Magnetic poetry can be addictive, and I occasionally fall victim to its charms. National Poetry Month continues! On the other hand, I hate the tiny little word tiles. They have a tendency to fall off and get misplaced. Plus, transporting the tiles from place to place is an exercise in futility; that is unless plucking each tab off one surface and then tediously placing it on a new one is your idea of fun. That aside, magnetic poetry can provide tons of word amusement.
When I was a new teacher, one of the first things I did to coolify my English classroom was to spend my own money on the original Magnetic Poetry kit. Students found it hard to resist. Why? They couldn’t resist composing lewd poetic masterpieces. When a few students that weren’t mine came in to gander at the whiteboard, I caught on to their bawdy efforts and retired the kit to my home refrigerator. If only I would have snapped a photo of some of their naughty creations!
Eventually, I considered bringing the kit back to the classroom, but only for specific poetry activities. Yeah right. Considering my penchant for planning elaborate activities that devoured too much of my personal time, I quickly talked myself out of that idea. Thankfully the makers of Magnetic Poetry make small samples of their kits available at their website.
On my classroom Smartboard, I presented my creative writing students with the chance to wow each other with their poetic prowess. What happened? They froze. Became self-conscious. Asked what they were supposed to do! Looking back, I could have eased the activity on them with more finesse. But still. Creativity need not be such an ordeal.
Needless to say, when I moved, I picked the words off my fridge one last time and gave them to my favorite creative writing student. The website kits are a poor substitute for word play since only a small handful of words are provided. I would even pay for a full electronic kit, but it doesn’t appear such a product is currently available. Bummer.
Here’s what I came up with today.
Do you or anyone you know partake in the fun that is magnetic poetry? Do you play at home or keep it at work? What kit(s) have you tried?
Image Credit: Magnetic Poetry Heart by Phaln. Please share responsibly. Jeri Walker, 2013.
I wish someone had taught me poetry when I was younger. I remember learning haiku, but that was about it. In general, my English instruction was dry (as opposed to interesting and creative).
I’m glad you are encouraging creative students.
Leora, I am planning on doing poetry tutorials, but it won’t be until this fall at the earliest. If you like haiku, you would also like tankas.
I love this idea of this. I have not had the pleasure of such a kit. I know I would like to though. I had to laugh when you mentioned how your students used the tool to product lewd prose… I do wish you’d taken a few pictures of that. It would have been fun to see what they created. 🙂
Susan, you should get one of the magnetic poetry kit and make a spot for it on your blogging idea whiteboard.
I’ve seen these magnets, but I had no idea they were for poetry. Very cool that you used this in class, and I like your poem.
Denise, I can imagine you would make some very interesting poems with such a kit. I’ve really enjoyed all the poetry you’ve been posting lately.
Thanks, Jeri. That means a lot to me.
I had these magnets on my refrigerator when I was younger but don’t know where they’ve gone over the years. I love the idea though and its a great way to get your creative juices flowing, and with a bunch of different words in front of you its easier to come up with something that sounds like a real poem.
Kelly, there’s so many different ways to spark creativity, and now that I’ve written this post, I miss my set of magnetic poetry even more. It would be nice if the tiles were a wee bit bigger though 😉
I have the vampire kit, but I really need to add the Unicorn kit – THEN we’ll have some interesting poetry, darn it!
S.M., it really boggles the mind to think how many different themes of magnetic poetry kits can now be purchased. There certainly is a kit for every taste. I like your idea of making a hybrid kit with the vampire and unicorn kit 😉
We used to have these. I never made poetry out of them, just one line “sayings”. And then my husband would come in and re-arrange them because that was hilarious to him. ugh. I want to get these again though, I loved the words on the refrigerator.
Karen, husbands are great at such things, aren’t they? I too would like to get another kit. I only wish I had a metal file cabinet in my office or a dry erase board nearby that I could stick them to.
I would be one of the kids writing lewd limericks with these. Not to mention, if I had the letter kits I would find new ways to spell bewbs.
Years ago we had a set. We had a lot of fun playing it. Then it became pase and we just ignored it until it was finally removed and given away.
Cheryl, I only ever had the original kit, but might try one of the more specialized ones someday. Wouldn’t it be great if the Magnetic Poetry company would make an app? No more tiny tiles to mess when then 😉
I love this kit. Anything that helps kids get into reading and poetry gets an A+ in my book,
Krystle, I can easily see putting words on larger note cards that would be easier to kids to manipulate than the tiny magnetic word tiles. They could even do so by picking the their own words to put on the cards. What a great way to learn about language!
I, too, had these at work. Someone gave them to me and I got tired of them on the home refrigerator, so carted them off to my HR office where they dazzled a boring file cabinet. Being HR, the employee who wandered in to rearrange them at least knew enough not to be bawdy. Shocker.
When I left, I left them behind. Now and then I find myself wondering if I should have… 🙂
Rose Mary, I gave my magnetic poetry sets away to a favorite student of mine when I moved. I had them on the fridge at home by that time. Every now and again, I still do wish I had kept them. I tend to get rid of stuff like it’s going out of style.