Most of the projects we’ve done for Halloween have been crafts.
We do love crafts, especially holiday crafts. But, I did want to sneak in a little learning with some Halloween Shape Poems.
My 2nd grader can get overwhelmed quite easily when it comes to writing, but she’s always responded well to poetry.
She gets excited about writing poetry, so many of our at-home writing projects are about poetry.
When considering after school projects, it’s important to keep your kids interests in mind. I don’t want to contribute to burn out!
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Create the poetry invitation
I kept the set-up for this project easy by going with simple Halloween-inspired shapes.
I don’t have any printables for you this time because I drew the shapes on construction paper.
We used a ghost and a pumpkin. A witch’s hat and candy corn are a couple of other simple shapes you could consider.
Don’t worry about perfection. My pumpkin is a bit wonky, but I think I’m the only one that noticed!
Draw your shape, outline it in black, and cut it out.
Then, take a ruler and draw straight lines approximately 1-1/2 inches apart. My girls still write big, so I wanted to give them plenty of room. Plus, I didn’t want to overwhelm them with too many lines.
Write your Halloween Shape Poems
The fun thing about these Halloween shape poems is that you already know your subject. Your subject is the shape of your paper.
Sometimes choosing a topic can be the biggest hurdle to jump when it comes to creative writing.
The only rules about shape poems are that the poem should be about the shape and it should fit inside the shape. Other than that, anything goes!
Each girl wrote at their own level. My 2nd grader decided to write a rhyming poem and had fun with some silly rhymes.
My kindergartner just wrote a few lines about pumpkins. She came up with the lines and I wrote them for her. This is not a project I would have done with her alone at this point, but because she always wants to participate, I gave her extra help to keep it skill appropriate.
I love the poems the girls came up with and they are quite pleased with it themselves.
They’ve already added music to the ghost poem. If they keep that up, I may have to start calling them aspiring song writers.
Note: This post was originally published on October 21, 2014. Updated and republished October 2, 2018.
You may also like one of these fun Halloween activities:
Halloween Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt
Halloween Sensory Writing Tray at Growing Book by Book
Printable Halloween Story Telling Prompts for Kids at Kitchen Counter Chronicles
Get inspired to write with some Halloween poetry
Here are some great Halloween poetry books to share with your kids that will provide inspiration for this writing activity.
Do more fun activities with your family
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