Creative writing flows with a fun picture-poem frame, so your 5-7 year-old will be keen to think up words and similes to fill this fluffy cloud and the lines below. Prompt suggestions are provided on the Guide sheet, and your warm-up activities and real-life observations will inspire them further. See my Sun + Cloud resource for simpler writing and sunshine focus; also my Rain Rhymes resource. YouTube recording of my poem ‘What is a Cloud?’ https://youtu.be/EOKVIktMh10

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).

These inspiring and attractive writing sheets of birds in flight (3 graded versions) will enthuse your independent and emergent writers. After a stimulating input - watching birds, flying like birds yourselves and building a word-bank of action and describing words for them, they’ll love choosing their favourites to write on the flowing, wavy lines. There’s plenty of colouring to do, too. The Guide sheet offers handy ideas to bring in. Supports bird migration, autumn and journeys themes.

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.

This simple, punchy poem clarifies and celebrates the main colours - blue, red, green, yellow, orange, silver and gold, black and white, grey and brown. Pink can be added as a class contribution, following the poem’s pattern. It can be clapped, chanted, and presented with a display of colours, to help young children learn them. Here’s a fun colour riddle for your class to watch and hear (also by me): ‘What Colour am I?’ https://youtu.be/JGKvOUDyXmk

These four fascinating castle photographs will bring your history or castle project alive for your class. They were taken in Caerphilly Castle, south Wales, and show the Welsh flag, castle doors, windows and an arrow slit. They could be used in conjunction with my castle poetry-writing frames and rhymes.

An imaginary castle can be any sort you like - fairy-tale pink or iron grey, for instance, so your children can have fun with this sheet, thinking what their castle could be like as well as thinking up effective similes for them. The two blank lines at the end are for totally free expression. Some children might like to add further similes, others might like to add a warning, or a comment about the castle’s inhabitants, or a rounding-off rhyme, or even a metaphor (the castle is a …). The example sheet can be read out to demonstrate the simile concept and trigger ideas. Recommended for lower juniors, and older writers as a starting point for individual poem-crafting.

Bring atmosphere and detail to your medieval history topic with this fascinating peep into a deserted (almost) castle. Ignite the imagination of your students, whatever age, with this eye-drawing picture in black and white (drawn with computer software). I originally drew it as an illustration to accompany a poem of mine for a children’s poetry book, now out of print. Now use it to fire ideas for poetry-writing in primary schools.

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.

Squeak, howl, roar, rustle - there are countless exciting jungle sounds to pick from, and more to invent, when filling the lines on this lively picture. Hints of creatures and vegetation are sketched around the 12 writing lines to inspire ideas and add to the fun. Start by thinking up some jungle creatures and plant types together and making their sounds, perhaps listing a few, and encourage made-up words and sounded-out spellings. More examples: chatter, snap, hum, buzz, shriek, flap, yelp, crash, hiss, splash, croak, tweet, swish, crunch, bark. The sheet can then be coloured and displayed, or used as a stepping-stone to further creative writing, or enacted as a performance, or brought to life with percussion and musical instruments, or just used to celebrate a related topic.

Woods are fascinating places, especially at twilight, when it starts to twitch with furtive activity and colours fade and blend mysteriously. Your children may spot an owl, a robin, a fox, a hedgehog, a rabbit and two squirrels amongst the moonlit branches of this wintry wood. The hand-drawn scene will inspire ideas and language for writing, also guiding artwork, promoting an appreciation of the natural world, celebrating leaf colour, illustrating the concepts of evening, night skies, autumn and winter, and providing discussion spurs for your class.

This serene scene will appeal to your children’s imagination, as they put themselves in the place of the happily gliding children. With the ocean, palm trees and setting sun below, and the soft, clear sky around them, this fantastical image will inspire your class to write, draw, discuss or enact the concepts conveyed. It could be used in combination with my magic mat poetry-writing sheet, for instance, available in my shop here. It will also brighten up a dark corner, of course!

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.