Kennings are a lively and engaging way to teach poetry at KS2. They come from Anglo-Saxon and Norse traditions and describe something familiar without naming it directly.
Each line usually has two words joined by a hyphen, often in a noun + verb or noun + noun pattern, such as bone-cruncher or noise-maker. A kenning often works as a riddle, encouraging the reader to use clues to guess what is being described.
With this pack, you can introduce pupils to the structure of kennings, explore WAGOLLs (what a good one looks like) and support children as they plan and write their own poems.
The resources also give you the flexibility to link poetry with wider topics or reading in your classroom. Pupils can write animal riddles, create kennings inspired by history or invent new poems linked to your current theme.
Model texts included
The pack contains two model texts you can use as WAGOLLs. Which Animal Am I? is a riddle poem that describes a barn owl with lines such as silent-swooper and mouse-hunter. It shows pupils how kennings use short, sharp descriptions to build a picture.
The Romans includes two kennings: one about Julius Caesar and one about a legionary. These give a clear model of how pupils can use their historical knowledge to create kennings linked to a topic.
What’s inside the pack
- Kenning success criteria writing sheet with clear steps for writing kennings and examples of suffixes
- Kenning ideas sheet where pupils can record words and phrases to use in their poems
- Kenning writing plan to help pupils organise their ideas and structure a single kenning poem
- Themed writing paper for pupils to present their finished poems
Curriculum links
This pack supports several English objectives across KS2. In Years 3 and 4, pupils will recognise different forms of poetry and learn from the poetic techniques, vocabulary and grammar of similar texts.
In Years 5 and 6, pupils will discuss figurative language, choose vocabulary carefully to shape meaning and use punctuation such as hyphens to make their writing clear.
You can use this resource at any time, but it also works perfectly for celebrating National Poetry Day in October.