Children love this activity. Dragons can be sizzling-hot, ice-cold, fierce, friendly, clumsy, graceful - whatever the individual child wants them to be, and their exciting features, shown in the illustration, are sure to trigger a colourful array of possibilities, as your class dash down their descriptive word ideas on the lines. They’ll need to turn the sheet round as they go to follow the line angles - adding to the fun! Encourage able writers to add in similes under the lines, as demonstrated in the accompanying guide. Suggestions are provided there for warm-up and follow-on activities, as well as for words. See my other resources for more dragon-focused activities and supporting posters.

**Snappy dragon rhymes - with key colours. ** Great for all ages, especially early years, developing rhythm, rhyme, language, creativity and expressive confidence. Scope for drama, music and art developments. Once there was a dragon dressed in red. He liked to stay all day in… You can guess the last word, as can the children, though some may prefer to offer alternative rhymes. Red is just one example of the numerous colours featuring in these crazy dragon verses, which lend themselves to being enacted, and even sung to a made-up tune, as well as chanted and clapped. Follow on with dragon sketches or try my dragon’s menu for easy, crazy writing fun.

Sea-themed haiku poetry - lesson plan, including 3 frames with gaps to fill, 3 starter lines, information about haiku and how they work, warm-up tips, and a whirl of ocean thoughts to spur discussion and writing ideas. The sea has wonderful potential as a poetic theme, possessing such a wealth of features and variables, including many contradictory ones: it can be both deep and shallow, warm and freezing, colourful or grey as iron, gentle or savage. It’s fresh, yet ancient, fun, yet formidable. It offers up a kaleidoscope of colours, sounds and moods. A haiku looks so small and simple, yet it can convey any concept you like, with impact. For more themes, see my Trees, Birds, Butterfly, and Dragon Haiku sheets too.

Bring fun and laughter into your space studies with this two-page, quick-fire roll of crazy, snappy rhymes about aliens, rockets, stars and more! Most are couplets, with a few 4-line verses too, and all are bonkers! They’ll inspire variations and brand new rhymes from your class, boosting their literacy skills. The rhymes are my own, and I’ve used some in my space poetry sessions. TIPS for class rhymes - I recommend starting with “space”, eliciting a list of single words that rhyme with it to write below. Then fill up the line leading up to “space”, e.g. I saw an alien up in space, and finally think up a line to end with your rhyming word, e.g. She was doing up her lace. Have fun! **SEE ALSO ** - PLANET poetry frame (Yrs 2-4) - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/planet-poetry-frame-ys-2-4-12018025 + Planet picture-poem frame (KS2) - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/planet-picture-poem-frame-ks2-guidance-sheet-11886984

This guided **‘Stormy Sea’ writing sheet is an exciting! With video How-to. Children love writing their simile ideas for a stormy sea on these wavy lines, as confirmed time and again in my Stormy Sea poetry sessions. Suggestions for teacher introduction and prompts are given in the accompanying guide sheet. the repeated phrase - The sea went… is followed by a wavy line for action words and description (rolling, roaring, wildly charging like an angry beast on the loose?). The poem ends calmly, inviting a simile for a peaceful sea. Yrs 3-6. **SEE ALSO - ** TREASURE MAP alliteration game - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/treasure-map-alliteration-game-yr1-6-guide-for-use-11887395 (popular) PLUS - SEA SIMILES (summer sea) -** https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/sea-similes-poem-frame-illustrated-12100413** .

Watch out for the dragon - but what sort? Scary? Crazy? Hot and spiky? Red, green, wild, funny? Your Reception and KS1 children will be eager to express their ideas, both out loud and in writing. Never mind if their word is hard to spell - they can sound it out and give it a go, building confidence in their writing skills as they go. Not that dragons have to be scary, of course - ‘Watch out for the kind or friendly dragon!’ would be equally valid - as in: don’t miss him/her. The gender can also be changed. There are 3 versions here, of graded difficulty, the last inviting describing words for spikes and scales too, and ideas for the dragon’s favourite food. NB (1) Please note that my hand-drawn illustrations are sketchy. However, in my experience, children don’t mind or notice this. NB (2) Older/abler Yr 2s will welcome further lines, perhaps inviting similes, e.g. He’s as hot as a… or [colour] … as a. These could be squeezed in or written on the back, or the sheet could be manually adapted. More advanced versions coming here in due course.

This exciting jungle picture offers fun and learning combined, with wide open scope for colour choices, interesting shapes to shade in and a range of exotic flora and fauna to identify and focus on. This resource promotes development of fine motor skills, colour sense, shape and pattern awareness, creative expression, and an understanding of nature, wildlife and, in particular, jungle and rain forest. See my other wildlife colouring sheets for variation. **SEE ALSO - ** This snake is - writing inside a snake picture - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-this-snake-is-picture-poem-frame-yr-1-11885174

Exciting, illustrated writing frames supporting Journeys, Explorers, Transport, Space, Ocean and World topics, harder and easier versions. Children write in first person, as the explorer, describing their imaginary expedition: destination, means of transport, clothes, equipment, dangers (3 invited), and how they’re feeling. An activity to get everyone on board, fired up and thinking, also developing literacy skills.

Squirrels are fun to watch and write about, so your class will enjoy this writing sheet. The illustrations will spur ideas, and the Guide sheet will supply you with a handy list of further ideas to bring in. Follow the warm-up introduction suggestions to get everyone focused and enthused first, and set colouring pencils ready for shading in the illustrations when they’ve all had a go and read out their chosen words and phrases. The resource supports creative writing, vocabulary development and other aspects of English, while also nurturing an appreciation of the natural world and local environment.

This engagingly illustrated under-the-sea writing frame will prompt your Yr 2s and confident Yr1s to write down their ideas about that fascinating world, with fish and treasure to describe, and a line for extra contributions. The wavy line below that can also be written on, and the many under-water items around it will fire all sorts of creative possibilities. The sheet is a simpler version of my Under the Sea writing frame for Ys 2-4, also available here.

This intriguingly illustrated sheet sets children dreaming, and the simple line starters prompt them to think up words for their thoughts. Extra-keen writers can add further description about the sea - and anything else related - on the wavy lines below. An example version, showing just one of the infinite ways the poem could be written, is supplied on a separate sheet. Easier versions also available, same price. Prepare your class by studying and discussing sea flora and fauna, treasure and detritus, mythical creatures and characters, and sounds, shapes and colours, too. Consider caves, sand and rocks, the rusty remains of ancient shipwrecks, picnic items washed away, bubbles, echoes - all sorts! Build up banks of describing words, imagery, action words and onomatopoeias as you go, but informally, keeping the atmosphere as free as the sea. Alliteration might crop up too (e.g. shimmery and shiny), but let individual creativity flow. SEE ALSO - TREASURE MAP alliteration game (popular) - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/treasure-map-alliteration-game-yr1-6-guide-for-use-11887395 .

Seasonal fun activity to stretch language and creativity! Beautiful autumn leaf picture to write on, with prompts and writing lines. Colouring potential too. Great for wall display. Let children gather, inspect and play with leaves, then write these sheets freely. Prompt for colour words, textures, movements - gliding, spinning, twirling through the sky. (What sort of sky?) Similes invited. Lots of poetic and expressive scope. Promotes calm and joy.

A woodland poem example, featuring description, presented over a colourful autumn wood photo. Writing frame also included. Repetition of the opening line also features in this simple format. **Offers a framework and idea spurs **for KS2 writers, and for KS1 verbal contributions. Warm-up: go outside to experience trees (and woods?) with all the senses. Then discuss - what did the children notice? What creatures might live there, and what are they like? How would the trees be in different seasons? What might they be like on Halloween night? Enact trees together, then pretend you’re walking through a wood, finding “treasures”. You’ll find more poem guides and poetry themes here at my TES shop.

A beautiful, calming snow scene to write on, following the snow’s gentle curves. The starter phrases invite describing words and similes.

This funny, lively space rhyme supports all-round literacy. It’s simple, four-line verse can be varied to allow for different ideas, and each can be enacted or expressed with gestures, sounds or mime. Children will enjoy its catchy rhythm and be interested in the rhyme (space/face), also finding the tone cheerful and humorous. The resource offers embellishment for space topics, too, and encourages physical movement and expression. The tips below the rhyme include handy prompts for enacting, line by line, and also for eliciting alternative alien features. Using a simple, familiar tune, this verse could also be set to music.

The climate change crisis, global warming, the greenhouse effect - these are key phrases in today’s heated global debate about the future of our planet. This word bank supports climate emergency discussion in the classroom with words for all aspects: causes - fossil fuels, carbon emissions, deforestation… , cattle-breeding, to effects - melting ice, rising sea levels, extreme weather, damaged ecosystem, broken food chain…, and goals - cleaner air, renewable energy sources, alternative lifestyles. The double column of words will help teachers and students alike, in group chats, debates, writing tasks and research projects. Rather than offer a vast maze of terms, it offers a broad selection, each potentially spurring further concepts and word choices.

This FREE resource is a fun and simple rhyme to chant, clap and enact with your young class. Its words will inform, thrill, amuse and inspire, also spurring creative responses through physical actions and sounds. The punchy verses evoke the vastness of the jungle, its varied flora and fauna, its vibrancy, mystery danger, with warnings of tails, wings, bites, stings, a swinging monkey and a springing tiger. Tips for use and development are provided below the four rhyming couplets. See my other jungle resources too, sprinkled through my catalogue.

This beautiful, exciting seaside writing sheet invites describing words and similes to express ideas about sea, sand, sandcastles and shells, writing ON THE WAVES in this hand-drawn picture! Popular in my seaside poetry workshops. See my simpler versions too: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/seaside-writing-frame-r-y1-12099509 and** https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/seaside-writing-colouring-sheet-simple-12099515** .