Writing Prompts for January (2024)

January Journal Prompts and Writing Ideas to Help You and Your Writers Start the New Year Creatively—Oh yeah! The arrival of the new year is the perfect time to reflect on the places we’ve been and the places we’re going. So get to it and have your writers grab a pen, pencil, tablet, or computer and get to writing for the new year today. I know you’ll be glad you did.

You see…

Our excellent list of January writing prompts and journaling ideas shown below includes a prompt for every day of the month. Yeppers, that’s 31 wonderful January journal prompts for you and your writers to use this New Year!

Bonus! The ideas are listed as four weeks of journaling ideas to make things easier and more fun. Ok, without further ado, let’s get to it!

Yippee for Journaling in the New Year

Whether students enjoy making formal resolutions or simply having the chance for a fresh start, the month of January is a time of beginnings.

In this month’s set of January journal prompts (which make wonderful daily writing prompts!) students get the chance to plan ahead for the new year and to think about what’s coming next.

A different type of prompt for each day of the week lends a bit of order and guided creativity to the journaling process.

Sundays and Mondays give kids the chance to reflect on what has happened and what’s coming up next, while…

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are all about promoting creative writing through stories, descriptive language, and poetry.

On Fridays, students get the chance to share their work and discuss their ideas with a friend—and on Saturdays, students take some time out of their days to help others and then write about their experiences.

Start the new year off the right way with our wonderful list of January journal prompts. Our new year journaling ideas encourage students to move their lives forward and begin thinking about their future plans!

Our January Writing Prompts and Journal Ideas

Kids from all grades will enjoy these January journal prompts and writing prompt ideas – a daily writing practice will really boost students writing skills!

January Journal Prompts Week 1 – Let’s Start the Year Off Right

1. Motivated Monday: What are a few things you can do that will help you stay on track to achieve your goals this year?

2. Tell a Story Tuesday: Write a story about a New Year’s Eve celebration gone wrong—when the clock strikes midnight, the year goes backward instead of forward!

3. Descriptive Writing Wednesday: Use descriptive language to write about a New Year’s Eve party. Be sure to think about all five senses as you write.

4. Compose a Poem Thursday: Write a poem about beginnings.

5. Friendly Friday: Write about your goals for the new year and share your work with a friend. Give each other ideas about how to achieve your goals.

6. Supportive Saturday: Help someone else by offering to take on a new chore at home and write about your experience. How did the other person react? How long will you keep you new commitment?

7. Sunday’s End of the Week Reflection: Reflect on the end of the year. What were some of the year’s highlights?

Week 2 – New Year’s “Newness” Is Still Going Strong

1. Motivated Monday: Set an intention for the upcoming week. What will you focus on?

2. Tell a Story Tuesday: Write a story about a country that makes a New Year’s resolution. How do their plans work out?

3. Descriptive Writing Wednesday: Use descriptive language to write about January. Be sure to use all five senses while describing the way the month feels.

4. Compose a Poem Thursday: Write a poem about something you do well.

5. Friendly Friday: Write about your greatest hopes for the world and share your ideas with a friend. How are your hopes similar and different? What could make them come true?

6. Supportive Saturday: Do something kind for one of your neighbors today and write about your experience. How did helping your neighbor make you feel?

7. Sunday’s End of the Week Reflection: What did you do well last week?

Week 3 – Keep Focused On New Beginnings

1. Motivated Monday: How can you modify your behavior from last week in order to achieve more?

2. Tell a Story Tuesday: Write a story about a boy who undergoes a surprising change at the beginning of the year.

3. Descriptive Writing Wednesday: Use descriptive language to write about the way you feel after a hard day’s work.

4. Compose a Poem Thursday: Write a poem about the feeling of growing older.

5. Friendly Friday: Write about a time when you achieved something great and share your success story with a friend. What made each of you so successful?

6. Supportive Saturday: Call a friend and help one another complete your homework—then, write about your experience. Was it easier to work on your assignment together? How did it feel to share ideas with another student?

7. Sunday’s End of the Week Reflection: What was your greatest success this week? What are some areas you could improve in?

Week 4 – Hooray…Your Year Is Off to a Magical and Magnificent Start!

1. Motivated Monday: What will you accomplish this week? How will you do it?

2. Tell a Story Tuesday: Write a story about a girl who remembers everything she learns.

3. Descriptive Writing Wednesday: Use descriptive language to write about the sound of snow falling. What sights do you see? Can you taste anything?

4. Compose a Poem Thursday: Write a poem about someone you admire.

5. Friendly Friday: Share the poem you wrote yesterday with a friend and see if he or she can guess whom the poem is about.

6. Supportive Saturday: Do something to help others who are less fortunate than you. Volunteer, donate time or money, or plan to participate in a future charitable event. Then, write about your experience. Why is it important to help those who are less fortunate than us?

7. Sunday’s End of the Week Reflection: How did you meet your goals this week? What did you do to celebrate your success?

Bonus Prompts – Let’s Finish January Off Right!

1. Tell a Story Tuesday: Write a story about a champion dogsled team.

2. Descriptive Writing Wednesday: Use descriptive language to write about a snowball fight. Be sure to use all five senses.

3. Compose a Poem Thursday: Write a poem about your favorite month of the year.

I hope you and your writers had fun with this list of January journal prompts.

More Writing Ideas for January

• 50 New Year’s Writing Ideas
• 61 Prompts to Honor Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Winter Worksheets (Free Printable PDFs)

Closing Thoughts

If you’re looking for writing topics for your elementary students, creative writing prompts for the winter months, or even how to get your kindergarten kids writing, we have endless resources for you here!

Journal writing is a great morning work task that you can employ with few instructions but will result in some incredible writing!

Whether they’re writing about their favorite winter sport, how to build an igloo, how to make the perfect snowman or snow angel, wintertime writing ideas have so many possibilities. So get to it and use these January writing prompts today. I know you’ll be glad you did.

Until next time, write on…

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I appreciate it!

Sincerely,
Jill
journalbuddies.com
creator and curator