🌍 World Poetry Day KS2 | Celebrate Poetry with Fun Writing & Performance Ideas

World Poetry Day (21st March) is the perfect opportunity to get KS2 pupils excited about reading, writing and performing poetry. It’s a day to celebrate poems of every shape and style — funny, serious, traditional, modern — and show children that poetry is alive and exciting.

Through World Poetry Day poems KS2, pupils can:

📚 Discover a variety of poetry styles (performance, list, parody, narrative)
🎤 Build confidence by reading poems aloud in class or assembly
💬 Experiment with rhythm, rhyme, repetition and imagery
📝 Write their own verses inspired by real poems

👉 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

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📝 Original World Poetry Day Poems by Ian Bland

Here are four of my own poems that work brilliantly for World Poetry Day. They give you a mix of performance, humour and reflection — perfect for showing children the range of what poetry can be.

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1. The Dinner Lady Dance (Performance Poem)

(chorus)
Eat your dinner your last chance!
Do the dinner lady dance!
Eat your dinner your last chance!
Do the dinner lady dance!

Gets so angry in a crowd
Blows her whistle really loud
Always shouting in the hall
Stops you crying when you fall
Tells you off for telling lies
Hands on hips and angry eyes!
(chorus)

Loves to jump in when you fight
Wears a coat that’s far too tight
Starts to panic in the rain
Dinner ladies they’re insane
Play a game and they will spoil it
Won’t let you go to the toilet!
(chorus)

Keeps you waiting all the while
Makes you walk in single file
Always grumps and always pouts
Makes you eat your Brussel sprouts
Cleverest people in a way
They only work one hour a day!
(chorus)

Makes you eat that fatty mince
Curly hair with purple rinse
Makes you stand up on the wall
Confiscates the playground ball
Think they’re nice then think again
They scared away the dinner men!
(chorus)

💡 Activity idea:

• Teach the chorus first. Get the whole class stamping and clapping in rhythm.

• Split into groups so different voices perform different verses.

• Add simple percussion (drums, shakers) to turn it into a playground “mini musical” for assembly.

🔗 Related: Playground Poems KS2

🔗 Related: The Dinner Lady Dance Poem Download

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2. Teacher for Sale (Funny Advertisement Poem)

33 years on clock, slightly worn exterior and tendency to stare into space.
VERY economical to run — eats porridge for lunch, one coffee in the morning, one in the afternoon.
Comes with own whistle and selection of chalks.
Sometimes absent on Mondays and disappears very quickly on Fridays.
Gets stuck in 3rd gear.
Recently observed last Tuesday by Mr Lord our Headteacher (didn’t go well!).
Will take ANYONE in part exchange. Attitude may need some adjustment.
CREDIT AVAILABLE! BUY NOW PAY NOTHING UNTIL NEXT SEPTEMBER!
Follow her on Twitter (no one else does)

💡 Activity idea:

• Show children how to turn a person into a funny “for sale” ad.

• Pupils write their own “Teacher for Sale” or “Pupil for Sale” adverts with exaggerated descriptions.

• Great for teaching tone and audience.

🔗 Related: Funny School Poems KS2

🔗 Related: Teacher For Sale Writing Framework

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3. Mr Hewitt – “You Can Do It Kiddo” (Motivational Performance Poem)

You can be a chocolate tester you can be a witchdoctor
That guy that hangs out of helicopters
You can be a ballet dancer, a white hat hacker
That TV Amazonian jungle tracker
He says these things day after day
‘YOU CAN DO IT KIDDO!’
That’s what Mr Hewitt says…

You can be a roady an investigator
That guy that’s an FBI negotiator
You can be a lawyer a billionaire investor
Travel the world as a water slide tester
He says these things day after day
‘YOU CAN DO IT KIDDO!’
That’s what Mr Hewitt says…

You can be a worm picker a snake charmer
A sub Saharan apricot farmer
You can be a teddy bear technician a professional sleeper
A modern-day Victorian chimney sweeper
He says these things day after day
‘YOU CAN DO IT KIDDO!’
That’s what Mr Hewitt says…

You can be a face feeler a golf ball diver
A Formula one Grand Prix driver
You can be a sumo wrestler an armpit sniffer
A champion Olympic power lifter
He says these things day after day
‘YOU CAN DO IT KIDDO!’
That’s what Mr Hewitt says…

💡 Activity idea:

• Have pupils create their own “You can be…” verses full of wild, impossible jobs.

• Perform with call-and-response: one group reads the jobs, another shouts “YOU CAN DO IT KIDDO!”

• Link to PSHE/growth mindset discussions about dreams and ambitions.

🔗 Related: Growth Mindset Poems KS2

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4. If (Friendship Scaffold Poem)

If you can give me the answers
When I just don’t have a clue
If you could help me out
When I don’t know what to do
If you can make me grin
When it’s work we should be doing
If you could do my cutting out
My folding and my gluing

If you can make me laugh until
The tears run down my face
If you could let me use the rubber
In your pencil case
If you could fight the bullies
When they come to spoil our game
If you could take the heat off me
If you could take the blame

If you could have a sleepover
And always let me come
If you will always be my friend
No matter what I’ve done,

Then, and only then
You can sit next to me in class my son.

💡 Activity idea:

• Show pupils how this poem is a scaffold — they can write their own “If you…” friendship or kindness verses.

• Great for Anti-Bullying Week or PSHE.

• Perform as a call-and-response: one child reads the “If you…” lines, the class echoes a chosen refrain.

🔗 Related: Anti-Bullying Week Poems KS2

🔗 Related: ‘If’ Poem Writing Framework

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🎉 Fun World Poetry Day Activities for KS2

• Poetry Carousel: set up four “poetry stations” (one for each poem above). Groups rotate, reading and performing each.

• Poetry Parade: pupils walk around sharing their favourite lines or new verses they’ve written.

• Poem Mash-Ups: mix lines from two different poems to make something new and funny.

• Cross-Curricular Link: tie poems to PSHE (friendship), English (performance), History (narratives) and Art (illustrated poems).

🔗 Related: Performance Poetry KS2 | Kindness Poems KS2 | Friendship Poems KS2

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👩‍🏫 Teacher Pedagogy Notes

Curriculum links:

• English: performance poetry, rhythm, rhyme, repetition.

• PSHE: friendship, kindness, aspirations.

• Drama: voice, actions, choral reading.

Differentiation:

• Support: scaffolded verses or chorus repetition.

• Challenge: extended original verses or new performance styles.

Engagement:

• Using lively, funny and meaningful poems shows children poetry is for them — not just old books.

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🌟 Final Thoughts

World Poetry Day is a fantastic time to show KS2 pupils the joy of poetry. Whether it’s funny, heartfelt or motivational, these poems are easy to perform and brilliant for building confidence.

👉 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