You may not know it, but you too can be a poet!

Word Scramble

First, find paper in your recycling bin with lots of words (think newspaper, magazine, junk mail, etc.) You want to create a pile of words by cutting them out of your paper. Remember to include a variety of words including verbs, nouns, adverbs, etc. This is your word bank for creating your poems! Organize the words to create any poems you would like, but the trick is, you can't add new words.

We'd love to see your creations! Share your poems on Facebook or Instagram and tag us @whittierbirthplace.

Haiku

A haiku is a Japanese style of poetry that includes 3 lines and 17 total syllables (5 in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third line).

Write a haiku and share with us in the comments! Here’s one we dedicate to Mindy (pictured here).

“Sun warms the red barn

Tweeting birds build their new nests

Mindy welcomes spring.”

Funny Voices

1) gather your group (household or maybe your friends over phone or video chat) and pick out a poem or two to read together.

2) write down different types of voices (sad, silly, excited, annoyed, etc. get creative!) and take turns picking in which voice to read the poem.

3) Talk about which voices make sense for your poem and which don't. Did the different voices change how you interpreted the poem? How does a poem about a sad topic change when you read it aloud in a silly voice?

Haiku by a Virtual Camp Participant

Squirrels, rabbits, birds,

colorful flowers blooming

windy, gray skies, spring?

Poem by a Virtual Camp Participant

The bushes are blooming,

the big trees above looming.

You could stare at the flowers,

always for hours.

The singing birds,

almost sounding like words.

It always brings

Spring