🎶 Music and Rhythm Poetry for KS2: Writing with a Beat 🥁✍️
🌟 Why Explore Music and Rhythm Poetry in KS2?
As a children’s poet visiting hundreds of schools across the UK, I’ve seen how pupils light up when poetry comes alive with rhythm and sound. Add clapping, stamping, or rapping, and suddenly even reluctant writers are fully engaged.
Music poetry KS2 is more than fun — it develops:
A secure understanding of rhythm, rhyme, and syllables 🎵
Oracy skills: speaking fluently, listening closely, and performing confidently 🎤
Cross-curricular links between English and the music curriculum (beat, tempo, dynamics) 🥁
Teamwork and enjoyment in creative expression 🌟
👉 In my Poetry Days in schools and online workshops, I use rhythm and music poems to get whole classes clapping, chanting, and performing.
Book a Poetry Day ➡ Poets in Schools – Ian Bland
📝 Example Poems: Rhythm and Music in Action
Here are three of my own poems, which I often perform in schools. Each shows how movement, rhythm, and sound can transform poetry into an unforgettable experience for KS1 & KS2 pupils.
1. Action Poem!
Stand up!
Reach out!
Put a finger on your nose,
Look up!
Bend down!
Put your elbow on your toes!
Sit down!
Fold arms!
Put a big smile on your faces,
Kneel up!
Crouch down!
And then wiggle in your places!
Stand up!
Turn round!
Put your fingers on the mat,
Say “Ahhh”!
Say “Oooh”!
And then meow like a cat!
Spin round!
Stand still!
And then move around your hips,
Breathe in!
Breathe out!
And make a kiss sound with your lips!
Sit down!
Sit straight!
Put your hands neatly on your lap,
And now please give yourself a
Big, big clap!
2. Can You Do It?
Clap clap with your hands
Sniff sniff with your nose
Stamp stamp with your feet
Tiptoe with your toes
Blink blink with your eyes
Shake shake with your hips
Bend bend with your knees
Kiss kiss with your lips
Sing sing with your voice
Nod nod with your head
Whistle whistle through your lips
Bounce bounce on the bed
Wave wave with your hands
Rock rock on your chair
Click click with your tongue
Growl growl like a bear!
Pop pop with your cheek
Rub rub on your tum
Knock knock with your knees
Wiggle wiggle with your bum!
3. The Teatime Rap
As I sit in my room and I play on a game
My mum gets mad then shouts out my name
“It’s time that you came down the stairs now Lee
It’s ten past five and it’s time for your tea!”
I came down stairs put my tea on my lap,
And I slobbered and I slurped to the teatime rap!
Yes I slobbered and I slurped to the teatime rap!
With a sausage and an egg and a half baked bun
I moaned and I said “This is not much fun!
I’m bored with this mum can’t we have fast food?”
But my mum said “Lee!, you are far too rude!”
So I turned to the telly and my half chewed bap,
And I slobbered and I slurped to the teatime rap!
Yes I slobbered and I slurped to the teatime rap!
🎉 Music Poetry Activities for KS2
💡 Action Warm-Up
Perform Action Poem! with the class, adding actions for each line. Builds confidence and gets children moving.
💡 Echo Performance
Read Can You Do It? in call-and-response style — teacher reads, class repeats. Great for assemblies.
💡 Rap Your Routine
Use The Teatime Rap as a model. Pupils write their own rap about everyday routines: football practice, bedtime, or the school day.
💡 Percussion Poetry
Add claps, stamps, or shakers to poems. Explore beat and tempo by performing fast, slow, loud, or soft.
💡 Collaborative Chorus
Create a repeating chorus line the whole class can chant between verses. Builds teamwork and rhythm.
🔗 Related: Performance Poetry KS2 • Fun Writing Warm-Ups KS2
👩🏫 Teacher Pedagogy Notes
Accessibility: Chants and action poems are inclusive for SEND and EAL learners.
Engagement: Rhythm supports memory and helps reluctant writers enjoy poetry.
Curriculum links: Covers English (performance, vocabulary, rhyme), Music (pulse, beat, tempo), and PSHE (confidence, teamwork).
Assessment: Observe fluency, confidence, and oral performance skills.
🌟 Final Thought
Music poetry KS2 combines language, rhythm, and fun. Whether clapping, chanting, or rapping, children experience poetry as something to feel and perform — not just read on the page.
👉 To bring rhythm and music poetry to life in your school, book me for a Poetry Day or join one of my online workshops.
