The Planet … is as bright as…, as hot as… and as spooky as… Each simile has a line for completion. There’s also a spare line for extras, and a follow-on verse about the aliens who live there - whatever features they may have. Children love this creative writing frame. Confident writers also enjoy the harder version, here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/planet-picture-poem-frame-ks2-guidance-sheet-11886984 See my other space writing resources too.

This simple illustrated poetry frame celebrates the beauty of birds in flight and the wonders of bird migration. The theme will inspire your children’s imagination and ignite their poetic powers, spurred on by the sketches and line-starters. They’ll love thinking up similes to describe how the birds look and other aspects of them, and also thinking up their own developments and rounding-off line. The accompanying Guide Sheet offers suggestions for each line, in case handy for reading out as examples or prompting for, while encouraging independent thinking and word choices. Recommended for KS2.

At our school we ___ and ___ , this sheet says, inviting action words for the line slots. These could be: play and learn, read and write, have lunch and play ball, eat and drink, dance and sing, talk and laugh, run and jump, draw and colour, make and build, cut and stick, make friends and have fun, or other possibilities. The extra line is for any further thoughts. This sheet offers support to newcomers to the school or class, as well as literacy support. They can express their feelings and reflect their experiences, while also trying out their writing skills.

This attractive writing and colouring sheet will motivate your 6-8 year-olds (approx.) to think up items of different colours and describe them, on the lines given. This will develop literacy skills, also promoting colour sense and appreciation. See my read-aloud ‘Colours’ poem and other colour rhymes (uploaded previously), for further support and embellishment of the activity.

These spooky, moonlit woods will capture the imagination of your class, and the simple poetry format will motivate creative input. The sheet invites similes to describe how dark, silent, still and creepy the midnight wood is, with a further verse to describe the moon - and anything else. Space is also provided for freestyle development. Recommended for Yrs 3-5 (or age 7 - 10).

Delicious, scrumptious, hot, spicy and tasty are words your children may choose to describe their school dinners on this sheet. Or, with your encouragement, they may think up many other interesting adjectives, such as wholesome, enjoyable, filling, satisfying, refreshing, chunky, gooey, crispy, chewy, and perhaps even tempting, nutritious, colourful and other thoughtful descriptions. As for their ‘magic food’ ideas for the last line - who knows what they’ll dream up! This resource supports both literacy and healthy eating drives, also offering end-of-day or term fun.

Schools are noisy places, and noises are fun to sound out and make up words for, as children will find here. Do their shoes go CLUMP CLATTER, CLICK CLACK or SHUFFLE, for instance? And how about all those dinner hall sounds? This sheet combines Creative Writing opportunities and all-round Literacy with a focus on school, helping children identify with it and develop their sense of belonging. An excellent end-of-term activity, gap-filler, writing prompt or onomatopoeia teaching aid.

This sheet combines poetry-writing with emotional outlets, supporting Literacy and PSHE simultaneously. If sadness, happiness, excitement, and one emotion to choose, were sounds, what would they be? Suggestions are provided on the Example Sheet, which will support teacher and pupils alike, also offering prompts for a warm-up discussion about feelings and what they’re like. This resource would support anti-bullying drives and other social issues, as well as providing openings for maturing children and teens to explore and share their own feelings and moods. The metaphors invited will stretch creative writing techniques at the same time. Encourage embellishments, such as adjectives and onomatopoeia.

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.

The lively illustrations will draw children to this creative writing sheet, encouraging rich, expressive language. The given text will also inspire imaginative and varied descriptions of these familiar and popular animals. An example version is provided for the teacher’s use, with several suggested versions for each line. Perhaps read out one version and use the others as ideas to prompt for as needed. With the potential for fun and lively input and colouring fun, even less enthusiastic writers will be keen to get cracking on this creative writing sheet (or picture poem frame, if you like). While supporting writing development, the resource will also enhance animal and nature studies. Best for Years 2 and 3, and those in Year 4 needing extra writing support.

This colourful park picture contains ten mini-beast words for children to sound out and identify. The large, bright text and attractive picture make this an appealing challenge for young readers. Support one-to-one or in small groups, as needed. The resource will also support mini-beast studies. Suitable for beginner readers across KS1 and EYs.

This simple game spurs children to read or sound out the 7 words, so they can link them (by pen, pencil or finger) to the correct picture representation below. Some of the words also feature in my ‘Seaside Findings’ phonics game; using both in quick succession will reinforce learning. Suitable for all KS1 and Reception/EY. Able children can add further words and pictures, or write a follow-on sentence about something they have found at the seaside. Younger children can identify initial letters and their phonics, guessing words they can’t yet read, with the help of the pictures. This resource also supports seaside and ocean studies. VIDEO INSPIRATION x 2 (author speaking and reading her poems about seaside wonders): https://photos.app.goo.gl/wkeZ8K6iCfcFQneZ9 + https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMarEm9uVBDEGPTykSlkAfT6jdVArKlPen6X5lk1le7dqUc89gEztNjSO7V6qsxUQ?key=X0hIWmdaV1M0Q2lHYURKbDdIVFFPMTVBTWRUdkhn

Your class will love choosing a creature - squirrel, frog, owl? - to describe, using the prompts for rich description, action words and imagery. Then there’s the fun of trying it out on the rest of the class, to see who can guess it first. The children will be motivated to listen to each other’s verses - or riddles - too, and there’s plenty of scope for group interaction as the reader picks volunteers from around the room to try to idenfify their creatures. Tips are provided for writing the answer in code, and there’s an anagram to be written too, below. Great for summer term fun, combined with literacy skills- stretching and creativity. Best for Years 3-6.

If your school has a pond, this picture-poem sheet will provide an excellent way of motivating your class to take an interest in it, while stretching their language and creative skills as well. Children will love writing describing words on the pond itself, and expressing their thoughts about it around the picture. The accompanying guide sheet offers ideas for each section to support discussion and prompting, as needed. This resource supports English, biology, animal and nature studies, outdoor learning opportunities, and celebrations of the school. Best for Years 2-4, able Yr 1 pupils and under-achieving older ones; also as a warm-up sheet for independent writing of poetry, stories or description at all junior levels.

Literacy boost with exciting twists! Fun, inspiring spelling + vocabulary enhancer about pirates, treasure and oceans. Eight questions, including a rhyme, an anagram, a spelling choice, a type of gem, and more, on an attractive, illustrated sheet. Answers on accompanying sheet. Supports multiple topics, e.g. ocean, pirates, weather, journeys, going for gold, the wider world, voyagers, and seaside, and brings literacy alive. See also my other ocean/pirate lit. resources, e.g. Treasure Map: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/treasure-map-alliteration-game-yr1-6-guide-for-use-11887395 and Stormy Sea: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/stormy-sea-poetry-frame-guide-12043779 .

Supports Literacy, PSHE, mental wellbeing and physical exercise, as well as poetry, drama and all-round creative expression. This is a fun writing challenge, involving similes and action words, with scope for enrichment. A monster (s/he) can be any sort you like, with three heads and two tails perhaps, and this one has moods - happy, cross, excited, ?.. How does a monster behave when cross? Do they charge around the monster school, stamping on books like an angry giant? When happy, does s/he glide like an angel, or perform back-flips like a gymnast? The warm-up actions sheet will spur extended ideas. Hand-sketched illustrations. SEE MY SEA-MONSTER FOOD sheet too!

Fascinating creative opportunity for older/more able writers, depicting the sea as different entities or things. Format and starter lines for a sequence of verses are provided, with quality sample poem, written by myself (published poet) for the purpose. Tip: build up to metaphors by (1) discussing sea in different weathers, climates, times and seasons, enacting and sounding out; (2) elicit words and similes for the variations; (3) invite pupils to try taking out the ‘as… as’ or ‘like’ from their similes to form metaphors (e.g. ‘the sea IS a mirror’; (4) read the sample poem; (5) give out the frames and scrap paper for independent writers and let them write their own, personal versions. See also my many other sea poetry frames in my catalogue, with sub-topics such as sea monsters, seabed mysteries, summer’s day sea, stormy sea and a pirate’s treasure map.

Reading/sounding out + learning about shells, seaside, nature and more. Eight describing words for shells for young readers (Reception - Y2), big, bright and clear, around a colourful photo of shells on beach. Words: shells, hard, curly, dry, shiny, hollow, sandy, wet. Help children turn sheet to read the words. Watch my video on seaside shells: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wkeZ8K6iCfcFQneZ9 See my other seaside and phonics resources too.