← Back to activity

Poetry in a Jar

A companion sheet — print it, scribble on it, keep it or recycle it

Voleio

What we're doing

Twenty words in a jar. Pull five. Make something.

  • About 30 minutes
  • English
  • Writing

Gather these

  • Jar
  • Paper slips
  • Pen

Step by step

  • Everyone writes five interesting words on slips.
  • Fold and add them to the jar.
  • Pull five and write a short poem using all of them.
  • Read them aloud.

Worth talking about

Word choice
Imagery
Poetic form
VOLEIOPoetry in a JarPage 1 of 3

Draw what you found

There's no wrong way to fill this in

Voleio

Two things worth drawing

Tick what you did

Poetry
Vocabulary
Creativity
Tried something new
Asked a question
Finished happy

A grown-up's note

VOLEIOPoetry in a JarPage 2 of 3

Take it further

Three doors out of the same activity

Voleio

If it felt tricky

Pull three words and write one sentence.

If it felt easy

Write to a form: haiku, cinquain or a rhyming couplet.

If you'd rather do it differently

Make it a spoken word game with no writing at all.

Next time, we could

  • Try it outdoors
  • Invite a friend or sibling
  • Stretch it over a whole week

Our own ideas