thanks, I love your ideas and posts.
I originally found your 2008 'starting a preschool journal' on Pinterest!!!