Today I bring you whole new worlds, well, new words and cool worlds as well using some new words, or neologisms!

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🌀 New Words, New Worlds: Invent-A-Word Poetry!

🎯 Lesson Objective

Students will understand what neologisms are and create original poems using their own made-up words.

🔗 Connections

• Learning Connection: Exploring neologisms builds vocabulary, encourages linguistic creativity, and reinforces parts of speech in a playful, engaging way.
• Poetry Connection: Poets often invent words to capture unique feelings, images, or rhythms—just like Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, and Dr. Seuss!
• Book Connection aka Book Pairings 📚:
  • Scranimals by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Peter Sís
  • Baloney (Henry P.) by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith – Features a hilarious use of made-up words that still make perfect sense.
  • Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook by Shel Silverstein (and other books as well)
  • Many Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl books
  • Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll – A classic poem full of neologisms that sparks imagination and interpretation.
  • And while this one is more a short novel, it can show how made-up words can have a power all their own! Frindle by Andrew Clements and Brian Selznick

🧰 Materials Needed

• Chart paper or whiteboard
• Markers
• Paper & pencils
• “Example Neologisms” sheet (optional; you can make it as part of the warm-up exercise)
• Books or poems (optional – can use suggested books above)
• Colored pencils or crayons for illustrations (Optional)

✍️ Nifty New Worlds with New Words!

🧠 Warm-Up Your New Words, aka Neologisms (10 mins)

1. Ask: Have you ever made up your own whole new word before? Something like ‘glorp’ or ‘snizzle’?

Let students share their own made-up words. Write a few of them on the board.

2. Define: What is Neologism?

A neologism is a brand new word that someone makes up—and sometimes, it even becomes part of the real dictionary! Break it down, and show that it comes from neo meaning new, and logos for word or speech.

Share popular examples, like Google, muggle, and Nerf, like blog, staycation, or noob

📖 Mini Lesson (10 min)

Read a short excerpt from one of the suggested books (or another poem/word-focused text you love).
Example: A stanza from Jabberwocky or There’s a Wocket in My Pocket.

Ask students what they think made these words fun or interesting, and what they think these words (slithy/wocket) mean? Can we still understand what these words are describing even though they are not real words?

🎲 Activity (20–25 min): ‘Invent A New Word’ Poetry Lab!

Step 1: Word Mashup Game (5 min)

Give students a chance to mix and match from a fun word list to create their own new words!

• Make a “Nifty New Words Table” with columns like: sound, animal, object, action. Mix and match to spark ideas.
• Prompt students to:
  • Combine two animals: “Snakerpillar”
  • Add nonsense endings: “Bloopadoodle”
  • Use sounds: “Pingboink”
  • Mix objects and actions: “Skateboardbounce!”
• Remind them that the made-up words can be silly but should still sound like we could use them, and use them well!
  • Check out Ken Nesbitt’s tips on how to make up new words here, along with a poem for inspiration here.

Step 2: Poetry Creation (15–20 min)

Encourage students to write a 4–8 line poem using at least two of their invented words. They could write their poem any way they want to, rhyming or not, counting syllable or not, short or long, anything of their choice.

Some ideas to prompt their writing would be to write a poem simply describing the word iteself!

For example:

I saw a splinkle in the sky,
It danced and giggled way up high.
With jelly wings and floppy toes,
It spun around and struck a pose.

🎤 Share & Celebrate! (5–10 min)

Let volunteers share their poems aloud. Have others guess what their new word means. Applaud wildly!

🧠 Wrap-Up

Ask students if they think whether made-up new words can still tell a story. What new words stood out most for them and why?

Give a final challenge: Try to use one of your invented words at home today—see if someone believes it’s real!

🔧 Tweak It! — Adaptations for Other Grades

• K–2: Focus on rhyming and sound play using familiar nonsense words (Dr. Seuss), and illustrate invented words.
• 6–8: Add in etymology and portmanteaus; have students invent tech or slang words and write free verse or satire poems.

🚀 Extend the Magic — Optional Activities

This could be for students who need additional challenges or as an extension day two session

• Neologism Dictionary: Create a classroom book or digital slideshow of these new words with definitions and example poems. Add illustrations.
• Word Adoption: Each student “adopts” another student’s word and uses it in a new poem or paragraph.

New Words? Or Cool New Worlds

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt asks us to be inspired by James Schuyler‘s poem Faure’s Second Piano Quartet, and similarly impose a particular song on a place. In our poem, we should try to describe the interaction between the place and the music using references to a plant and, if possible, incorporate a quotation – bonus points for using a piece of everyday, overheard language.

I also took inspiration from one of the exhibits (Jon Ohl, oak lites, 2022) within today’s featured resource, the Museum of Photographic Art. This looks like a painting of the stunning Sensorio: Field of Lights at Paso Robles, CA, and used the memories still fresh in my mind from our trip there a couple of years ago. Photo below from that trip (not the best one but for reference)

My Attempt

Notes and Nebulas
In that Field of Lights,
the soft crunch of gravel sighs underfoot,
and light spills like memories—
not all at once—
some soft, some sharp—
like thinking of someone you almost forgot,
then suddenly remembering their voice.
“Light the sky,” said grace—
and here the Earth is lit instead!
Each light emitting its own hush,
melding with soft gasps and whoas, breathed out
in wonder at the Dimensions
of light and shadow, sound and silence, where
whispelled chatter turns down its volume
to reverence.
“We could’ve turned left, I think,”
someone murmurs…
…somewhere a camera clicks
as wind brushes past the field of lights.
Every plant an instrument,
every breeze a bow drawn gently across
the glowing strings of silence—
and the field,
a living symphony, a glintmurmur of night!
And as I look and wonder
if the lights are winking at me,
I realize somehow,
that even more so now—
“I have loved the stars too fondly
to be fearful of the night.”
A hushfade, then—
gravel again,
soft under fading steps,
as if someone, somewhere,
is walking away
from the music in that field of lights.

~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

While I am not sure if I incorporated everything the prompt said in the right way, here are a couple I did include:

• “Light the sky,” said grace— referring to Grace Vanderwaal’s song Light the Sky (video linked below)
• “I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” – Sarah Williams
• overheard “We could’ve turned left, I think“
• the location: The Field of Light at Sensorio (and within that, the Dimensions exhibit, which I added here though I haven’t been to see that specific exhibit yet)
• and because today’s poetic lesson plan in my post is neologisms, I have a couple sprinkled within

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, have you made up any new words? If so, do share them with me, or share a poem using those new words! And any other comments and thoughts on my post are welcome as always.

I am linking up to A-Z, Blogchatter, UBC, NaPoWriMo.

And you can find all my A-Z posts (this year and previous years’ as well) here:

A to Z Challenge Posts