Describe a barber shop through its mirror.By sight: everything is seen twice. First line: There were two of every bottle.
Describe a campfire by the faces around it, not the flames.By sight: who leans in and who sits back. First line: Half of each face was missing.
Describe a child's drawing taped to a refrigerator as if it hung in a museum.By sight: take it seriously. First line: The sun occupies the upper left corner.
Describe a classroom during a test from the back row.By sight: the backs of heads. First line: Eleven ponytails and one hood.
Describe a field in the minute before a storm.By sight: the color of the light. First line: The wheat turned the yellow of an old page.
Describe a grandparent's hands doing one job from start to finish.By sight: the hands only, never the face. First line: The thumb goes in first.
Describe a harbor in fog.By sight: what disappears first and what stays. First line: The far boats went, then the near ones.
Show all 93 prompts (86 more)
Sight, continued
Describe a kitchen the morning after a party, by sight alone.By sight: count the glasses and where they ended up. First line: There was a cup on the stairs.
Describe a street market at closing time using only what can be seen.By sight: what is left on the ground. First line: Three crates and one shoe.
Describe a swimming pool from under the water.By sight: light and legs. First line: The ceiling was made of moving glass.
Describe a train window at night.By sight: the reflection and what is behind it, both at once. First line: My face slid over a farm.
Describe a waiting room by looking only at shoes.By sight: guess each wearer. First line: The brown pair had been polished that morning.
Describe an attic by flashlight.By sight: only what the beam touches. First line: A chair leg, then a birdcage, then nothing.
Describe the inside of a toolbox.By sight: what is worn and what has never been used. First line: The hammer's handle was dark where a hand goes.
Describe your street from a window at five in the morning.By sight: which lights are on. First line: Only the bakery and number twelve.
Sound 15
Describe a ball game heard from outside the fence.By sound: work out the score from the crowd. First line: The groan came from the home side.
Describe a carpenter at work, heard and not seen.By sound: tell the tools apart. First line: The saw went quiet when it was nearly through.
Describe a city bus from the back seat.By sound: the door, the bell, the brakes, in the order they come. First line: It sighed at every stop.
Describe a forest five minutes after the rain stops.By sound: what is still dripping. First line: The trees went on raining by themselves.
Describe a house at night with the lights off, by sound alone.By sound: give each sound its room. First line: The refrigerator spoke first.
Describe a library.By sound: the small sounds people think nobody hears. First line: Somebody was unwrapping something very slowly.
Describe a neighbor through an apartment wall.By sound: build their evening from four sounds. First line: The chair, then the kettle.
Describe a playground from a block away.By sound: one voice that stands out. First line: Somebody was counting to a hundred.
Describe a school cafeteria with your eyes closed.By sound: near sounds, then far ones. First line: A fork, a tray, then the whole roar.
Describe a theater as the lights go down.By sound: the last sounds before the first line. First line: Two hundred people stopped folding their coats.
Describe a thunderstorm from under the covers.By sound: count the seconds between. First line: I got to four.
Describe a train station early in the morning.By sound: one loudspeaker voice and what answers it. First line: A suitcase rolled over the joints in the floor.
Describe an elevator with four strangers in it.By sound: what people do instead of talking. First line: Somebody's keys, and the hum.
Describe snow falling on a town.By sound: the sounds that go missing. First line: The road stopped making its noise.
Describe someone cooking in a hurry, heard from the next room.By sound: guess the meal. First line: Three drawers opened before the right one.
Smell 15
Describe a bakery before sunrise by smell alone.By smell: what reaches the street first. First line: The warm came out before the door opened.
Describe a campsite at breakfast.By smell: smoke gets into everything. First line: Even the cereal box smelled of last night's fire.
Describe a car after a week at the beach.By smell: what the trunk has kept. First line: Salt, sunscreen and one forgotten towel.
Describe a fish market so that it sounds like somewhere worth going.By smell: ice and salt before fish. First line: It smelled of the bottom of a boat, cleanly.
Describe a florist's cold room.By smell: green before sweet. First line: It smelled of stems, not flowers.
Describe a garden shed in summer.By smell: the smells are layered, top to floor. First line: Warm dust first, then oil.
Describe a grandmother's coat closet.By smell: each coat is a season. First line: Wool, mothballs and the cold of last winter.
Describe a gym locker room after a match.By smell: be fair to it. First line: Soap was losing.
Describe a hardware store.By smell: metal, rubber and cut wood, one aisle each. First line: Aisle three was rope.
Describe a house you have not been in for years.By smell: the first breath inside the door. First line: It was the soap. They still bought the same soap.
Describe a kitchen where something has just burned.By smell: who notices first. First line: The dog lifted his head before the alarm did.
Describe a new box of crayons.By smell: what it brings back. First line: Wax, and the first day of a school year.
Describe a school on the first day back.By smell: floor polish, pencils, lunch. First line: The hall smelled of a summer with nobody in it.
Describe rain on a hot sidewalk.By smell: the first minute only. First line: It smelled like a stone had been opened.
Describe the oldest shelf in a library.By smell: paper, glue, and hands. First line: The books smelled of other people's houses.
Taste 15
Describe a berry picked warm from the bush.By taste: the sun is in it. First line: It gave way before I bit.
Describe a child's first sip of strong coffee.By taste: the gap between the smell and the taste. First line: It had smelled like something good.
Describe a dish from a country the eater has never seen.By taste: compare it only with what the eater knows. First line: Like my aunt's pancakes, if they had traveled.
Describe a dish with far too much salt, eaten politely.By taste: the face you keep. First line: I reached for the water as if I always did.
Describe a food you hated as a child, tasted again years later.By taste: what has changed, the food or you. First line: It was still green.
Describe a snowflake on the tongue.By taste: almost nothing. First line: Cold, and then not even that.
Describe a soup, naming each thing in it in the order it arrives.By taste: the last taste is the cook's secret. First line: Onion first, as always.
Describe frosting stolen from a birthday cake with one finger.By taste: sweeter for being stolen. First line: I smoothed the dent over afterwards.
Describe orange juice straight after toothpaste.By taste: two tastes that should never meet. First line: Mint, and then a mistake.
Describe sea water swallowed by mistake.By taste: the second after. First line: The whole ocean, and I only wanted air.
Describe the first bite of a lemon.By taste: the face, from the inside. First line: My jaw found a hinge it did not know it had.
Describe the first hot chocolate of the winter.By taste: too hot, then right. First line: The first sip took the roof off my mouth.
Describe the last piece of candy in the bag.By taste: making it last. First line: I did not chew.
Describe the plainest food on the plate after a long hike.By taste: hunger does the seasoning. First line: It was bread. It was the best bread.
Describe toast that was burned and then scraped.By taste: what the scraping does not fix. First line: Butter over charcoal.
Touch 15
Describe a bicycle's handlebars on a frosty morning.By touch: through gloves, then without. First line: The cold came through the wool.
Describe a blanket straight from the dryer.By touch: the warmth does not last, so be quick. First line: It was still warm at the folds.
Describe a hand in a coat pocket full of forgotten things.By touch: name each one by feel. First line: A coin, a button, something that used to be a tissue.
Describe a handshake that tells you who the person is.By touch: the grip, the skin, the time it lasts. First line: His hand was a gardener's.
Describe a wool sweater on a warm day.By touch: where it itches first. First line: It started at the neck.
Describe finding a light switch in the dark in a strange room.By touch: the wall has to be read by hand. First line: Wallpaper, a doorframe, a nail.
Describe getting into a cold lake a little at a time.By touch: ankles, knees, waist. First line: My ankles sent a warning.
Describe holding a frog for the first time.By touch: lighter and colder than expected. First line: It weighed about as much as a held breath.
Describe kneading bread dough.By touch: how it changes under the hands. First line: It stuck to everything, and then to nothing.
Describe rain getting through a thin jacket.By touch: where it gets in first. First line: The shoulders went, then the back of my neck.
Describe sand, dry and then wet.By touch: two different things with one name. First line: Dry, it ran. Wet, it held a print.
Describe stroking a cat the wrong way.By touch: the fur, and the cat's opinion. First line: Every hair said no.
Describe turning the pages of a very old book.By touch: paper that has gone soft. First line: The corner felt like cloth.
Describe walking barefoot from carpet to cold tile to wet grass.By touch: three floors, three sentences. First line: The carpet let go of my feet.
Describe washing dishes with your eyes on the window.By touch: the hands know what is still greasy. First line: The plate squeaked when it was done.
Show, don't tell 18
Show a bedroom that is a mess, without mess or messy.Told: The room was messy. Try: the path from the door to the bed.
Show a boy who is bored in the back of a car, without the word bored.Told: He was bored. Try: the window, the seat belt, the same question again.
Show a boy who is not telling the truth, without lie or lying.Told: He was lying. Try: his eyes, his sleeve, an answer that is too long.
Show a dog that is happy to see someone, without the word happy.Told: The dog was happy. Try: the tail, the floor, the nearest shoe.
Show a father who is proud at a school play, without the word proud.Told: He was proud of her. Try: where he sits and what he does with his program.
Show a girl who is nervous before a recital, without the word nervous.Told: She was nervous. Try: her hands, her sheet music, the clock.
Show a girl who misses her old town, without homesick or miss.Told: She was homesick. Try: what she keeps in her coat pocket.
Show a man who has good news he cannot share yet, without excited.Told: He was excited. Try: his feet under the table, the phone he keeps turning over.
Show a morning that is very cold, without cold or freezing.Told: It was very cold. Try: breath, fingers, the car that will not start.
Show a nurse at the end of a double shift, without the word tired.Told: She was tired. Try: the bus seat, her shoes, the stop she nearly misses.
Show a shy child at a birthday party, without the word shy.Told: He was shy. Try: where he stands, and what he holds on to.
Show a teacher who is kind, without the word kind.Told: The teacher was kind. Try: one small thing she does when she thinks nobody sees.
Show a woman who is angry and hiding it, without the word angry.Told: She was angry. Try: how carefully she puts down a cup.
Show a woman who is late, without the word late.Told: She was late. Try: her shoes, her keys, a look at every clock she passes.
Show that a house is old, without the word old.Told: The house was old. Try: the stairs, the taps, one door that will not shut.
Show that two girls are best friends, without saying they are friends.Told: They were best friends. Try: what one does without being asked.
Show the hottest day of the year, without hot or heat.Told: It was very hot. Try: the dog, the road, a melting ice pop.
Show two hikers who are lost, without the word lost.Told: They were lost. Try: the map turned round, the same tree twice.
How this list was compiled: Original list written for Draw This Next on 2026-10-12: 93 prompts for a description. Seventy-five name a place or a moment to describe through one sense, 15 for each of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch; the line under each names the sense (By sight, By sound, By smell, By taste, By touch), then an angle, and gives a first line. Eighteen, in the group Show, don't tell, hand over a sentence that tells (She was nervous) and ask for it to be shown without its key word; the line under each gives the told sentence and three things to try. The five senses named are the five traditionally counted, as the English Wikipedia article Sense gives them (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense, read on 2026-10-12). What show, don't tell means follows the article Show, don't tell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don%27t_tell, read on 2026-10-12): a technique that lets the reader experience the story through actions, words, senses and feelings, not through exposition by the author and summary; it is given in our own words. Text of both articles is free to reuse under CC BY-SA 4.0. No other fact is stated, and nothing on the list is advice about food, health or feelings. The prompts, angles and first lines are our own work. The rows and the lines under them were compared with every other list on the site on 2026-10-12. Licence: own work
How it works
These five senses writing prompts each name one sense to describe a place or a moment through. A sixth group hands over a told sentence, such as She was nervous, to show instead.
Read the full guide
One sense, and the other four shut off
A kitchen where something has just burned is told by smell alone: the dog lifts his head before the alarm does. A ball game is heard from outside the fence, and the score has to be worked out from the crowd. A waiting room is seen only as far as the shoes.
Show don't tell writing prompts
The last group gives a sentence that tells, such as He was bored or The house was old, and bans its key word. Under it are three things to try: for the bored boy, the window, the seat belt, the same question again.
Use the first line given, or cross it out and keep only the angle.
Name a smell by where it comes from: wet wool, floor polish, cut wood.
Questions and answers
What are the five senses in writing?
Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, the five traditionally counted. A description that uses them says what a place looks, sounds, smells, tastes and feels like, and the first five groups here ask for one of those at a time.
What is a show don't tell writing prompt?
Show, don't tell is a technique that lets a reader experience a story through actions, senses and feelings in place of the author's summary. A prompt for it gives the summary, such as She was late, and asks for the scene.
Are these show don't tell writing prompts for kids as well?
Yes. All eighteen told sentences are everyday ones: a dog happy to see someone, a bedroom that is a mess, a boy bored in the back of a car, a very cold morning.
How do you describe a smell or a taste in writing?
Say what it does to the person who meets it. The smell prompts give an angle such as what reaches the street first, and one taste prompt asks only for the second after a mouthful of sea water.