Mental Health Poetry for Children’s Mental Health Week KS2 🌈 | Know Yourself, Grow Yourself
Why Use Poetry in Children’s Mental Health Week? 💭
Children’s Mental Health Week (9th–15th February 2026) is an opportunity to help pupils reflect on wellbeing, resilience and relationships. This year’s theme is “Know Yourself, Grow Yourself” — a perfect match for creative writing.
Poetry is short, accessible, and inclusive. It allows children to express emotions, explore identity, and share their voices safely. These mental health PSHE activities combine literacy and wellbeing, making them ideal for KS2 classes.
🎯 Learning Outcomes
By engaging in these poetry activities, pupils will:
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🗣️ Spoken Language: Build confidence by performing poems aloud.
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📖 Reading: Reflect on poems about emotions, kindness and self-expression.
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✍️ Writing: Create original growth mindset poetry KS2 exploring resilience and positivity.
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💙 PSHE: Participate in meaningful mental health PSHE activities around empathy and self-awareness.
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🤝 Collaboration: Work together to create class poems that celebrate community and wellbeing.
These activities support KS2 English curriculum aims and link directly with PSHE themes.
1. Acrostic Poems: “Know Yourself, Grow Yourself” ✍️
Learning focus: Goal-setting and self-expression.
Use the phrase “Know Yourself, Grow Yourself” as an acrostic. Each line can express an aspiration or reflection.
Example:
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K – Keep trying even when it’s tricky
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G – Grow by helping others succeed
👉 For more acrostic related ideas, see Mesostic and Telestich Poems.
2. Empathy Shape Poems ❤️
Learning focus: Emotions through structure and imagery.
Pupils write short poems inside shapes such as hearts, hands, or thought bubbles. Prompts:
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“What helps me feel calm?”
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“How do I show kindness?”
👉 Similar approach in Christmas Shape Poems.
3. Word Wall for Wellbeing 💬
Learning focus: Expanding emotional vocabulary.
Create a “word wall mental health vocabulary KS2” with positive terms like:
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resilience, calm, courage, belonging, support
Challenge pupils to weave at least three of these into a short poem.
👉 More vocabulary activities in Powerful Verbs Through Poetry.
4. “I Am, I Can, I Will” Poems 🌟
Learning focus: Growth mindset and confidence.
Pupils complete simple frames to create growth mindset poetry KS2:
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I am… a learner who keeps trying
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I can… solve problems with friends
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I will… believe in myself this year
Perform these aloud as a class chant.
👉 Performance tips in Poems to Learn and Perform.
5. Kindness Kennings 🤝
Learning focus: Figurative language in PSHE.
Introduce kennings (two-word descriptive phrases). Write positive kennings for classmates or family members:
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friend = smile-giver, helper-finder
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teacher = idea-sharer, dream-builder
👉 Teaching guide in Kennings Poems for KS2.
6. Class Wellbeing Poem 🎭
Learning focus: Collaborative writing and performance.
Each child contributes one line beginning “To grow, I need…” or “To feel well, I…” Assemble into a whole-class poem and perform it together.
👉 Similar group writing activities in Creative Classroom Challenges.
7. Blackout Poetry for Reflection 🖤📚
Learning focus: Reframing messages.
Provide a short PSHE text or article. Pupils blackout words until only a wellbeing poem remains (e.g., “be kind… belong… grow together”).
👉 Full activity in KS2 Blackout Poetry.
Why These Activities Work 📌
These poetry activities are perfect for Children’s Mental Health Week KS2 because they:
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Promote positive classroom culture 💡
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Encourage reflection on identity, resilience and kindness 🌈
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Provide simple, adaptable wellbeing poetry activities ✍️
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Support literacy and PSHE mental health activities together 🤝
Book a Poetry & Wellbeing Workshop 🏫✨
Looking for a powerful way to mark Children’s Mental Health Week? Come and join us online on Thursday 5th February 2026 for our online mental health poetry workshop. Email me for more details.
