Last month I blogged about Circle Poems and mentioned that I thought they would work particularly well in  nursery. Well, I got an impromptu chance to find out recently.

At a nursery I was visiting, the tyres were out and about with the children very engrossed in moving them around. The big attraction was the puddle and rolling the tyres into the puddle. Naturally this caused water to gather and various experiments followed as the children tried to empty the tyres of water.

After a while, the tyres lay on the ground. At this point I wondered what would happen if some chalks were placed nearby. One girl, immediately decided to draw and colour inside the tyre. She talked about the colours she had seen on the barbecue and how she enjoyed her marshmallow.

Soon it was time to view the finish work…

The next idea was to draw on the tyre. It was made for pattern work! (NB Tyres make good containers for plants as the rim can be used in so many different ways)

Then I suggested drawing around the tyres and thinking of words to write. Naturally the children thought their own names would be good…

One boy did suggest the word “me” too. I think it makes a very simple yet effective circle poem…

Clearly it was a memorable event. Back inside the child chose a different poem, but very relevant when drawing and talking about his outdoor experiences…

This is what I love about poetry. Children’s words can be used to create forms and patterns. The resulting  poems can easily be displayed indoors or out in different ways and occupy different spaces.