Top 5 Poems for Primary School
We don’t really need an excuse to enjoy poetry, but today gives us the perfect opportunity to share with you some of our favourite children’s poems!
At West End In Schools we have lists (long, long lists) of poems we love, but we’ve whittled it down to just five, and this year we’ve been working on transforming these five fantastic rhymes into specially created drama workshops. These fun, descriptive verses provide plenty of opportunities to get creative. So without further ado, here’s our top 5 children’s poems…
THE RUM TUM TUGGER – T. S. Eliot
This finicky cat is hard to please and always wants what he can’t have! (sound like anyone you know?!)
“Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat—
And there isn't any use for you to doubt it:
For he will do
As he do do
And there's no doing anything about it!”
THE SONG OF THE MISCHIEVOUS DOG – Dylan Thomas
A silly poem that children of all ages will love! After all I think we can agree that the image of red donkeys and horses in nests makes us all smile.
“There are many who say that a dog has its day,
And a cat has a number of lives;
There are others who think that a lobster is pink,
And that bees never work in their hives.”
THE TYGER – William Blake
An iconic poem from this Romantic poet, Tyger paints the picture of this ferocious animal in all its majesty.
“Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”
NUT TREE – Julia Donaldson
Science, dance, literacy … ‘Nut Tree’ ticks all our cross-curricula boxes!
“Now a shoot begins to show. Now the shoot begins to grow.
Tall, taller, tall as can be, The shoot is growing into a tree.”
PEOPLE NEED PEOPLE – Benjamin Zephaniah
Friendship, family, love and shared humanity. I will leave you with a few lines from Zephaniah that we should always keep in mind…
“People need people,
To walk to
To talk to
To cry and rely on,
People will always need people.
To love and to miss
To hug and to kiss.
It’s useful to have other people.”
Looking to explore these poems through another medium such as drama? Take a look at our new Poetry Explorer drama workshops.
-Katie