ONOMATOPOEIA

Onomatopoeia

is when a word sounds like the thing that it is describing eg, woof, meiow, cuckoo, buzz, sizzle, crackle.

Notice that these words all describe sounds, so they appeal to the senses by helping the reader ‘hear’ the sound that is being described. For this reason onomatopoeia is effective with young children.

Do you remember this song?…….

Ten fat sausages sizzling in a pan

Ten fat sausages sizzling in a pan

One went POP and another went BANG,

now there’s

Nine fat sausages sizzling in a pan. etc

For some reason, this is the one technical term that I have always been able to remember (maybe because it has a childish sound to it!), but for anyone who needs help I have come up with the following  rhyme to go with the image that I have used above:

On a mat up ‘ere

A word says what you hear

Sizzle, crackle, buzz and whizz

Are ONOMATOPOEIA

When I am working with children, I have a table mat alongside me, and if someone says an onomatopoeic word, I hold the mat up and ask them to write out the word and put it “On a mat up ‘ere”.  It doesn’t take long before they remember the word onomatopoeia too, and associate it with all of their examples.

My favourite subject for using onomatopoeia with children is bonfire night, as there are so many sounds associated with the fire and fireworks (crackle, whizz, zoom, fizz etc).  Examples of my poems which include onomatopoeia, no matter how little, can be found in the FIGURATIVE POEMS category above, under ONOMATOPOEIA