Ideas to celebrate poetry in your school and library

To mark 25 years of publishing poetry, Macmillan's Children's Poetry is sharing 25 simple ideas to celebrate poetry in your school and library on National Poetry Day, 4th October; a day to discover, enjoy and share poems.

Poet Steven Camden says, "I don't believe that everyone wants to write stories or poems, or that everyone should. "What I believe is that everyone is allowed to, if they feel inspired. When I go into schools I get so excited about meeting young people and being a living, breathing example of someone who has found a voice and a viable career through just my ideas and taking a chance. Here are 25 ideas to celebrate poetry in your school and library, and to encourage young people to get involved in writing their own poems. These ideas can be downloaded as a PDF via the link, below: 1. Write and display an acrostic poem using the letters of your school name 2. Create a display with post-it-notes and ask pupils to add their favourite words 3. Cut up your favourite poem and ask pupils to reassemble it by word, line or verse 4. Create a desert island list of your top ten poems and hold a vote for the best one 5. Choose your favourite poet and create a display around their work 6. Ask people to list the 'ingredients' for a school, eg noisy corridors, lessons, teachers, breaks, and compile a poem from the ideas 7. Use a map of your area as inspiration to write poetry about local places 8. Create a poetry board pin lots of separate words and phrases to a notice board and ask pupils to create short poems with them 9. Hold a poetry slam event to celebrate National Poetry Day on 4th October 2018 10. Create a poetry trail through the school pick a variety of poems and put them up around the school for people to discover 11. Write a collaborative poem, pick a theme and write one line each before passing on to the next person 12. Create a 'PoeTree' with the names of your favourite poets on each branch and their poems on the leaves 13. Challenge your pupils to memorise a poem 14. Pick a poet with a distinctive style and ask pupils to write poems in the style of that poet 15. Jot down some words and invite pupils to write words that rhyme with them 16. Concrete poems supply a list of objects and ask pupils to write poems not only about them, but also in the shape of them 17. Create a Blackout poem choose a page from your favourite book and then black out most of the words, leaving a poem behind 18. Create your school's very own poetry anthology of favourite poems 19. Choose a topic and ask pupils to write a specific type of poem (sonnet, haiku, limerick) on it 20. Create a Poet World Cup to find your library's favourite poet create four groups of four poets and ask pupils to vote until you have a winner 21. Stack up books to make a poem from their spines 22. 'Poem in Your Pocket': Pick a poem you love, put it in your pocket and then share it with people you meet on National Poetry Day 23. Reimagine a classic poem from a different character's point of view 24. Run an activity to make cards featuring a line of poetry on the front 25. Enter the ReadingZone / Macmillan Children's Books Poetry 25 competition to win twenty-five of our favourite poetry books! You can download a PDF version of Words for Life here: