• 61 prompts
  • Checked October 2026

Reindeer Writing Prompts

Keep one, fly with the team, report on the real animal, or write its care guide.

Reindeer Writing Prompts

Show all 61
  1. Describe a reindeer's antlers while they are still growing.Fact: growing antlers are covered in a soft skin full of blood vessels, called velvet.
  2. Give your opinion: would a reindeer make a better pet than a dog?Angle: pick a side. Use size, food and where each one sleeps as your reasons.
  3. Tell the story of teaching your reindeer one trick.Problem: it learns a different trick from the one you meant.

Next step Report on a penguin nextDraw the reindeer you wrote about

All 61 prompts

A reindeer of my own 15

  • Describe a walk with your reindeer on a snowy morning. Angle: sound first, the crunch and the breath, then what you both stop to look at.
  • Describe the reindeer you would choose from a whole herd. Angle: its coat, its antlers, and the one thing that made you point and say that one.
  • Describe your reindeer to someone who has only ever seen a horse. Angle: start with what is the same, then give two things that are your reindeer's alone.
  • Give your opinion: would a reindeer make a better pet than a dog? Angle: pick a side. Use size, food and where each one sleeps as your reasons.
  • If I had a reindeer of my own, I would name it this. Write the name and how you chose it. Angle: a name from the weather, from its antlers or from the sound its hooves make.
  • If my reindeer could talk, this is the first thing it would tell me. First line: "You walk very loudly," it said, "for something with only two feet."
  • My reindeer and I got lost. Write how we found the way home. Angle: who led, you or the reindeer, and what each noticed that the other missed.
  • Tell the story of teaching your reindeer one trick. Problem: it learns a different trick from the one you meant.
  • Where would your reindeer sleep? Describe the place you would make for it. Angle: indoors or out, what is on the floor, and what you can see from there.
  • Write a letter asking a grown-up if you can keep a reindeer. Angle: give three good reasons and answer the one objection you know is coming.
  • Write a poem about your reindeer's antlers. Angle: compare them to three things that branch: a tree, a river on a map, a hand.
  • Write a thank-you note to your reindeer at the end of winter. Angle: thank it for one exact thing it did, on one exact day.
  • Write about taking your reindeer to school for one day. Angle: the bus, the coat hooks, the lunch line. Pick the moment it goes wrong.
  • Write about the first day a reindeer comes to live at your home. First line: The first problem was the front door. The second was the antlers.
  • Write the page of your diary for the day your reindeer met your best friend. First line: She said hello. He sniffed her hat for a very long time.

The night of the flight 15

  • A new bell on the sleigh harness will not ring. Write how the reindeer fix it before take-off. Angle: each reindeer has an idea. The one that works is the smallest idea.
  • A reindeer on the sleigh team has the hiccups on the big night. Write the story. Problem: every hiccup bumps the sleigh. Ends on: what finally cures them, over the sea.
  • Describe take-off on the night of the flight, from inside the harness. Angle: touch and sound: the pull of the straps, the bells, the ground letting go.
  • Describe the world from above on the night of the flight. Angle: what a town, a forest and the sea each look like in the dark from a sleigh.
  • Give your opinion as a sleigh reindeer: which is the best place in the team, front, middle or back? Angle: pick one and give your reasons: the view, the wind, who gets to steer.
  • Tell the story of the roof that was too small for the sleigh team to land on. Problem: a tiny house and a long team. Ends on: they take turns.
  • Tell what happens when a child looks out of the window and sees one sleigh reindeer looking back. Angle: tell it twice, a few lines each: once as the child, once as the reindeer.
  • Tell what happens when the youngest reindeer on the sleigh team makes the flight for the first time. Problem: nobody told her about the rooftops. Ends on: her first clean landing.
  • Write a packing list for the night of the flight, made by the reindeer and not by Santa. First line: Item one: snacks. Item two: more snacks. Item three: a spare bell.
  • Write a story about the reindeer who stays behind to keep the stable ready on the night of the flight. Angle: what she does all night, and what she has waiting when the team comes home.
  • Write the speech the lead reindeer gives the team just before take-off. First line: Same sky as last year. Same roofs. Let's be quicker on the turns.
  • Write the story of the morning after the flight, in the reindeer stable. Angle: tired legs, a quiet stable, the first breakfast. What does the team say about the night?
  • Write the story of the night of the flight as told by the reindeer at the very back. First line: From the back, the whole trip looks like tails.
  • Write the story of the sleigh team's practice flight, a week before the big night. Problem: one turn keeps going wrong. Ends on: they get it right by changing places.
  • Write what the sleigh reindeer talk about while they wait on a roof. First line: "He's been down there a while." "It's the cookies. It's always the cookies."

Real reindeer in the north 16

  • Describe a herd of reindeer on the move, as someone watching from a hill. Fact: large herds travel long distances between their summer and their winter range.
  • Describe a real reindeer swimming across a river with its herd. Fact: a reindeer's wide hooves work as paddles when it swims.
  • Describe a reindeer's antlers while they are still growing. Fact: growing antlers are covered in a soft skin full of blood vessels, called velvet.
  • Describe the sound of a reindeer herd walking past. Fact: the knees of many reindeer make a clicking sound as they walk.
  • Explain how a reindeer keeps warm, starting with its coat. Fact: the coat has two layers, a woolly undercoat and longer hairs that are hollow and full of air.
  • Explain how a reindeer's hooves change between summer and winter. Fact: the footpads are spongy in summer; in winter they shrink and the hoof's rim cuts into the ice.
  • Explain what a reindeer's nose does with freezing air. Fact: cold air is warmed inside the nose before it reaches the lungs.
  • Reindeer or caribou? Write a short explanation of the two names. Fact: in Europe the animal is called reindeer; in Alaska and Canada the wild ones are caribou.
  • Report on how a reindeer's eyes change with the seasons. Fact: a layer at the back of an Arctic reindeer's eye turns gold for summer, blue for winter.
  • Tell where the word caribou comes from, and say why the name fits. Fact: it comes through French from the Mi'kmaq word qalipu, which means snow shoveler.
  • Write a reindeer's summer menu. Fact: in summer they eat the leaves of willows, sedges, tundra flowers and mushrooms.
  • Write a report on reindeer antlers: who grows them and what they are for. Fact: reindeer are the only deer in which females grow antlers as well as males.
  • Write about a reindeer calf's first weeks. Fact: calves are born in May or June, and a newborn may double its weight in 10 to 15 days.
  • Write about the people who keep herds of reindeer. Fact: reindeer are herded by peoples of the Arctic, and in the north of Russia they pull sleds.
  • Write about which reindeer still have antlers in the middle of winter. Fact: the largest bulls shed theirs in late October; cows carrying a calf usually keep theirs until it is born.
  • Write what a reindeer eats in winter and how it gets to its food. Fact: in winter reindeer dig down through the snow with their hooves to reach lichen.

How to look after a reindeer 15

  • Explain how to make a reindeer feel at home in a new stable. Angle: three things to do on the first night, in order.
  • Explain how to tell what mood a reindeer is in. Angle: make up the signs: the ears, the tail, a stamp of one hoof. Say what each means.
  • Write a checklist for the reindeer stable before a snowstorm. Angle: five things to check, with a reason beside each one.
  • Write a how-to for brushing a reindeer's winter coat. Angle: where to start, which way to brush, and how you know when it has had enough.
  • Write a how-to for building a shelter that keeps the wind off a reindeer. Angle: list what you need first. Say which side the opening faces and why.
  • Write a how-to for cleaning out a reindeer's stable. Angle: where the old bedding goes, what goes down fresh, and the step people skip.
  • Write a how-to for fitting a reindeer's harness and bells. Angle: which strap first, how tight, and the test that tells you it is right.
  • Write a how-to for getting a reindeer ready for a long, cold trip. Angle: start a week before and finish at the gate. End with the check you do twice.
  • Write a one-page guide for someone who has just been given a reindeer. Angle: three headings: food, exercise, company. Two sentences under each.
  • Write a winter menu for your reindeer and the steps for serving it. Fact to use: in winter real reindeer mainly eat lichen, dug out from under the snow.
  • Write the bedtime routine for a reindeer, step by step. First line: Step one: say goodnight before you turn off the light, not after.
  • Write the instructions you would leave for a friend who is minding your reindeer for a weekend. First line: He will pretend he has not been fed. He has been fed.
  • Write the rules for visitors who want to meet your reindeer. First line: Rule one: let him come to you. Rule two: mind the antlers.
  • Write the steps for looking after a reindeer for one day, from morning to night. Angle: number the steps and start each with a verb: fill, brush, check, walk.
  • Write the steps for teaching a reindeer to walk beside you on a lead. Angle: what to do when it stops, and what to do when it will not stop.

How it works

These reindeer writing prompts take in the reindeer of the sleigh and the real one that walks the tundra. No reindeer from a song or a film is named, so every character is the writer's own.

Read the full guide

A writing prompt about reindeer that are real

Sixteen prompts ask for a report, an explanation or a description, and each has a checked fact under it to build on: the footpads change with the season, the knees of many reindeer click as they walk, cold air is warmed inside the nose.

The night of the flight

Fifteen prompts put the writer in the harness, as a reindeer known by its place in the team: the reindeer at the very back, the youngest on her first trip, the one who stays behind to keep the stable ready.

  • On a fact prompt, open with what you would see. Put the fact in your second sentence.
  • A care guide reads best as orders: fill, brush, check, walk.

Questions and answers

Are these reindeer writing prompts for kids?

Yes. Nothing is frightening and nobody is hurt. A prompt is one sentence, and the line under it gives an angle, a first line or a fact.

Is there a printable reindeer writing prompt?

Yes. Print puts the three prompts on the screen onto paper, each with its line. The whole list is also written out further down the page, group by group.

Do female reindeer have antlers?

Yes. Reindeer are the only deer in which both sexes grow antlers, though a cow's are shorter and more slender. The largest bulls shed theirs in late October, and a cow carrying a calf usually keeps hers until it is born.

What is a good writing prompt about reindeer?

One with a real detail in it. Explain how a reindeer's hooves change between summer and winter. Or go the other way: write the instructions for a friend who is minding your reindeer for a weekend.

More tools

Show 8 more

Browse Writing Prompts