If you are unsure what word play is, look at the TEACHERS PAGE, FIGURATIVE WRITING, WORD PLAY for details, and have some fun with the WORD PLAY JOKES GAME, and the NEWSPAPER WORD PLAY GAME. A very basic definition is that word play is a play on words which can be used to infer two different meanings, often with a funny effect. Therefore, it is often used in jokes and in newspaper headlines etc.
Some of my poems include word play, and these are therefore listed together below, although they may only have a small amount of word play along with using other figurative writing techniques. As far as possible, I have provided a description with each poem to give an indication as to how much word play features within it, as they will vary in usefulness when teaching (or learning) word play specifically as a figurative writing skill.
Last night I saw a UFO descending from the sky.
It landed in my garden, but I’d no idea why.
The spaceship doors were opened wide, and to my great surprise
A stream of aliens came out before my very eyes. [click to continue…]
This is simply a silly food poem which uses the expectation of the potential rhyming word to cause the amusement, leaving the author guilt free and the reader to blame for their own mischievous mindset!
I know that baked beans are good for your heart
But I do not eat them as they make me far t……….oo excitable. [click to continue…]
Full of amusing word play, this simple Mothers’ Day performance poem is very effective with just a few basic baking props, and a child dressed in an apron. I have provided a downloadable picture sheet containing each of the ingredients that are added to the recipe to make “My Homebaked Mum”, so that they can be added to a mixing bowl as the poem is recited by a class or group of children. [click to continue…]
This silly alternative nursery rhyme uses word play and hyperbole for a humorous effect, although it’s somewhat naughty and takes advantage of the opportunity to rhyme with hearts! You have been warned! [click to continue…]
This funny letter poem has rhyme, rhythm, and lots of word play in the appropriate language to make it suitable as a performance poem, imagined to be written as a reply from the queen to my Royal Pardon poem. It is also an excellent example of alliteration and consonance poetry.
