5 Exciting Poems To Learn and Perform in KS2 Updated 2025 🎤📚

Learning and reciting poems is now central to the curriculum. From Reception upwards, children are expected to enjoy, learn and perform a variety of high-quality poems.

Why this matters:

• Builds confidence, memory and oracy

• Develops rhythm, rhyme and vocabulary

• Sparks creativity for children’s own writing

• Makes literacy lessons fun and memorable

👉 For tips on delivery, see Performance Poetry in Primary Schools.

👉 In my Poetry Days, performing and writing poems are always a highlight. I perform some of my funniest poems in assembly before leading workshops where children write their own verses. By the end of the day, classes are performing their poems with actions, voices, and plenty of laughter.

📅 You can book me for:

• In-person Poetry Days in schools across the UK

• Online Poetry Workshops for flexible, affordable access that let you bring a live poet into your classroom without travel costs

➡ Find out more here: Poets in Schools – Ian Bland

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Me performing my Dinner Lady Dance Poem!

1. The Highwayman – Alfred Noyes

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

👉 Find the full version of this poem here

Why children love it:
Dramatic rhythm, vivid characters and high stakes.

Classroom ideas:

• Small groups perform a stanza each with actions and props.

• Write diary entries from Bess, Tim or even the soldiers.

• Rewrite with an alternative ending.

• Create soundscapes (hoofbeats, wind, gunshots).

👉 Link this with The Emergency Poem for more narrative writing inspiration.

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2. Adventures of Isabel – Ogden Nash

Isabel met an enormous bear,
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t care;
The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,
The bear’s big mouth was cruel and cavernous.
The bear said, Isabel, glad to meet you,
How do, Isabel, now I’ll eat you!
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry.
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,
Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.

👉 Find the full version of this poem here

Why children love it:
Funny, fearless and full of repetition. Easy to learn off by heart.

Classroom ideas:

• Write new verses – who will Isabel meet next?

• Hot-seat Isabel to explore where her courage comes from.

• Act out Isabel’s encounters in pairs or small groups.

👉 Extend with Creative Classroom Challenges and Quick & Easy Poetry Starters.

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3. What Has Happened To Lulu? – Charles Causley

What has happened to Lulu, mother?
What has happened to Lu?
There’s nothing in her bed but an old rag-doll
And by its side a shoe.

Why is her window wide, mother,
The curtain flapping free,
And only a circle on the dusty shelf
Where her money-box used to be?

Why do you turn your head, mother,
And why do tear drops fall?
And why do you crumple that note on the fire
And say it is nothing at all?

I woke to voices late last night,
I heard an engine roar.
Why do you tell me the things I heard
Were a dream and nothing more?

I heard somebody cry, mother,
In anger or in pain,
But now I ask you why, mother,
You say it was a gust of rain.

Why do you wander about as though
You don’t know what to do?
What has happened to Lulu, mother?
What has happened to Lu?

Why children love it:
It’s mysterious, emotional and full of unanswered questions.

Classroom ideas:

• Write or perform the missing confrontation between Lulu and her mum.

• Interview Lulu’s brother for his perspective.

• Use freeze-frames to capture each stanza.

• Link to PSHE: family conflict and resolution.

👉 For another rhythm-based activity, try I’ve Never Seen….

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4. Walking With My Iguana – Brian Moses

I am walking
With my iguana
I am walking
With my iguana

When the temperature rises
To above eighty-five,
My iguana is looking
Like he’s coming alive.
So we make it to the beach,
My iguana and me,
Then he sits on my shoulder
As we stroll by the sea…

And I am walking
With my iguana
I am walking
With my iguana

Well if anyone sees us
We’re a big surprise,
My iguana and me
On our daily exercise,
Till somebody phones
The local police
Says I’ve got an alligator
Tied to a leash.

I am walking
With my iguana
I am walking
With my iguana

It’s the spines on his back
That make him look grim,
But he just loves to be tickled
Under his chin.
And I know that my iguana
Is ready for bed
When he puts on his pyjamas
And lays down his sleepy head.

I am walking
With my iguana
Still walking
With my iguana
With my iguana
With my iguana
And my piranha
And my Chihuahua
And my chinchilla
With my gorilla
My caterpillar

I am walking
With my iguana
With my iguana
With my iguana

Why children love it:
The rhythm and chant-like structure make it irresistible.

Classroom ideas:

• Add percussion instruments to create a backing track.

• Turn the poem into a rap or chant.

• Pupils design their own “strangest pet” to walk.

• Write a new verse with a different animal.

👉 For more on rhythm, see Teaching Rhyme and Rhythm in KS2 Made Easy.

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5. Please Mrs Butler – Allan Ahlberg

Please Mrs Butler
This boy Derek Drew
Keeps copying my work, Miss.
What shall I do?

Go and sit in the hall, dear.
Go and sit in the sink.
Take your books on the roof, my lamb.
Do whatever you think.

Please Mrs Butler
This boy Derek Drew
Keeps taking my rubber, Miss.
What shall I do?

Keep it in your hand, dear.
Hide it up your vest.
Swallow it if you like, love.
Do what you think best.

Please Mrs Butler
This boy Derek Drew
Keeps calling me rude names, Miss.
What shall I do?

Lock yourself in the cupboard, dear.
Run away to sea.
Do whatever you can, my flower.
But don’t ask me!

Why children love it:
It’s cheeky, funny and highly relatable.

Classroom ideas:

• Split the class in two – one plays the child, the other the teacher.

• Write extra verses in the same ABAB rhyme scheme.

• Create a role-play showing Derek Drew’s day in school.

👉 For more funny activities, see Teacher For Sale! A Fun Poetry Activity and Best Funny Poems for KS2 Children.

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Final Thought

These five poems are brilliant for performance, discussion and writing. They inspire confidence, creativity and plenty of laughter. Best of all, children remember them long after they’ve left your classroom.

👉 Explore more with 10 Fun Poetry Activities for KS2 or Poetry Across the Curriculum.

👉 In my Poetry Days, performing and writing poems are always a highlight. I perform some of my funniest poems in assembly before leading workshops where children write their own verses. By the end of the day, classes are performing their poems with actions, voices, and plenty of laughter.

📅 You can book me for:

• In-person Poetry Days in schools across the UK

• Online Poetry Workshops for flexible, affordable access that let you bring a live poet into your classroom without travel costs