Workshop 1: Dragon poems

The aim of this workshop is to encourage children to create images using their five senses. As we are also dealing with the world of fantasy it is also important that they are encouraged to have their special sixth sense switched on too. This is the most important sense with poetry - the imagination.

Using the exhibition and the museum site as the stimulus - the children then brainstorm ideas of descriptive detail about dragons and their environment. They should be continually asked questions to stimulate further ideas.

Moving on from the visual we now consider sound. The children should be quiet and listen to the noises they here wherever they are. Now, they have to imagine a dragon - what noises would they hear?

Go through the same process (perhaps by splitting the children into groups) for smells, tastes, feelings.

This will result in lists of material that can be used for ideas for the poetry assignment.

Pupils should be encouraged to redraft their poems, to make changes or indeed improvements. In the redrafting stage it will be necessary to consider spelling and punctuation. Consider ways in which to display their work - using artwork and I.T.

This similar exercise can be used for a variety of beasts - mythical or otherwise.

Dragons

Poem Template

Title

1st line - where does it live?

2nd line - describe its skin

3rd line - a simile for its teeth

4th line - a simile for its wings

5th line - it smells something

6th line - a simile for its roar

7th line - it hears something

8th line - it tastes something

9th line - free line

10th line free line

The most important aspect of this task is imagination

Introduction | Genre | Dragons | Creating a Fantastical Setting | Reading List