Story writing for children aged 5 to 11

WIY Stories (Write It Yourself): stories written together, one line at a time

WIY Stories is a story writing app for children and the grown-ups who help them. We write the opening line. Then your child and you take turns, one line each, until the story becomes their very own illustrated picture book.

Start your story writing journey. Free for families to start, no card needed. Teacher and school plans are paid.

How it works

  1. Choose a story idea. Pick a topic, like a lost puppy or a trip to space, and plan the characters, setting and problem.
  2. Take turns writing. Your child writes a line, then you write the next. Gentle hints help when they are stuck.
  3. Make a picture book. The finished story becomes an illustrated book to read together, listen to with Read it to me, download as a PDF, or order as a printed copy.

How WIY Stories helps children

  • Confidence and a love of writing. Writing one line at a time feels small and doable, so children finish stories and feel proud of them.
  • Better spelling, grammar and punctuation. Mistakes are fixed gently, with a short explanation in child-friendly words.
  • A richer vocabulary. Children are shown exciting “wow words” as ideas, and write them into the story themselves.
  • Planning and imagination. Thinking about who, where and what goes wrong builds the story skills taught at school.
  • Time together. Parents, grandparents and teachers write alongside them, making reading and writing a shared activity.
  • Their own words, always. Hints ask questions to get them thinking. WIY Stories never writes the story for them.

For families and schools

Parents can add their children at home. Teachers can set class topics, story challenges and writing competitions, watch pupils write live, and review their stories. Schools can give each year group its own login, and progress reports show how each child’s writing grows.

Plans: Free for families to start. Family Premium is £6.99 a month or £69.99 a year and includes fully illustrated books. School plans are £95, £125 or £155 a year, depending on the number of pupils.

Safe and private

No adverts. Children only use a first name, and a grown-up PIN keeps settings and payments out of little hands. A dyslexia-friendly reading mode is built in. WIY Stories uses AI to suggest spelling and grammar fixes and to draw the pictures for finished books, but your child writes every line of the story.