Creative Writing Project For Individuals or Groups.

In the nursing home, sometimes we decide to make up a rhyming poem from words that have lots of other words that rhyme with them.

First of all, we picked one word, and this day it was HAT, I asked the group to come up with words that rhymed with it, and the following words were suggested: cat, fat, mat, rat, sat.

Next, I asked the group of six residents to come up with a first line that ended with one of these words. One person suggested:

What’s in the corner? I think it’s a hat.

And then it flowed:

I can’t really see it, it’s under the mat.

It's moving, it’s moving! It looks really fat.

Oh, now I can see it, it’s just Mary’s cat.

This was our very first attempt at creative writing in our group. The exercise showed the participants that anyone can have a go at writing, and it doesn't have to be taken too seriously. The main objective at the time was to create a good social activity. Imagination was encouraged, and everybody's suggestions were taken into consideration.

We all had terrific fun and lots of laughter while doing it, and that is what matters!

Why don't you try making a rhyming poem?

You can do this at home with the person you are caring for or at work with a group. Some good words that have lots of rhyming words are, eat, ale, night, ill, ash, bow, and cart.

Maria Brady

More poetry from our writing group here.