🤝 Friendship Poems KS2: Fun, Creative & Positive Activities ✍️

🌟 Why Try Friendship Poems in KS2?

Friendship is one of the most important themes in primary school life — and it makes the perfect inspiration for poetry. Children love writing about their friends, playground adventures, and what makes a “best friend.” Teachers find that friendship poems are a brilliant way to link English to PSHE, encouraging kindness, reflection, and teamwork.

Through friendship poems KS2, pupils can:

• Build vocabulary around emotions and relationships 💬

• Explore rhythm, rhyme, and imagery in a meaningful context ✍️

• Share positive messages through performance 🎤

• Connect poetry with circle time, assemblies, and PSHE lessons 👫

👉 In my Poetry Days, I often use friendship as a theme because it instantly engages children. Whether it’s silly, heartfelt, or both, friendship poems always bring out the best in writing and performance.
➡ Book a Poetry Day – Ian Bland

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📝 Original Friendship Poems by Ian Bland

Here are three of my own poems that I often use in schools. They show children that friendship can be written about in different ways: caring, reflective, and funny.

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1. I’ll Be Your Friend and I’ll Be There

When you tell a joke and no-one laughs
When you slip and fall in the swimming baths
When you trip in the hall and spill your food
When you get told off for being rude
When you lean too far and fall off your chair

I’ll be your friend and I’ll be there,

When your test comes back with nought out of ten
When you smudge your work with your fountain pen
When you slide and fall down in the mud
When the teacher tells you you’re no good
When the whole class giggles at your new style of hair

I’ll be your friend and I’ll be there,

When the bullies chase you in the yard
When the maths you’re given is far too hard
When you’re feeling blue and all alone
When others leave you on your own
When all you feel inside is doubt

I’ll be your friend and help you out.

💡 Activity idea: Pupils can write their own “I’ll Be Your Friend” verses, using real-life school situations. Perform them as a group piece, with one voice reading the problem and the whole class replying “I’ll be your friend and I’ll be there.”

🔗 Related: Kennings Poems KS2

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2. What is a Friend?

Someone who shares their sweets with you
Even though they have a few
Someone who chases boredom away
When you don’t know what to do,

Someone who listens carefully
And never tells your secrets
Someone who gives you good advice
And helps you solve your problems,

Someone who makes you want to smile
When bullies make you cry
Someone who asks you to join in
When you’re feeling sad and shy,

Someone who always comes to call
And never leaves your side
Someone to share your hopes and fears
And firmly holds your hand.

💡 Activity idea: This poem works brilliantly as a list poem model. Children can brainstorm qualities of a good friend, then turn them into their own verses. Challenge them to mix humour with sincerity.

Download your What is a friend writing framework here

🔗 Related: Remembrance Poems

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3. If You Were My Best Friend!

If you were my best friend I could:

Wrestle a grizzly bear with one hand tied behind my back
I could repel a thousand soldiers if they mounted an attack

I could swim across an ocean I could reach up to the moon
I could fly across Australia In a big hot air balloon

I could be the next Prime Minister and have my own Rolls Royce
I could be on the next X Factor with my lovely singing voice

I could make a million dollars and give it all away for free
I could explore the Amazon jungle and swing from tree to tree!

If you were my best friend!

I could climb up Mount Everest without stopping for a break
I could swim with great white sharks and grapple with a snake

I could win the tennis up at Wimbledon and at Wembley score a goal
I could travel to America and win The Super Bowl

I could walk a thousand miles and never have to lose my breathe
I could meet a gang of zombies and scare them all to death

I could lift up a double decker bus and never break a sweat
I could wind surf across the seven seas and never once get wet

If you were my best friend!

💡 Activity idea: Use this poem to explore hyperbole (exaggeration). Children can invent their own wild, impossible things they could do “if you were my best friend.” Perform it with dramatic voices and actions.

🔗 Related: Anti- Bullying Poems For KS2

🔗 Related: Valentine’s Poems For KS2

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🎉 Fun Friendship Poetry Activities for KS2

• Friendship Cinquains – Use the 2-4-6-8-2 syllable structure to describe a friend.

• Acrostic Poems – Pupils write an acrostic for the word FRIENDSHIP, choosing words that show kindness and trust.

• Performance Poems – Turn list poems into choral readings for assembly. Each line can be read by a different child or group.

• Friendship Recipe Poems – Write a recipe for friendship: “2 cups of laughter, a spoonful of trust, a sprinkle of silliness.”

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👩‍🏫 Teacher Pedagogy Notes

• Curriculum links: English (poetic forms, descriptive writing), PSHE (friendship, kindness, relationships), Drama (performance skills).

• Differentiation: Short list or acrostic poems for support; longer narrative poems for challenge.

• Engagement: Friendship is a universal theme that every child can relate to, making it accessible and inclusive.

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🌟 Final Thoughts

Friendship poems KS2 give children the chance to celebrate what matters most — their friends. Whether it’s funny, heartfelt, or reflective, these poems are easy to write, fun to perform, and perfect for building positive classroom relationships.

🎤 Want to bring friendship poems to life in your school?

In my Poetry Days, I:

• Perform lively, funny poems to inspire pupils 🎭

• Lead writing workshops on themes like friendship, kindness, and teamwork ✍️

• Help children perform their poems with pride and confidence 🌟

📅 You can book me for:

• In-person Poetry Days anywhere in the UK

• Online Poetry Workshops for flexible, affordable access

👉 Friendship is always better when it’s shared — book your Poetry Day now and give your pupils an unforgettable creative experience.
Contact me here ➡ Poets in Schools – Ian Bland