🌪️ Personification Poems KS2 | Bringing Objects to Life

Personification is one of the most magical techniques in poetry — it gives human qualities to things that aren’t human.
When children learn to personify, their writing becomes more creative, vivid and fun.

In Personification Poems KS2, pupils discover that even the wind, the sea, or a football can think, speak and feel!

Through personification poems, children can:
✨ Build descriptive vocabulary and imagery
🧠 Develop figurative language skills
🎭 Perform their poems using voice and expression
🌍 Link English with Geography, Science and Art

👉 In my Poetry Days in primary schools across the UK I work hard to get the children excited about writing and performing their own poems. I visit over 100 schools every year and I’d love to work with your children and teachers.

📅 You can book me for:

In-person Poetry Days across the UK
Online Poetry Workshops (affordable and flexible)

➡ Secure your date here: Poets in Schools – Ian Bland

💡 What Is Personification?

Personification means giving human actions or emotions to an object, animal or idea.

For example:

“The sun smiled down on the playground.” ☀️
“The wind whispered secrets through the trees.” 🌳
“The angry waves crashed against the cliffs.” 🌊

It helps children describe scenes in a lively, imaginative way.

🌍 Here Lies the Body of Planet Earth — by Ian Bland

This is a thoughtful poem that personifies our planet — giving Earth human qualities of pain, loss and regret.

Here Lies the Body of Planet Earth

Here lies the body of Planet Earth
That gave the human race its birth
With valleys green and oceans wide
For lack of care the Earth just died

Flowers withered, the sky turned black
And now those humans can’t go back.
Here lies the body all charred and burned
With lessons humans should have learned

Poisoned lakes and lifeless seas
There’s nothing left now save disease
The humans left it to its fate
And now they see it’s far too late.

💡 Activity ideas:

Ask pupils to identify which human qualities are given to Earth.
Discuss how personification creates emotion.
Pupils can write “Here Lies…” poems about rivers, cities or forests. Here Lies The Body Of Writing Framework
Cross-curricular link: Geography (pollution, habitats, sustainability).

🌬️ The Angry Wind — New Poem by Ian Bland

The Angry Wind

The wind grew wild and screamed with rage,
It slammed the trees, it shook the cage,
It tore the washing from the line,
It grabbed the fence and snapped the sign.

It chased the clouds across the sky,
It pushed the rain and made it fly,
It hammered doors and banged the bin —
That’s what happens when the wind blows in!

💡 Activity ideas:

Use weather photos and ask children to describe them using personification.
Create a class “personification bank” of verbs and adjectives.
Pupils can perform this poem with body movements for the wind’s actions.

🏀 The Lonely Football — New Poem by Ian Bland

The Lonely Football

I sit beneath the cupboard shelf,
Forgotten and deflated self,
No one kicks me anymore,
Since they installed that shiny floor.

I dream of days of rain and mud,
Of jumpers marking goals for studs,
But now I roll from side to side,
And sigh — the world has passed me by.

💡 Activity ideas:

Great for personification from an object’s perspective.
Pupils choose their own classroom object (pencil, chair, coat) and describe its thoughts or feelings.
Ideal for display writing — “Voices from the Classroom.”

🔗 Related: School Poems KS2 | Funny Poems KS2

🌳 The Talking Tree — New Poem by Ian Bland

The Talking Tree

The talking tree stood tall and wise,
And whispered secrets to the skies,
It told the sun when dawn should start,
It soothed the breeze and warmed each heart.

It laughed with birds that made their nest,
It sighed when winter took its rest,
It wept when humans cut its kin,
And whispered, “Time to grow again.”

💡 Activity ideas:

Draw a tree and label its emotions using figurative language.
Compare natural imagery with human emotion.
Cross-curricular links: Science (plants, ecosystems), Art (illustration).

✍️ Writing Your Own Personification Poem

Choose an object, animal or natural feature.
Ask: If it were human, what would it think, feel, or say?
Build a list of verbs — whisper, laugh, cry, stomp, sigh.
Add adjectives — angry, tired, lonely, excited.
Write in rhyme or free verse.
Read aloud — does it sound alive?

🎭 Tip: Act out your poem. Can you move like the object you’ve written about?

🔗 Related: Free Verse KS2 | Performance Poetry KS2

👩‍🏫 Teacher Pedagogy Notes

Curriculum links:

English: figurative language, personification, descriptive writing
Science: weather, habitats, materials
Geography: environment, landscapes
Art: visual representation of poetry

Differentiation:

Support: start with shared personification brainstorms.
Challenge: extend with similes/metaphors alongside personification.

Engagement:

Pupils love giving voices to objects — perfect for group work or poetry displays.

🌟 Final Thoughts

Personification Poems KS2 help children imagine the world in new ways. When a tree can whisper, a football can sigh, or the Earth can mourn, poetry suddenly becomes alive and relatable.