Day 31 – New Book!
Thank you for sticking with me for an entire month of poetry inspired blog posts. I have loved writing them and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them. For my final day I offer this shameless book plug! My first collection, ‘There’s a Poem in My Dungarees’, is available to buy from The Magic Daisy Bookshop…
Day 30 – Writing Competition
I expect I have romanticised the idea of being a writer. I had visions of long afternoons sat in Parisian cafes whilst writing in beautiful notebooks, or writing retreats in quintessentially remote English cottages where I am woken with birdsong and ideas aplenty. The reality is one of grabbing five minutes at the kitchen table…
Day 29 – After School Lament
Conversations with children are great inspiration for poetry. Lots of my poems feature lines which are inspired by phrases or words children have said to me. This poem is a good indication of how my evening went today – if you can’t beat ’em, write poetry about them! Think about the things children are interested…
Day 28 – These Knees
I often use photography with students to inspire poetry ideas. Whether that is showing them photographs someone else has taken, or going on an ideas walk around the space we are in to find something that interests them. This can lead to some brilliant ideas for poems because so much about poetry is observing the…
Day 27 – Super Gran
Today is Mothers’ Day in the UK. So here is a poem my mum wrote, about her mum. My mum is one of the reasons I write and love poetry. She once woke me up at 5am to tell me about an idea she’d had for a writing project – that kind of excitement and…
Day 26 – What are you doing?
This poem was inspired by a drama game of the same name. During the game students take it in turns to perform a simple action (such as brushing their hair) but when asked by someone what they are doing, they have to respond by describing a different action (“I’m eating a pear”) which rhymes. The…
Day 25 – Half
When we talked about how my husband is half Danish, our son looked at him and, after a pause, asked – ‘Which half?’ – it was such a brilliant question. This poem was born. When I read it to children they always love to tell me about their own heritage and culture, their links to…
Day 23 + 24
Last night as I lay in the bath daydreaming, I had a feeling I’d forgotten something. That feeling stayed in the back of my mind taunting me until I woke up this morning and realised I’d missed a day of my month of daily blogs challenge. So here’s a double whammy. Firstly, I wanted to…
Day 22 – Imagination Station
This is a poem I was working on yesterday for World Poetry Day. It has proved great fun to think of some of the bizarre and interesting things that one might find at an Imagination Station. Imagination is one of the most valuable resources to tap when writing poetry for children. Have a go at…
Day 21 – Teammates
Happy World Poetry Day! Today I am delighted to share the work of another author who has been in touch – thank you Lorraine for sharing your poem Teammates with us! I love this idea. Empathy and understanding are such important things to teach children and the idea of ‘putting yourself in someone else’s shoes’…
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Charlie Bown 