Collection Overview
STEAM-powered prompts for Writing Outside
Write Out
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Layers of the Land: Prompts for Writing Outside
The resource brings together two videos below created by National Park Service Rangers and are meant to support writers to get outside and consider geologic changes in the landscapes around them. They describe the ways that the landscapes in their Park regions have been formed, are still changing, and will look in the future.
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Talking Trees: Prompts for Writing Outside
Researchers, such as ecologist Suzanne Simard, have published work demonstrating the ways that trees “talk” to each other through networks of roots and fungi under the ground. How might writing outside allow us to tap into our experiences with trees around us? Through stories shared by a Ranger and a Forestry expert, writers are encouraged to go outside, spend time with the trees around us, and explore what teachers communicate to us and to each other.
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Nature’s Toolbox: Prompts for Writing Outside Inspired by George Washington Carver
How does writing outside change the way you view nature? As George Washington Carver grew up his paintings and sketches of natural life prompted him to first study art, then horticulture and finally agriculture which he would teach to his students at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. In this resource you will be encouraged to look at nature creatively, like Dr. George Washington Carver did, and use it as your writer’s toolbox.
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The Bird’s Nest on The Windowsill: Prompts for Writing Outside
Rita Dove writes of finding a spot of nature in which to float into her reverie. When you pay attention to it, you’ll find nature is everywhere. It’s in the flowers and blades of grass popping up in the cracks of the sidewalk. It’s in the birds that nest in the doorways of stores. In this resource you’ll be prompted to go outside and look for these moments of nature, notice where they intersect with the human-made world. What stories might you find there?
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Mapping Our Moves: Prompts for Writing Outside
Nature is always in movement, and what grows can act like a spot on a map that can tell us where to go to find and harvest our food. The Lenape, the First Peoples of The Brandywine Valley, lived and fished on Delaware’s coastline in the summer, but as winter arrived, they moved into the valley where the land was higher and the river was full of fish even in the colder weather. Have you or your ancestors ever moved from one place to the next? In this resource, you will be asked to go outside and think about the movement of both people and nature.
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Bug Orchestra: Prompts for Writing Outside
There’s somewhere around 1 million species of insects on the planet, says Julian of Nat Geo Kids, but that’s just the ones we know for sure. In fact, he says, scientists think there might be as many as 10 million! Do you ever wonder what bugs do all day? Do you ever listen to their songs? With these writing sparks you will be bugging out! by writing about the things that bugs do and by making your own outside orchestra or movement theater, just like the buzzing bees and the hissing cicadas.
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Our Many Trips Around The Sun: Inspired by Agate Fossil Beds
Every culture has a unique sense of “time” and how they track it. Do you see time as linear or sequential? Do you measure it down to the hour, minute or second? The planet Earth also has its own ways of marking time which we can learn about through sediments and fossils. At the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in Nebraska, we can imagine all these different time scales and markings since it is a place where paleontologists unearthed the Age of Mammals as well as the ancestral homeland of the Lakota people.
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Built Environment Brainstorming: Prompts for Writing Outside
Are there any interesting structures (such as monuments, sculptures) where you live? Have you ever thought of designing your own? With this writing spark you’ll be encouraged to go outside and consider the built environment that is around you. Think about the very beginning of the design process and all the many steps and materials required for completion.
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By Land Or By Sea ... Or Portal? Prompts for Writing Outside
If you lived in the park lighthouse, up a fire lookout, or went through an imagery portal, what characters and conversations would there be? What do you think would happen?
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Innovation Station: Prompts for Writing Outside
In these two videos you’ll learn about the Blanchard Lathe and the Wright Brothers’ first successful flight, plus the earlier, not-so successful attempts. You’ll be asked by Ranger Pearle to write about some other inventions that have changed the course of history, and Rangers Lulu and Adonis will ask you to use your imagination and write about something you want to invent and to consider the obstacles that you might encounter in bringing it to life.
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Summary:
This resource is available to support place-based writing outside anytime of year and comes with related resources and age-level recommendations. Originally developed for Write Out (writeout.nwp.org).
“The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.” -Galileo Galilei
This collection, originally curated for Write Out 2022, brings together a range of writing prompts, or “sparks,” to encourage writing outside and in public spaces in your community. With a focus on S.T.E.A.M. topics each resource includes a variety of links meant to support an exploration of these topics, while the “spark” itself is intended to engage interests and make connections.
From geology and tree masting to the stories that fossils and nature in built environments can tell, these prompts have been created by Rangers of the National Park Service, educators from sites of the National Writing Project, as well as partner educators, writers and artists. We invite you to experiment with the resources and remix them to support your local context and setting.
Image source: Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Up next
Talking Trees: Prompts for Writing Outside
Researchers, such as ecologist Suzanne Simard, have published work demonstrating the ways that trees “talk” to each other through networks of roots and fungi under the ground. How might writing outside allow us to tap into our experiences with trees around us? Through stories shared by a Ranger and a Forestry expert, writers are encouraged to go outside, spend time with the trees around us, and explore what teachers communicate to us and to each other.
Read more
Nature’s Toolbox: Prompts for Writing Outside Inspired by George Washington Carver
How does writing outside change the way you view nature? As George Washington Carver grew up his paintings and sketches of natural life prompted him to first study art, then horticulture and finally agriculture which he would teach to his students at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. In this resource you will be encouraged to look at nature creatively, like Dr. George Washington Carver did, and use it as your writer’s toolbox.
Read more
The Bird’s Nest on The Windowsill: Prompts for Writing Outside
Rita Dove writes of finding a spot of nature in which to float into her reverie. When you pay attention to it, you’ll find nature is everywhere. It’s in the flowers and blades of grass popping up in the cracks of the sidewalk. It’s in the birds that nest in the doorways of stores. In this resource you’ll be prompted to go outside and look for these moments of nature, notice where they intersect with the human-made world. What stories might you find there?
Read more
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