40 Poetry Prompts for Students

Check out this list of 40 poetry prompts for preschool kids to teens. Fun ideas to make poetry easy to learn for children of all ages! Check out this list of poetry prompts to help inspire your students!

students, board, drawing

Write a poem about…

1. One color (to make it harder, try to not use the name of the color in the poem)

2. Being a ghost

3. Getting older

4. Something in your classroom, under your bed, or in your backyard

5. Being under water

6. Waiting in line

7. A nonsense word

8. Things you would never want to do

9. Your five senses

10. Your favorite season

11. What you like (start each line with “I like…”)

12. A favorite smell (i.e. your mom’s perfume, your favorite food, a campfire, etc.)

13. Being an inanimate object that you own (like your soccer ball, something from your room, your backpack, your lunch bag, your cellphone, etc.)

14. Something that others think is ugly, but you do not

15. Someone you love or somone you miss

16. Your favorite memory

17. Your reflection in the mirror

18. How it feels to be invisible or have another superpower

19. Your favorite animal, insect, fish, or even dinosaur

20. Weather (i.e. thunderstorm, snowstorm, tornado, sunny day, etc.)

21. The circus (i.e. performers, animals, audience, etc.)

22. Riding the bus

23. The same letter (select one letter and then begin each line of the poem with that letter; link the lines together to form a poem)

24. What it is like to be an adult

25. Being a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, or a bus

26. A time when you felt small

27. Being a natural object (i.e. mountain, river, lake, forest, cavern, rainbow, etc.)

28. A place you have always wanted to go, but have never been

29. What love is

30. What you are thankful for

31. How life is like a game

32. Where you would like the wind to take you

33. A word that describes how you feel today

34. Your favorite holiday (to make it harder try to not mention the holiday in the poem)

35. How things have changed last year to this year. How have things changed?

36. Select a piece of art that you like and write a poem about the message of the piece, the feeling evoked by the piece, or about the artist’s inspiration in making this piece

37. A list of words (on one topic-like clothing) and then add adjectives for each of those words

38. School being out

39. Your dreams and goals (Will My Dreams Come True?)

40. Your name (an Acrostic poem works well)

creativity, idea, inspiration

With 40 writing prompts, you should be set for many months to come! If you are looking for more engaging materials for teaching poetry, check out 8 Tips for Teaching Poetry. I’d love to see your students’ poems, so have them use #teachingwithpoetry to share their poems with me @teachingwithpoetry!

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