This year, National Poetry Day’s theme is ‘Play’. At the Natural Curriculum, we’ve found some inspiring videos to spark your imagination. Watch the animals at play, then capture that energy in your own poetry, using a variety of playful and descriptive writing techniques such as rhyme, alliteration, repetition, onomatopoeia, metaphor and simile.

Check out these poem models based on the clips to get started:

The Play Bow

With shoulders low and tails held high,
They dip like dancers beneath the sky.
A bow so bold, a beckoning cheer,
“Come chase, come chase, I’m ready, no fear!”

Paws press the ground then spring with glee,
A signal as clear as a smile can be.
Like arrows of joy, their bodies say,
“Not battle, not battle – just play, just play!”

Trampoline

At the bottom of the garden, beyond the stream
The fox cub spies an unusual scene.
The canvas quivers, it twangs, it sings,
Like laughter unloosed on invisible strings.

Then brothers and sisters, swift as the breeze,
Leap to the laughter with light-footed ease.
Together they tumble, together they soar,
Tumble and soar with joy evermore.

Play Time

In Mocajuba’s river wide,
Children splash and crash with pride.
Dolphins dart with sudden spins,
Brushing arms and nudging shins
Leaping, twirling, side by side,
River and laughter in one tide.

Rockface Playground

On sunlit cliffs, the young ones cling,
Gelada infants leap and spring.
With tiny hands and nimble toes,
They scamper where the wild wind blows.

A rockface playground, steep and high,
They tumble, twist, and almost fly.
Risk and laughter, a daring art,
From a primate nicknamed the ‘Bleeding Heart’.