National Poetry Day

National Poetry Day is a UK-wide celebration of poetry, enjoyed in schools, libraries and across the country. Each year it has a theme - but most of all it is an excuse to grab a poetry book or search for some appropriate poetry here at Activity Village or elsewhere online, and enjoy! National Poetry Day will next take place on 5th October 2023.

The theme for 2023 is REFUGE.

Ideas for National Poetry Day

• For your youngest children, read a new or favourite rhyming book. There are so many to choose from.
• Make a handprint and use one of our handprint poems (below) to display it.
• Print out a poem from our collection below or elsewhere and read it out loud to the kids. Many of ours can be put up onto the screen or whiteboard for a group of children, so that they can read along. Poems are always best read more than once!
• Read and talk about a new poem every day for a week up until National Poetry Day, and then get the kids to vote on their favourite.
• Have a Poetry Picnic or Poetry Lunch. Each child should choose and bring a poem to read out at the event - or pass to you to read.
• Challenge the children to pick and learn a poem to recite to the class, or just to you. Learning "off by heart" and reciting poetry is a wonderful skill for children to learn, and many schools in the UK have a poetry recital for National Poetry Day. If everyone is taking part, even the shyest child can be encouraged to learn a couple of lines and stand up to recite them... a great way for them to build confidence. And in later life when they are asked for a "party trick" they will always have something to hand!
• Of course, National Poetry Day is the perfect day for writing your own poems too. You'll find lots of help with that below.

Poetry Resources at Activity Village