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Painted snowy mountains with waterfalls, a winding path along the valley and dragons flying at sunset.

FREE STORY PLAN TEMPLATES · AGES 5–11

Story mountain template (free, printable)

Choose a story mountain, a beginning-middle-end plan for KS1 or a five-part boxed-up plan, fill in the boxes with prompts for your child’s year group, and print a clean A4 plan. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.

Reviewed by Joshua Younger, Senior Educator, on .

Plan it online, then print it

Your plan is not saved. Nothing you type here is stored or sent anywhere. It stays on this page only until you close or refresh it, so print your plan when you have finished.

Five stages: opening, build-up, problem, resolution, ending. The prompts change with the year group.

  1. 1 Opening

    Introduce the main character and the setting. What can they see, hear and feel?

  2. 2 Build-up

    Something starts to happen. Give a clue that a problem is coming.

  3. 3 Problem

    The big problem, or the most exciting moment. How does your character feel?

  4. 4 Resolution

    How does your character solve the problem? Use an idea, not luck.

  5. 5 Ending

    Finish the story. How has your character changed, or what have they learned?

Prints one A4 page with the story mountain and the prompts for Years 3–4. To keep a copy, choose “Save as PDF” in your browser’s print window.

The five parts of a story mountain

A story mountain shows the shape of a story: calm at the start, rising to the problem at the top, and back down to a settled ending. Each part has a job.

  1. 1

    Opening

    Introduces the main character and the setting, and hints at what the character wants. The foot of the mountain: calm, before anything happens.

  2. 2

    Build-up

    Something starts to happen. The character sets off or notices something odd, and the tension rises. This is the climb.

  3. 3

    Problem

    The top of the mountain: the most exciting or difficult moment, sometimes called the climax or the dilemma.

  4. 4

    Resolution

    The way down. The problem is solved, ideally by the character’s own idea or action rather than by luck.

  5. 5

    Ending

    Back on level ground. The story finishes, and the character has changed or learned something.

Planning in the National Curriculum

  • “planning or saying out loud what they are going to write about”

    Year 2, Writing – composition (statutory)

  • “discussing and recording ideas”

    Years 3 and 4, Writing – composition (statutory)

  • “noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary”

    Years 5 and 6, Writing – composition (statutory)

Worked example: Mo and the Runaway Kite

A worked example written for this page, at the level of Years 3–4: first the plan, then the piece written from it.

  1. 1. Opening

    Mo has made a kite for the village kite festival, using Grandad’s old map of the valley as the paper.

  2. 2. Build-up

    On the hill the wind is strong, and Mo’s kite flies higher than all the others. Mo notices the string is fraying.

  3. 3. Problem

    The string snaps. The kite sails away over the woods, with Grandad’s map on it.

  4. 4. Resolution

    Mo watches which way the treetops bend to work out where the wind is taking it, and finds the kite in an apple tree in Mrs Grant’s garden. He knocks and asks for help.

  5. 5. Ending

    The kite is torn and misses the competition, but Mrs Grant was once a kite champion. Next year, she and Mo build one together.

The finished piece: Mo and the Runaway Kite

Mo had made his kite from Grandad’s old map of the valley, and he was sure it was the best kite at the festival.

Up on the hill, the wind tugged hard. Mo’s kite climbed higher than all the others, a little square of rivers and roads against the sky. Then Mo noticed the string. It was fraying.

Snap! The kite leapt free and sailed away over the woods, taking Grandad’s map with it.

Mo didn’t panic. He watched the treetops. They were all bending the same way, towards the village, so he ran that way too, until he spotted a flash of paper in an apple tree in Mrs Grant’s garden. He took a deep breath and knocked on her door.

The kite was too torn to fly in the competition. But Mrs Grant, it turned out, had once been the kite champion of the whole county. “Next year,” she said, “we’ll build one together.”

Plan templates by text type

Each template has its own plan, a features list for KS1, Years 3–4 and Years 5–6, and a worked example.

  • Fiction

    Adventure story template

    To entertain the reader with an exciting journey or quest, in which a hero meets challenges and comes back changed.

  • Fiction

    Traditional tale template

    To entertain, and often to teach a lesson, using patterns passed down by storytellers for generations.

  • Fiction

    Myth template

    To entertain and to explain: a myth tells how something in the world came to be, or shows a hero tested by powerful beings.

  • Recount

    Diary template

    To record events and feelings in the order they happened, written for the writer alone or in role as a character.

  • Letter

    Letter template

    To communicate with a particular reader: to thank, inform, ask, invite, complain or keep in touch.

  • Recount

    Newspaper report template

    To inform readers about a real or imagined event that has just happened, clearly and fairly.

  • Non-fiction

    Non-chronological report template

    To give the reader facts about a topic, organised by subject rather than by time.

  • Non-fiction

    Instructions template

    To tell the reader exactly how to make or do something, step by step, so that they can follow it without help.

  • Non-fiction

    Persuasive writing template

    To convince the reader to agree with a point of view, or to do something.

  • Poetry

    Poem template

    To share a feeling, a picture or an idea in a few carefully chosen words, often to be read aloud or performed.

How to use this plan at home or in class

A story plan is a short set of notes a child makes before writing, so that the story has a shape before the sentences start. The National Curriculum builds planning in from the start: Year 2 children plan by saying out loud or writing down what they will write about, Years 3 and 4 discuss and record ideas, and Years 5 and 6 note and develop their initial ideas. A plan on one page is the simplest way to do all of that.

Choose the template by age and confidence. In Litsee’s view, a beginning-middle-end plan suits KS1 and any child new to planning, because three boxes are easy to hold in your head. The story mountain suits most children from Year 2 to Year 6, and its shape shows where the excitement should be: in the middle, not at the end. The five-part boxed-up plan suits Years 4 to 6, when children write in paragraphs; each box becomes one paragraph, and the second column collects the words and sentences they want to use.

Fill the boxes with notes, not sentences. A plan is for thinking, so single words, arrows and quick phrases are fine. In KS1, children can draw in each box and an adult can write the words they say. The prompts in the planner change with the year group: simple questions for KS1, setting and paragraph prompts for Years 3 and 4, and tension, pace and planted details for Years 5 and 6.

Watch the top of the mountain. The most common problem with children’s stories is that the problem arrives in the last paragraph and is solved in one sentence. If the problem box is empty until the end, move it earlier, and make sure the resolution box says how the character solves it. Ask, “What does your character do?”

Using the planner above is simple. Pick a plan and a year group, type your notes into the boxes, and press “Print my plan” for a clean A4 sheet with your notes. To print an empty template with the prompts, press “Print a blank plan”. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere, so print or copy your notes before you close the page.

Different kinds of writing need different plans. The text-type templates below each have their own plan, a features list for KS1, Years 3–4 and Years 5–6, and a worked example. At home, plan out loud on the walk to school and fill in the boxes afterwards. In class, model a plan on the whiteboard, then print blank plans for the whole class.

About this page

Reviewed by Joshua Younger · How it was made · Sources

Sources

The quotations on this page are copied word for word from this document. The prompts, the advice on which plan suits which age and the worked example are Litsee’s guidance.

How this page was made

Reviewed by Joshua Younger, Senior Educator, on .

The plans, features lists and worked examples were drafted with AI help and checked against the National Curriculum by Litsee. Spotted something to improve? Email info@litsee.com.

The planner runs in your browser. Nothing you type is saved, stored or sent anywhere, and it disappears when you close or refresh the page.

Questions parents and teachers ask

What is a story mountain?

A story mountain is a planning template shaped like a hill. It shows a story’s five parts in order: the opening and build-up on the way up, the problem at the top, and the resolution and ending on the way down.

What are the five parts of a story mountain?

Opening, build-up, problem (also called the climax or dilemma), resolution and ending. Each part usually becomes at least one paragraph in KS2.

Story map or story mountain: which suits KS1?

For Year 1, or any child new to planning, start with a story map: draw the story’s journey as small pictures joined by a path, then retell it out loud. The three-part beginning, middle and end plan in the planner works the same way, with a drawing in each box. From about Year 2, the story mountain adds the problem and resolution.

Is my plan saved anywhere?

No. The planner runs in your browser and does not save, store or send anything you type. It disappears when you close or refresh the page, so print it, or use your browser’s print option to save it as a PDF.

Can I print a blank story mountain template?

Yes. Choose the plan and year group, then press “Print a blank plan”. You get an A4 template with the prompts for that year group and empty boxes to fill in by hand.

From plan to story: let your child steer an interactive story.

In Litsee, your child creates the hero, picks the world and chooses what happens next in an illustrated story that is read aloud.

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