Fun poetry games

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View all biology worksheets. View all space worksheets. Check out the poetry escape room I did with my students here. Escape rooms, or breakout rooms, are a new trend similar to scavenger hunts. In a poetry escape room, students put together clues based on poems, poets, figurative language, poetry form, rhyme scheme, or any other poetic element.

Then, students work to unlock the clues using their poetry knowledge. Poets are experts at hiding meaning within the lines of their poetry, so use that to create clues that ask students to interpret, make inferences, and analyze.

Escape rooms are a great method of turning tasks that can be intimidating to kids and making them into interactive challenges that students are motivated to engage in.

To create a poetry escape room, first choose the poetic elements or reading skills you want to target, a specific poem you want students to read and reread several times in different ways, or a theme or poet to design your escape room around.

Next, gather the materials and tasks that you would normally share with students in a traditional format, but think of creative ways to turn the tasks into clues. For example, if you want students to identify the figurative language in a poem, create task cards that students have to place in the order that those poetic elements appear in the poem. Hide small letters on the task cards so when students place the cards in order, the next clue appears.

See the example below:. Get creative and hide clues within poems with bold words, put clues on task cards that students have to place in a certain order based on analysis, or choose clues based on symbolism or inferences that students can find only when they do a close read of the poem. Although escape rooms require a lot of preparation and thought, the end result is worth the time.

Students will be more engaged, thoughtful, and active in reading poetry than you could ever imagine. Escape rooms are a great way to review poetic elements or kick off a new study of poetry when you really want to catch students' attention and get them motivated. Check out my step by step guide to creating your own escape room here. Poetry Mash Up. Create a poetry mash up by writing poetry forms on slips of paper and placing them in one jar, types of figurative language and placing them in a second jar, and sound elements and placing them in a third jar.

Pass the jars around the classroom and have students choose from each one, writing a poem based on what they chose. For example, a student might choose haiku poetry form , imagery figurative language , and onomatopoeia sound element.

That student would then be challenged to write a haiku with imagery and an onomatopoeia. There are endless combinations and kids will have a blast writing, sharing, and seeing what poems are created in your poetry mash up.

Play over and over and model your poetry writing with students as well. This activity is similar to activity 4 but instead involves using book titles as words for poems instead. This fun activity will be particularly useful for an avid reader! Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers. This is a great way to engage your more reluctant students in analyzing poems. The blog below has turned numerous modern-day songs into an interesting type of poem - Shakespearean sonnets!

Check it out: Pop Sonnet. Help your school students to learn about language techniques with this figurative language game. See it here: Teachers Pay Teachers. Read more: Teachers Pay Teachers. Get your kids engaged with this fun poetry game. You can make some cross-curricular links to science by explaining why poetry turns visible and invisible. Learn more: Poetry 4 Kids. This scrapbook is a great way to combat this and will help your kids create some excellent picture-inspired poetry.

Check it out: Poetry 4 Kids. You can use this poetry unit to help younger students to understand rhyme with simple words and syllables. Try expanding with more syllables for a bit more of a challenge. Find out more: Education to the Core. Mix music with poetry to create a message, then use this message to create a poem. You can differentiate the features that need to be included depending on the ability of the students. Read more: Teach Writing. Your kids will love the art aspect of this activity.

See more: The Room Mom. You can try adding in some grammar rules to make a more complex poem. Read more: My Poetic Side. Use this worksheet to explore ideas of rhyme in poems. You can expand upon it to include quatrains for more literacy skills.

Check it out: Worksheet Place. This is a rather unique take on poetry creation and will really get your kids engaged in thinking about how to craft a text. These worksheets are great as a warm-up activity to a lesson, an introduction to poetry, or as something for younger learners. See it here: Kids Connect. Struggling for words? Use this tool in class to help improve fluency skills and language techniques. You can also make your own physical version of it to use as well.

Check it out: Magnetic Poetry. This activity is similar to the journal activity previously mentioned and will help you make use of any falling-apart books or magazines. A great way to save resources and make poetry enjoyable!

See more here: There's Just One Mommy. Another excellent game, this is perfect for providing your kids with different stimuli for writing poems.

You can also try making your own paint chip poetry with some old paint chips lying around. Learn more: Amazon. This activity is great for the classroom and will get all of your students involved in talking about different literary techniques.