year 4 english creative writing

Writing in Year 4 (age 8–9)

In Year 4, your child will continue to develop across the different strands of writing: imagination and ideas, audience and purpose, handwriting or typing, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Read on to discover the National Curriculum expectations for writing in Year 4, and to find out how you can support your child at home.

How to help at home

There are lots of ways you can help your Year 4 child with writing. Here are our top ideas.

1. Read to your child

While children do learn new language and ideas from speaking and listening, the type of language we use in writing is often very different from that in speech. Reading regularly to your child, especially longer chapter books that they might not be able to yet read independently, is a great way to support their writing.

While your child will have some favourite books and types of book that they’ll want to listen to again and again, try to make sure they get to hear a range of different types of books, including fiction and non-fiction. This is useful for their writing because it models lots of language styles.

For books to read with your child, take a look at our free eBook library .

2. Have your child to read to you

Making time to hear your child read isn’t just good for their reading. Seeing words in print helps them to understand the words, to spell them, and to see how grammar and punctuation are used to make meaning.

When you read, occasionally talk about why the author has decided to include something and how they written it. For example:

‘I wonder why the author has chosen to describe the castle as “gloomy”? I wonder what that tells us about what might happen there?’

3. Try some real-world writing

Writing for a real purpose can be a great way to fit in some practice. Writing cards, shopping lists, or letters/emails to relatives can be motivating real life reasons for writing, and can show children how useful it is to be able to write well.

Your child might enjoy keeping a diary or writing short stories based on books they have read or toys they enjoy playing with. Be sure to encourage your child to write about what most interests them, as this is the best way to keep them enthusiastic.

4. Tell stories aloud

Giving your child the opportunity to tell stories orally is a great way to get them used to structuring their ideas and using adventurous language. If they’re not sure where to start, see if they can retell a story that they already know well, like The Magic Paintbrush or Rumpelstiltskin .

If your child finds it useful to plan out their story first, try our free Story mountain to make a great plot with a beginning, middle, and end. Your child might also enjoy reciting poetry – see if your child can memorise and perform ‘Who has seen the wind?’ with our Perform a poem activity sheet .

Activity: Story mountain

Complete the story mountain to plan your story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Activity: Perform a poem

Read a poem, talk about what it means, and perform it to an audience.

5. Find story inspiration

You can find fun story ideas anywhere! Why not raid your kitchen cupboards or hunt through the attic to find lost treasures? Anything from an old hat to a telescope will do the trick. What could the object be used for? Who might be looking for it? What secrets could it hold? Suggest different genres such as mystery or science fiction and discuss how the item might be used in this kind of story.

Real-world facts can also be a great source of inspiration. For example, did you know a jumping flea can accelerate faster than a space rocket taking off into orbit? What crazy story can your child make out of this fact? Newspapers and news websites can be great for finding these sorts of ideas.

For more storytelling ideas, download our free Story idea generator or our Character profile activity sheet .

Activity: Story idea generator

Activity: Character profile

6. Draw your ideas first

If your child isn’t sure where to start with a story or even a piece of non-fiction, it can sometimes be helpful to sketch out their ideas first. For instance, can they draw a picture of a dastardly villain or a brave hero? How about a scary woodland or an enchanted castle?

Your child might also find it useful to draw maps or diagrams. What are all the different areas of their fantasy landscape called? How is the baddie’s base organised?

Some children might enjoy taking this idea a step further and drawing their own comics. This is great practice – it stretches your child’s creativity, gets them thinking about plot, character, and dialogue, and is a big confidence boost once they’ve finished and have an amazing story to look back on.

What your child will learn

In Year 4 (age 8–9), your child will be aiming to build upon the goals and expectations they were first set in Year 3. They will be expected to:

Discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar
Discussing and recording their ideas.
Composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures
Organising paragraphs around a theme
In narratives, creating settings, characters and plot
In non-narrative material, using simple organisational devices (for example, headings and sub-headings).
Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements
Proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences .
Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors.

Handwriting, spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all important aspects of writing too. You can find out more about them on our dedicated pages:

Handwriting in Year 4 (age 8-9)

Find out more about handwriting in Year 4 at Primary School.

Find out more

Image showing close up of child's hand writing

Spelling in Year 4 (age 8-9)

Find out more about spelling in Year 4 at Primary School.

Grammar and punctuation in Year 4 (age 8-9)

Find out more about grammar and punctuation in Year 4 at Primary School.

Age 5–6 (Year 1)
Age 6–7 (Year 2)
Age 7–8 (Year 3)
Age 8–9 (Year 4)
Age 9–10 (Year 5)
Age 10–11 (Year 6)
Year 1 (age 5–6)
Year 2 (age 6–7)
Year 3 (age 7–8)
Year 4 (age 8–9)
Year 5 (age 9–10)
Year 6 (age 10–11)
Grammar glossary
Grammar books

Year 4 Writing

Discover year 4 writing standards.

Now that your child has reached Year 4, they’ll be consolidating, refining and building upon English language knowledge that they’ve developed in previous years.

As they embark on the second half of their primary school journey, Year 4 students will be encouraged to start thinking, analyzing and processing information more independently, which can be quite a big jump from previous years. They’ll be expected to research various topics and produce articles utilizing their reading comprehension skills. There are many higher-level thinking skills involved in the writing process in Year 4 and this could prove challenging for your child at times.

This guide will take you through the key writing skills your young writer will need to develop in order to ensure that their academic progress is seamless.

10 Important Year 4 Writing Goals

I can write independently
I can compose clear and coherent articles and stories
I can refine written text by revising and redrafting
I can complete a plan before beginning to write
I can use technology to publish articles and stories
I can structure articles and stories correctly
I can produce writing for different purposes and audiences
I can use my research skills to compose an informative report
I can use structured paragraphs and complex sentences
I can establish a clear theme throughout an article or story

Year 4 learners will work towards achieving these goals by writing in the following forms:

Opinion Writing

Explanatory/Informative Writing

Narrative Writing

Children in Year 4 should be familiar with these styles of writing, and understand the features and structure of each text type.

To level up their writing skills, children will need to both increase the level of detail in their articles and stories, and the sophistication of their vocabulary and grammar usage to impress their reader.

In Year 4, your child should be writing with the intention of persuading or convincing the reader.

Here are some guidelines on how to structure an opinion piece:

Focus on a single, strong idea.
State your opinion on the topic.
Provide reasons for the argument, with relevant evidence and supporting thoughts, organized in clear paragraphs.
Use persuasive writing techniques such as emotive language to influence the reader.
Use linking words and phrases to ensure their article flows.
End with a summary of the most important points made in the argument and conclude with a memorable sentence.

Practice Tip

Challenge your child to share their opinion on a topic of your choice. Ask them to take on their own research project to ensure that their arguments are valid, and then ask them to present these to you verbally with reasons to support their opinion. It can be very beneficial for children to talk about their writing before they put pen to paper.

Informative Writing

Children in Year 4 should be able to report factual information in an organized and clear way.

Here’s how your young writer can succeed at informative writing:

Learn about a specific topic and list out the most important aspects to include in their piece of writing.
Include facts, details and definitions in order to provide accurate information.
Write in the first or third person.
Use appropriate language, such as precise, topic-related vocabulary.
Organize different points in clear headings, sections and paragraphs.
Review the whole piece when it is completed. Informative writing requires precise use of facts, so it’s important that your child double-checks that the information they’ve provided is truthful.

Our printable report writing activity pack shares top tips on how to structure informative writing pieces and guides learners through developing a topic that includes facts, details, and definitions. It introduces topic related vocabulary and supports children to then use these words in their own writing.

In Year 4, children will develop their narrative writing skills to include a clear sequence of events , descriptive detail, and an established narrator and characters .

Alongside character development and plot, learners in Year 4 need to control and direct their narrative using transitional words and phrases. Conjunctions, adverbs, and prepositions can all be used to link and sequence sentences and paragraphs within a story.

Some narrative writing techniques to have in mind are:

Get your child to base narrative stories on real events or, if they’re super-creative, fictional scenarios!
Set established settings and surroundings, characters and details which can give the reader a sense of immersion. Use literary devices such as similes and metaphors to make the writing piece even more captivating!
Provide a wider context for the story. For example, if the plot takes place in a forest, where is the forest located? What can the characters see when they're there?
Ensure that the story follows a logical narrative structure - beginning, middle and end.
Good stories need a good ending! End the narrative with a happy ending, a cliffhanger or even a plot-twist!

Encourage daily writing! The more your child practises, the better they’ll become at describing and using figurative language to grab the reader’s attention. Daily writing can be done in many different ways, including journalling, using writing prompts, and playing writing games on Nightzookeeper.com!

How Night Zookeeper can help

Nightzookeeper.com covers the full English National Curriculum, and has been created to help your child develop fundamental writing skills. We make learning to write fantastically fun by gamifying the writing process in the magical world of the Night Zoo!

Our reading & writing program has been created by primary school teachers, and includes writing lesson plans that you can use to map out your child’s learning experience, creative writing prompts on all styles of writing, printable Year 4 writing worksheets, and much more!

English - Years 1 to 6
Writing (overview)
Year 4 Reading
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Year 4 Spelling
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Make Reading & Writing Fantastically Fun!

Award-winning reading & writing program for kids
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Writing skills - creative and narrative writing

Imaginative or creative writing absorbs readers in an entertaining way. To succeed with this kind of writing you will need to write in a way that is individual, original and compelling to read.

Responding to Prompts

Imagine you’re in an exam and you are asked to write a creative piece called ‘The Party’. What does this title make you think of?Before you decide what you’d write, it’s useful to remember that you do whatever you want with the prompt as long as it’s somehow connected to a party.

It doesn’t have to be something that really happened
It doesn’t have to be based on exactly what the title says or is
It can be as abstract or as mundane as you want it to be.

So this means that for the title ‘The Party’, you could write a lovely descriptive piece about your dream birthday party, or a personal account of a party you attended that was very good – or very bad. You could write a story about a political party, or a doll’s tea party, or a party held by fans to watch the final episode of a TV show everyone is very excited about, or a party that didn’t actually happen because no one turned up. The most important thing is that you choose a story you can write well, showing off your skill in using language effectively and keeping your reader entertained.

Original ideas

There is no formula for having a great idea – but to begin your writing, you do need, at least, some kind of idea. Then you need to find ways to turn your idea into something a reader would enjoy reading. This is the creative part, taking something ordinary and turning it into something extraordinary.

For example, think about writing a description of a coastline. You might start to think straight away about a crowded beach - children playing, deck chairs, sun shining, happy sounds; but, if you stop for a moment, you’ll recall that that's been done before. It's okay, but it's hardly original.

The 'plot hook' in this example is 'What could possibly go wrong?'.

Establish the time and place, as well as the general situation. This can also be used to help develop a suitable mood or atmosphere. It can sometimes help to use a familiar place that your reader can relate to in some way. At this stage, you need to 'set up' the story and begin to introduce the main character(s).

Fiction trigger (or inciting incident)

Use your narrator to tell of an incident or event that the reader feels will spark a chain of events. This helps make the reader feel that the story has really started. From this point, life cannot be quite the same for your main character (that is your protagonist). There is a problem that has to be faced and overcome.

The fiction trigger can be an event that really starts the story. It will develop from the 'plot hook'. If the story is about a day out at the zoo, then maybe an animal has escaped. If it is about a robbery, it might be the event that makes a character consider carrying out a robbery; and if it is about an accident, it will be the event that causes it to happen.

Keeping up the momentum (plot development or rising action)This section builds the tension – keeps the reader absorbed and guessing where it will all lead.

This is where you will move the story forward and will use lots of techniques to keep the reader guessing, 'What will happen next?!'

The problem reaches a head, with suspense creating lots of tension for the reader– showing the reader the possible result of what has come before.

This is not the end of your story – not quite. It will be the key event but your protagonist will, somehow, overcome it and all will be well.

Conclusion (the resolution)

This must leave your reader with a sense of satisfaction, or it could be a twist in the tale leaving questions that linger in the mind.

This is the ending of your story – where all loose ends are tied up to the satisfaction of the reader. A good story will cause the reader to go, 'Hmm – I liked that' or even 'Wow'

By following this story structure, and planning under each of the above headings, you should be able to come up with a tense plot for your own story, one that will engage and absorb your reader.

Writing techniques

Throughout your own story, you will also need to use writing techniques that will work to keep your reader engaged and absorbed. An important skill is to put clear images of the setting and characters in your reader’s mind, as well as to create a sense of atmosphere that suits each part of the story.

Narration - the voice that tells the story, either first person (I/me) or third person (he/him/she/her). This needs to have the effect of interesting your reader in the story with a warm and inviting but authoritative voice.
Description - describing words such as adjectives close adjective A word which describes a noun or pronoun. , adverbs close adverb An adverb gives more information about the verb, an adjective or another adverb. , similes close simile A literary technique where a comparison is made between two things using ‘as’ or ‘like’. and metaphors close metaphor Makes a direct comparison by presenting one thing as if it were something else with the characteristic. For example describing a brave person as a lion. that add detail. This is told by the narrator. It helps engage readers by creating vivid pictures and feelings in their 'mind’s eye'.
Dialogue - the direct speech of characters, shown inside quotation marks. We all judge characters by what they talk about and by the way they speak. This makes dialogue a key technique for creating interest and realism.
Alliteration - repetition of the same beginning sounds in nearby words.This can create a useful emphasis, maybe to highlight a sound or movement, or to intensify feeling or even to bind words together.
Connotation - a word’s meaning can be literal, as in 'It looked like a cat', or it can create connotations as in 'As soon as the food reached the table, the boy pounced on it like a cat.' A connotation is a meaning created by a special use of a word in a particular way or context. It works by adding some kind of emotion or a feeling to a word’s usual meaning. All literature depends upon using language that creates connotations. They engage the reader because they evoke reactions and feelings.
Pathetic fallacy - personification is a kind of metaphor and when nature is described in this way, it is called a use of pathetic fallacy. This can help suggest a suitable atmosphere or imply what the mood of the characters is at a certain point, eg in a ghost story, the storm clouds could be said to 'glower down angrily upon the group of youngsters'. A pathetic fallacy can add atmosphere to a scene. It can even give clues to the reader as to what is to come, acting as a kind of foreshadowing close foreshadow Hint at something that will happen later and have greater significance .
Personification - this is a technique of presenting objects as if they have feelings, eg 'the rain seemed to be dancing merrily on the excited tin roof.' This creates a sense of emotion and mood for the reader.
Repetition - the action of repeating a word or idea. This can add emphasis or create an interesting pattern of sound or ideas.
Onomatopoeia - use of words which echo their meaning in sound, for example, 'whoosh' 'bang'. Using this can add emotion or feeling that helps give the reader a vivid sense of the effect being described.
Simile - a kind of description. A simile compares two things so that the thing described is understood more vividly, eg 'The water was as smooth as glass.' (Hint - 'like' or 'as' are key words to spot as these create the simile). A simile can create a vivid image in the reader’s mind, helping to engage and absorb them.
Symbolism - we grow up learning lots of symbols and these can be used in stories to convey a lot of meaning as well as feeling in a single idea or word, eg a red rose can symbolise romantic love; a heavy buckled belt can hint at the power held by the character; an apple can even symbolize temptation if it is used in a way that the reader links to the apple that tempted Eve in the biblical Garden of Eden.
Impact - symbols help writers pack a lot of meaning into just a single word. They work to engage the reader, too, for the reader automatically gets involved in working out the meaning.

Examples of narration

First person narrator.

I held on to the tuft of grass and slowly looked down - I was too shocked to speak. One moment I had been strolling along the cliff with Vicki, the next I was hanging over the edge. And where was Vicki?

The only thing you shouldn't do is swap the narrative point of view during the story - don’t start with 'I' and then switch to 'he', as it is likely to confuse your reader.

Third person narrator

Steve held on to the tuft of grass and slowly looked down - he was too shocked to speak. One moment he had been strolling along the cliff with Vicki, the next he was hanging over the edge. And where was Vicki?

Ending a short story

The ending of a story doesn't necessarily have to be happy but it has to make sense in a way that ties up what has happened.

There are different types of story endings, for example:

The cliff-hanger - this isn’t an ending as such, it’s a way of tempting the reader to read the next chapter or instalment. Charles Dickens wrote his chapters like this as they were originally published in magazines in serial form. For example, does the spy manage to stop the bomb in time?
The twist-in-the-tale - the reader will feel fairly sure about the ending, but in the final part everything changes and we are surprised. For example, we learn that it isn’t a bomb after all, it’s a birthday present!
The enigma ending - the story stops, but the reader is left a little unsure what will come to happen, yet is intrigued by the possibilities - and still feels satisfied. For example, the bomb is defused and everyone is safe, but then an army commander reports the theft of another bomb… only this time twice as powerful.

There are many possibilities; but there are two endings you should try to avoid:

The meteor was now inches from impact. The world watched and waited with bated breath and at that moment my eyes opened... It was all a dream

The trick ending - a bomb will inevitably explode and as it does, the narrator wakes up - it was all a dream. This is too clichéd and unsatisfying for modern readers.
The disconnected ending - the secret agent suddenly stops worrying about the bomb, retires, and goes off to play golf. Readers don't like this because the ending has nothing to do with the story – very unsatisfying.

Whatever kind of story you write, work out a satisfying ending and include it in your plan.

Writing that is creative and imaginative needs to be entertaining. You need to experiment a little and not be frightened to try something new.

What might you write about if the following tasks came up in an exam? Take a few minutes to think about different ways you could interpret the task, and maybe sketch a quick plan for your best idea.

The Best Day of My Life
The Mysterious Door
Never Again
Stormy Weather
How to be a Hero
Sunday at the Beach
My Life as an Expert
Greetings from the Future
What I REALLY Learned at School