National Poetry Month Games and Activities

It turns out that every April is National Poetry Month. Who knew right? (Except all of those librarians, educators, and poets who probably initiated the idea hehe). Well, we just did a Teen Poetry Fun Night on Saturday, and I wanted to share some of the ideas =D

Book Spine Poems
While this idea is super easy, it is also super cool! Find some interesting book titles, and line up the book spines on top of each other to make poems. The possibilities are endless ;)

Similes
Does anyone remember the Similes game that was played in Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol? Basically, the gamemaster begins a simile (As tough as...) and a participant has to finish the simile with the tried and true (...nails), or something completely original (...the Borg). I found a huge list of common similes on this website.

Redacted Poems

Instead of creating something brand new by writing a poem, how about recycling something by creating a redacted poem? Find an old book, magazine article, or print something off of the internet, and then erase all the words you don't want in your poem.

We were also thinking of playing a rhyme game where one person says a word and you go around the circle trying to rhyme with it. Another thing to try is giving everyone two minutes to write the funniest poem, or the most serious poem, or the most random poem. Have fun with it!