Click the poetry prompt video link below to watch Waterstones Children’s

Laureate, Joseph Coelho, discuss using onomatopoeia to create a poem about

sounds.

The Day the Sounds Changed

 Onomatopoeia

One way to create a poem is to use onomatopoeia.

Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it describes.

a ball
o
a dog goes bark goes p on
zi p per op
a zip
goes
 Onomatopoeia

Can you think of any onomatopoeic words that are animal

sounds?

Click for inspiration

 Onomatopoeia

How many of these examples did you think of?

meow chirp
neigh moo

hiss bleat bark

quack

roar squeal honk

croak
buzz hoot
cluck
swish
howl
squeak
purr
hum
grunt
 Onomatopoeia

Can you think of more onomatopoeic words that animals

DON’T make?

Click for inspiration

 Onomatopoeia

How many of these examples did you think of?

pop

splash snap ting

gulp

boom boing wham

pow splat zap

bang

smash crash
crunch ka-boom

boink wow
click
 Poetry Power Up!

Use different onomatopoeic words to create a silly nonsense poem.

Mix up the sounds and animal sounds so that they don’t match.

They can make new, surprising sounds that normally wouldn’t fit.

For example…

A bird hissed.
A snake chirped.
A pond boinked.
A spring splashed.
My feet popped.
 Poetry Power Up!

You can even start the

sentences differently
to
add variety.

For example…

I heard a bird and it went hiss.

I saw a snake and it went chirp.
I threw a rock into a pond and it went boink.
I stepped on a spring and it went splash.
I stomped my feet but they went pop.
 Poetry Power Up!

Add a repeating line

to your poem to
create a sense of
rhythm and tie it all
together.

For example…

The day the sounds changed I heard a bird and it went hiss.
The day the sounds changed I saw a snake and it went chirp.
The day the sounds changed I threw a rock into a pond and it went boink.
The day the sounds changed I stepped on a spring and it went splash.
The day the sounds changed I stomped my feet but they went pop.
 Poetry Power Up!

You can write your poem up neatly on something surprising too.

Use one of the templates provided or create your own.

Use different coloured markers to write all of your onomatopoeia words

within your own poem.