Poetry Activity: Alliteration Poem

Interested in poetry?
Learn about alliteration using this poetry activity for kids, adults, and everyone in-between!

A. Introduction to Alliteration:
Have you ever tried to say a tongue-twister? Can you say this one?

She sells seashells by the seashore.

Think it’s difficult to say this singularly silly saying?

When two or more words start with the same letter or sound, it’s called an alliteration.
(I just adore amazing alliterations! Don’t you?)

Here are some more examples:

1. Alexander the armadillo ate absolutely amazing apples and ants.
2. Beehives buzz and babies blow bubbles.
3. Caroline cried because she couldn’t catch cantaloupes.
4. Daryl didn’t do anything daring, did he?

These are silly examples, but alliteration can also be used beautifully in poetry to make it sing.

B. A Sunny Alliteration Poem
Our activity today will use alliterations to write a poem about the sun.

1. Write down all the words you can think of that have to do with the sun. For example:
   hot
   big
   shines
   beautiful
   etc.
   Bonus points if you think of “s” words!
2. Now see if any of those sun words can be changed to a word that starts with “s.” For example, the word “hot” can become “simmering,” and the word “beautiful” can become “spectacular.” Change as many as you can without help.
3. (optional) Now see if you can change even more by using a thesaurus!
   What’s a thesaurus?? A thesaurus is a big book full of words that helps you find a different word that means the same thing. If I wanted to find another word for hot, I would look it up in my thesaurus and I might find words like scorching, sizzling, or boiling. If you don’t have a thesaurus on your bookshelf, you can use an online thesaurus. Type in your word and see what you find!
   http://www.thesaurus.com/
4. Okay, do you have your list of s words that have to do with the sun?
   It might look a little like this:
   

   
   hot               scorching, sizzling
   beautiful    spectacular, superb, stunning
   big               substantial

    

5. Now we write the poem!
   A few notes:
   
   ~This poem doesn’t have to rhyme or have a meter. It can just be free-form (See my example if that didn’t make sense. Notice how my poem doesn’t rhyme?)

   ~In this kind of poem, the first word of each line does not have to be capitalized. Use capital letters the way you would use them in a normal sentence.

   ~Each line can have one word, or many words. Play with the spacing! You have complete freedom.

   ~Not every word has to begin with “s.” If you need a few extra words to tie it together, that’s okay!

    

6. Below is an example of what your poem could look like. Mine is pretty short, having used a short word list, but feel free to make yours longer! You could make it silly, super simple, or more serious. Experiment with different groups of words too. The sky’s the limit!

Sun
Spectacular,
striking,
sizzling,
stunning,
shining on
my skin,
shining in
my soul—
sun.
~Hannah Spuler

Pleased with your poem? Share it in the comments or post it on my Facebook page so we can all read and enjoy them!

Hungry for more? Check out this week’s…

Poem Study: Bear in There, by Shel Silverstein

Advanced Poetry Lesson: Ballads, (Week 1 of 2)