We've gathered a few activities to help warm up your sentences and get the natural thesaurus in your brain working. Relax, take a deep breath, and have fun!

• Perspective Poetry: Perspective poems describe a situation from two different points of view: the first half of the poem describes the situation from one perspective, and the second half describes the same situation from another perspective. We've listed several situations and perspectives to help you get started, but feel free to make up your own.
  1. A car accident (emergency worker, passenger)
  2. Staying home from school (child, parent)
  3. Running for President (candidate, potential voter)
  4. A blizzard (snow removal personnel, skier)
  5. Watching a performance at an aquarium (trainer, audience member)

  To extend this activity, write a longer poem that incorporates three or more points of view.

• Sight Poems: Choose an object and brainstorm a list of words that describes it (shape, size, color, etc.). Using the brainstormed list, write a poem that describes the appearance of each object. Challenge yourself to use write several poems using different poetic forms (acrostic, definition poem, haiku, limerick (etc.)
  ( Teachers and Parents: You may want to fill a box with a number of distinct items (old shoe, x-ray, computer circuit, seashell, windshield wiper, etc.) from which students can choose items.)

• Auditory Poems: Take a tape recorder outside and tape a series of sounds (dripping faucet, honking horn, bouncing ball, crumpling paper, etc.). Then play back the recording and brainstorm lists of words that describe each sound (sound's source, tone, loudness, pitch, etc.). Write poems about each sound using the brainstormed lists of words.
  (Teachers and Parents: you may want to create the recording yourself.)

• Tactile Poems: Collect a group of objects (cotton swab, earring, coin, branch, candy bar, shoe lace, leaf, bar of soap, paint brush, etc.) and place them in individual plastic (opaque) or paper bags. Working with one bag at a time, reach in and touch the object without looking at it for one minute. The close the bag and write a list of words that describes the object's size, shape, and texture (smooth, bumpy, soft, hard, etc.) Using the lists of words, write poems about the different objects.

• Olfactory Poems: Collect an array of items* that have distinctive scents (garlic, potpourri, soap, perfume, oranges, cinnamon, chili powder, chocolate, etc.) and place them in plastic containers. Open one container at a time and without peeking at the contents take a big sniff. Close the container and try to identify the contents. Develop a list of words that describe the smell of each item (sweet, enticing, stinky, etc.). Using the lists, write poems for each item.
  *Make sure you or anyone else participating in the activity is not allergic to any of the items.

• Tasting Poems: Gather a selection of familiar and unfamiliar foods and beverages* (kiwi, chocolate milk, mustard, wheat cracker, apple, mashed potato, avocado, fruit juice blend. etc.) in individual portions. Close your eyes and with an assistant's help, choose and taste one item at a time. After tasting each item, write down words that describe how that item tastes (sweet, sour, salty, etc.). Write poems about each item using the lists you've developed.
  *Make sure you or anyone else participating in the activity is not allergic to any of the items.

Back to the Poetry Interest Center page.

Back to the Language Arts Activities page.