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Creativity Exercise – Describe the Sky

Poetic Description Exercise

Writers often say that your brain is a bit like a muscle—the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. It’s good to give yourself some regular mental exercises to help build your creativity over time, so your poetry will keep developing and improving. (The good news is that brain exercises don’t make you ache as much as push-ups!)

A great exercise that doesn’t need any special equipment—and that you can do anywhere at any time—is to describe the color of the sky.

Sounds really simple, right?!

Well, it can be simple to begin with, but the reason this exercise works so well is because your descriptions can become more and more elaborate as your creative muscles get stronger. The idea is to make sure every description is different!

How to Create Book Spine Poetry

Book Spine Poetry

Have you heard of “book spine poetry?” It’s a kind of poetry that you don’t really write from scratch – instead, you “find” it by arranging book titles to make a poem. This type of poem can be serious or funny, just like in regular poetry.

Here’s the basic idea. Imagine that you’re sitting at a table with all of these books in front of you:

Green Eggs and Ham
Goodnight Moon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Oh, The Places You’ll Go
Where the Wild Things Are
Good Night, Gorilla
Stone Soup

To make a book spine poem, you would start by moving these books around into stacks with the spines together so that the titles are like the lines of a poem. You would keep moving the book titles around into different stacks until you find the “lines” that go best together to make a poem. For example, one set of titles might describe a story:

Raise Your Hand Poetry Craft Activity

Raise Your Hand Poetry Craft

Have you ever been raising your hand so long that it starts to tingle, go numb, and you swear it’s going to fall off any second… but the teacher just doesn’t call your name? In this poem, the kid in the very back of the class is going through just that.

Jump-Rope Rhymes

Get Jumping! Making Playground Poetry Using Jump-Rope Rhymes

Jump Rope Poems

Did you know that kids have been skipping rope—or playing some type of very similar game—for hundreds of years? In the United States, skipping rope was a common way for city kids to play in the streets together from the early 1900s through the 1940s. A special version of jumping rope, called Double Dutch because it uses two jump ropes at the same time, was introduced to the children of New York City by Dutch families who had immigrated to America. Double Dutch later became a competitive sport worldwide.

Kids today still enjoy chanting or singing rhyming poems while they skip rope. Jump-rope rhymes allow you to combine the fun of poetry with the physical activity of skipping rope—a great way to stay physically fit while entertaining your brain!

Some of the jump-rope rhymes that you’ve heard on the playground or at the park are probably the same ones that your parents or grandparents used to recite when they were kids. Maybe you know this one:

Lucky Dip Poetry Recital Game

Host a “Luck of the Draw” Poetry Recital

When it comes to poetry recitals, it’s not unusual to feel a bit nervous; why not lighten the mood by turning the event into a game?

Whether your group are studying a particular poem, poet or topic – or whether you’ve been writing your own poems – you can bring some excitement to the event by creating a ‘lucky-dip’. A ‘lucky-dip’ is a British game, where small prizes are concealed inside a large container, and players have to reach inside and grab one without being able to see what it is. In this recital game, the prizes are the poetry!

Getting Ready

First, decide what you will be reciting. The text will need to be printed onto slips of paper. If you have been looking at one particular poem, each slip could have one line or phrase; if you have been studying a poet, or a theme, the slips could have short extracts of relevant poems; if your group have written their own poems, each one could be printed on an individual slip… Make sure you have enough printed slips for everybody in the group to receive one!

How to Celebrate National Poetry Month

Poem in Your Pocket

Beginning in 1996, April has been declared National Poetry Month in the US. This tradition was started by the Academy of American Poets to celebrate poets and the wonderful things that poetry can bring to our lives.

There are plenty of ways for kids to celebrate National Poetry Month. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

Poetry Writing Lessons for Kids

There are many different ways to write poems as well as lots of techniques you can learn to help you improve your writing skill. Here are many of the poetry writing lessons for children that I have created to help you become a better poet, including how to write funny poetry, poetic rhythm, poetic forms and other styles of verse, as well as lesson plans for teachers and video lessons.

How to Write Funny Poetry

Rhythm in Poetry

Poetic Forms

A poetic “form” is a set of rules for writing a certain type of poem. These rules can include the number of lines or syllables the poem should have, the placement of rhymes, and so on. Here are lessons for writing several common poetic forms.

Other Poetic Styles

There are many different styles of poems. These are not “poetic forms” because they don’t usually have firm rules about length, syllable counts, etc., but they are common enough that many well-known children’s poets have written poems like these.

Reciting Poetry

Other Poetry Writing Lessons

Poetry Lesson Plans for Teachers

Video Poetry Lessons

Poetry Dictionaries and Rhyming Words Lists

When reading these lessons, you may come across some unfamiliar words. If you see a poetic term and don’t know what it means, you can always look it up in the Poetic Terms Dictionary. Poetry4kids also has a rhyming dictionary and a list of rhyming words you can use to help you write poems.

Other Useful Poetry-Writing Lessons

There are loads of websites on the Internet that offer helpful lessons for children on how to write poems. Here are a few you may find useful:

Writing Riddles

Making Riddle Poems

Exploring riddles allows you to be a detective and a spy, following clues, and writing in code. Follow this lesson plan to take your creative thinking skills to the next level using riddle poetry!

What Is A Riddle?

A riddle is a statement or a question with a hidden meaning that forms a puzzle to be solved. A “riddle rhyme” is a riddle that is written in the form of a poem. Riddles are often set out in short verse, and have been found across the world throughout history; in Old English poetry, Norse mythology, Ancient Greek literature, and the Old Testament of the Bible!

One of the most famous examples is the riddle of the Sphinx (a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human being). According to the story, if you could answer the riddle you were free to pass, but if you failed, the monster would eat you! Can you solve it?

April Fool’s Day Poetry Activity – Making Musical Goo

Noisy Slime

April 1st is one of my favorite days of the year. Why? Because it’s April Fool’s Day!

April Fool’s Day is a time to get creative and play fun pranks on friends, teachers, siblings and parents. There’s also the anticipation of the prank’s success, and the thrill of wondering if someone is going to play a prank on you. The most important thing to remember about this silly holiday is to keep a good attitude. Sportsmanship is key. Make sure your pranks are not designed to hurt anyone physically or emotionally. Also, don’t get angry if someone puts a whoopee cushion on your seat. It’s funny… so laugh along.

In the following poem, kids play all kinds of April Fool’s Day pranks on their teacher… only to discover that their shenanigans land them in a not-so-funny situation!

I Bought a New Banana Suit

I bought a new banana suit
and new banana shoes.
I stickered up my body with
banana-shaped tattoos.

I also bought banana socks,
a big banana hat,
banana scarf and jewelry,
banana this and that.

Around my face I wrapped
a yellow handkerchief/bandana,
then walked into the market
like an over-sized banana.

I filled a cart with every last
banana in the store,
and when I’d gotten all of them
I headed for the door.

The managers all stopped and stared.
They nearly flipped their lids.
But I just smiled and said to them,
“I’m rescuing my kids.”