Category Archives: wordplay

episodes include figurative wordplay inspired by poems, songs and stories.

#40 – Simile Play with Neon Words

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On this episode we’re sailing our sieve to the land of Neon Words with some Simile Play! We were inspired by the new book, “Neon Words: 10 Brilliant Ways to Light Up Your Writing.” Our writing play comes from Chapter 1 of this book and we had a chance to interview authors Marge Pellegrino and Kay Sather from Tucson, Arizona, to ask them where they got all of their bright ideas! We hope you’ll play along as we share some of our favorite Neon Words! www.buttonsandfigs.com

Neon Words: 10 Brilliant Ways to Light up Your Writing by Marge Pellegrino and Kay Sather

Marge Pellegino’s Website

Kay Sather’s movie about her mud house – MUD

Lovely book review from Pirate Tree

Marge Pellegrino’s Wordplay
Simile play Quilt from a Workshop with Marge Pellegrino
  • Neon Wordplay
  • Neon Wordplay
  • Neon Wordplay

#39 – Wacky Song Lyric Play with Story Pirates

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On this episode we’re sailing our sieve to the land of weird song lyrics with Story Pirates! Story Pirates just released the new wacky song album, “Backstroke Raptor.” The album is filled with wacky songs written by kids, performed by wacky musicians for kids. We get to share two songs from the Story Pirates album and we talk with founder Lee Overtree about what makes a great song lyric. We also have a few wacky song ideas from our own Buttons & Figs kids.
We hope you’ll sing and play along. www.buttonsandfigs.com

#38 – Poetry (part 1) – Poetry Prompt Play

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On this episode we sail our sieve to the land of POETRY! Rosemarie Dombrowski, poet laureate for Phoenix, celebrated National Poetry Month by writing two special poems for Buttons & Figs! Rosemarie shares her poem “Why I Want to Be a Lizard.” The 3rd graders at Camelview Elementary School play with the poetry prompt “Why I Want to Be….,” creating original wordplay poems of their own. Enjoy the writing and voices of the students in Ms. Cowen’s class and Ms. Stiles class. Poetry everyday, we say! www.buttonsandfigs.com

#38 – Poetry (part 2) – Noun Play

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On this episode we sail our sieve back to the land of POETRY! Rosemarie Dombrowski, poet laureate for Phoenix, celebrated National Poetry Month by writing two special poems for Buttons & Figs! Rosemarie reads her poem “Cat Lady.” The 3rd graders at Camelview Elementary School play with nouns from 5 famous poets, including Rosemarie Dombrowski, Edward Lear, Dennis Lee, Calef Brown and Carl Sandburg,

creating original wordplay sentences & poems of their own. Enjoy the creativity & voices of the students in Ms. Lisa Petrauschke’s class and Ms. Perkins class. Poetry everyday, we say! www.buttonsandfigs.com

#37 – Repetition play, play, play

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On this episode we set sail to the cave of repetition, repetition, repetition. You’ll hear many, many, many ways to play with this literary device with original stories from our Buttons & Figs kids. We were inspired by Julian Sheer’s book, Rain Makes Applesauce, and several of Dr. Seuss’s books too. We hope you’ll listen, listen, listen and play, play, play. Visit ButtonsandFigs.com for more wordplay fun.

#36 – War of the Fools

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Nonsense appeared to be on a collision course with reason…presenting Buttons & Figs and the Oyster Actors on the Air in The War of the Fools. It was on this day, April 1st, in which weird happenings began to happen. Reporters began to report reportable events, reportable strange happenings, reportable odd sightings – a meat shower, a weird alphabet song, odd creatures sailing in a sieve making demands…what if it were all true?! Featuring voices from the pod-o-sphere, including The Past & The Curious, Composer Dad, and What If World. Tune in to Buttons & Figs to find out what the reporters are reporting this April Fool’s day. btw…does anyone have any stilton cheese?! #kidslistenaprilfools #stiltoncheese