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Watch: What is onomatopoeia?

Onomatopoeia is a word which sounds like what it means.

'Thud', 'crash', 'bang' and 'buzz' are all examples. Can you think of any more?

Using onomatopeia

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Using onomatopoeia in poems

An illustration of a young boy pointing to the words bang, pow and splash.

Onomatopoeia can help to bring a story or poem to life for the reader.

It is often used to add humour as well because the words usually sound quite strange or are fun to say.

Watch the following clip in which poet Joseph Coelho talks about onomatopoeia and how you could use it in a poem.

You only need to watch up to 1 minute and 23 seconds.

An illustration of a young boy pointing to the words bang, pow and splash.

Joseph Coelho talks about making poetry fun.

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Activity 1

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Activity 2

An illustration of a young girl thinking with question marks around her.

Imagine you are visiting a zoo, like Joseph Coelho was in the previous video.

Write down a list of all the onomatopoeia words you might hear in a zoo and what is making those noises.

Aim to write at least eight noises in your list.

For example:

  • Roar = an angry tiger

  • Plop = a penguin jumping into the water

  • Rustle = branches in the insect house

An illustration of a young girl thinking with question marks around her.
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Activity 3

An illustration of a young boy thinking.

Now try writing your own onomatopoeia poem.

You could use Joseph Coelho鈥檚 onomatopoeia poem from the video as inspiration.

For your poem you need to:

  • Write in sentences.

  • Write at least five lines.

  • Use a different onomatopoeia word in each line.

You could also:

  • Use rhyme (words that end with a similar sound).

  • Use alliteration (words that start with the same first sounds).

  • Add some illustrations to your poem showing pictures of the things that are making the sounds in the zoo.

An illustration of a young boy thinking.
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Play our fun English game Crystal Explorers. game

Use grammar, punctuation and spelling skills to explore jungles, caves and tombs on your mission!

Play our fun English game Crystal Explorers
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