Share Inspiration
Folding Poem
- Share Inspiration
- Fellowship, reflection
- Day and night/anywhere
- 3 or more
- 10 years and up
- Pencils and paper
After a group shares a deeply moving nature experience, I like to use the Folding Poem activity because it helps everyone express the inspiration they're feeling. It's a great way to end a week at camp, a memorable hike, or Silent Sharing Walk. This activity was originally created by the North Carolina Outward Bound School.
To begin, tell everyone that they'll be dividing up into teams of three, and each team is going to write a poem on the theme you've selected (some shared experience). Each person will have only partial knowledge of what else has been written.
Here's how to play: The first person for each team writes the first line of the poem then passes it to the second person. This person writes one line that responds to the first writer's line, then writes another; then folds the poem so the third person sees only the last line written. The third person writes a line responding to the second person's last line, then writes another; then folds the poem so that the first writer sees only the last line. The first person writes the last line of the stanza. Below is a diagram of how it works.
1 First Person Writes a Line
2 Second Person Responds
(Second player folds here before giving it to the third player)
3 Second person New Line
4 Third person Responds
(Third player folds here before giving it to the first player)
5 Third Person New Line
6 First Person Responds
Now divide up into teams and pass out a pencil and paper to each team. Then tell the teams they have 10 to 15 minutes to write their poems. Teams can write more than six lines if they finish early. After all the teams have written their poems, have each team read theirs to the group. You'll be amazed at the beautiful continuity of thought that runs through the poems. You can also create poems that are written by everyone in the group by extending the same format above.
Below is an example of a Folding Poem by Ashleigh, Keith, and Paul written at the Aigas Field Centre in Scotland after doing some forest activities.
Anchored deep within the earth
Reaching high towards the clouds
Spreading green wings to catch the winds
Tiny seeds float away to settle in the deep moist earth
Reaching down and up and out
The forest clothes the hills
* from Sharing Nature with Children, © 1998 by Joseph Cornell
