Sail in a sieve to the land of Alphabet Nonsense with Edward Lear’s Nonsense Alphabet! On this episode you’ll learn a bit about Edward Lear and you’ll hear Buttons & Figs kids share nonsense letter poems of their own, inspired by Lear. The kids also tell you how they wrote their poems, so you can write them too. And, if you need a little help remembering the letters of the English alphabet, then we got you covered with A BETTER Alphabet song than the one everyone seems to like so much! Jonathon Roberts from Composer Dad podcast and I teamed up with some Buttons & Figs kids to write what we think is a WAY better tune…but you can decide. Be sure to check out “His Shoes Were Far Too Tight” (public library)a collection of Edward Lear poems, compiled by Daniel Pinkwater, illustrated by Calef Brown. Now go play with letters…no words…no letters…no words….just go play.
Category Archives: wordplay
episodes include figurative wordplay inspired by poems, songs and stories.
#45 – Holiday Poem Play at Velma Teague Library
Sail with us this holiday to the Velma Teague Library in Glendale Arizona where we share holiday play inspired by the classic Christmas poem, “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Moore. But of course we don’t just read the poem, we play! Listen in as these Buttons & Figs kids come up with their own reindeer names, and using the poem as inspiration, they set sail to write their own original stories. We hope you’ll head to the library this holiday and read The Night Before Christmas so sugar plums will dance and sing in your imagination. May poetry and play come your way this holiday. Till we meet again in 2020, happy new year from Buttons & Figs.
READ 
RECORD 
PLAY 
WRITE
#44 – Alliteration Play with Brainstorming Bella and her Fabulous Friends
Sail with Brainstorming Bella and her Fabulous Friends as they steer our sieve to the land of alliteration. Bella, a bold Buttons & Figs fan, begged and beguiled her classmates at the West End Montessori school in Richmond, Virginia into hosting this episode of alliterative fun. You’ll get to hear them define alliteration, play with alliteration and challenge you to write your own alliteration too. If you’d like to send in your own perfect poem, call 623-282-4080 and leave your little lighthearted lines. Now go play.
#43 – Nonsense Play with Calef Brown
On this episode we’re sailing our sieve to the land of Nonsense with Calef Brown’s latest book, “Up Versus Down: Poems, Painting and Serious Nonsense.” Calef’s nonsense verse shook up our minds, inspiring us to gather wacky words and play. Buttons & Figs kids show you how we played with word associations in order to write nonsense verse of our own – we hope you’ll give it a try at home. Calef has great advice if you’d like to write too, be sure to listen to his whole interview. Read all Calef Brown’s books aloud (13 to be exact!) for a super, earlicious treat (not to mention reading 13 books would be a nifty little feat.) www.buttonsandfigs.com
Enjoy our full, fun interview with Calef Brown, author of “Up Verses Down: Poems, Paintings and Serious Nonsense”. Learn about Calef’s process for writing nonsense verse, advice for becoming a writer and hear him read some of his poems from his latest work. Be sure to listen to episode “#43 – Nonsense Play with Calef Brown” to hear the ways we played with nonsense. www.buttonsandfigs.com
Here is the Buttons & Figs kids nonsense verse in process. We played word association games to gather our list of words, then we arranged them to build nonsense verse. Listen to their pieces on Episode #43 – Nonsense Play with Calef Brown.
Spooky Halloween 
Spooky Halloween 
The Recipe of Crazy 
The Recipe of Crazy 
Girl
#42 – Audubon Poetry Play with David Chorlton
Sail in a sieve to the land of Audubon Poetry Play with poet laureate David Chorlton and his bird Maxi. On this episode David shares his poetry and inspires kids to write poetry in order to better understand their relationship with nature. The Buttons & Figs kids use acrostic poetry play to explore how they feel about the nature and birds and if families want to learn more, we share information about the Maricopa Audubon Society and Audubon.org. If you would like to have some acrostic poetry fun, visit ButtonsandFigs.com and download the free activity sheet that goes with this episode. Beware of the kingdom of the claw…Kakawwwww!
Acrostic Poetry Play
Ivy 
Quail 
Leaf 
Ant 
Kids 
Tree 
Woods 
Red Woods 
Kids
More Acrostic Poem Play
Snow 
Pigeon 
Flamingo 
Phloem 
Phloem 
Roses 
Owl & Rain 
Bird 
Owls 
Owls 
Cactus 
Cactus 
Grass 
Parrots
#41 – Idea Play
Sail in a sieve to the land of ideas with Ms. Harding’s class of 2nd graders at Madison Simis Elementary School in Phoenix, Az. These kids were inspired by the book, “What Do You Do With An Idea?” by Kobi Yamata, illustrated by Mae Besom. The last page of the book says ideas can change the world, so these kids set out to think about ideas to make oceans, lands, schools, playgrounds, and zoos better…they even have ideas for how to make cobras better! What ideas do you have to change the world? –www.buttonsandfigs.com