Jenga Poetry

Today's story is about an amazing poet named Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. (You can learn about her and read some of her poetry here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/frances-el...

Let's create some of our own poetry by playing a game of Jenga!

-a Jenga set (or any similar wooden blocks)

-a permanent marker

Write four words on each block with your permanent marker, one on each side.

I wrote a noun, adjective, or a verb (words like moon, sun, silly, hug, dance) on all of the big sides.

I wrote articles, conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions, and suffixes on the small sides (words like the, a, you, me, and, but, or, of, to, and behind, and things to put on the end of words, like -ing, -s, and -ed).

Set up your Jenga tower like usual, but make one small adjustment to the rules. Instead of taking out a block and setting it on top of the tower to make it taller, keep the block and put it in front of you. Take turns doing this with all the players.

When the tower eventually falls, keep the blocks you pulled out.

What kinds of interesting phrases can you make by turning the blocks about and arranging them?

Of course, if you don't want to play Jenga, you can just use the blocks as poetry building blocks without the game!

Happy stacking and creating!