Please share your creations, poems, names, drawings, songs or other activities with me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Remember, the old magic of speaking words aloud is the best way of keeping language alive. Use it as often as you can, keep it alive, don’t let it get lost again. Remember, most importantly to use your new word. Discover some of The Lost Words here: Dandelion Acornįollow the links above to discover some of The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris and explore some possible follow on activities.

Though if they’re ready for that there’s plenty of scope for digging deep into the earth of his language. The possibilities are endless and the purpose is always to get children using their new ‘found’ words, not necessarily to understand the depth of nuance in Robert’s clever writing. Pupils then often share their responses with me and from it are born many creative activities in the form of art, poetry, drama, songs, stories or new discoveries in the natural world. I share with them why I love a particular image (word or paint), why I think a particular phrase is clever or how something makes me feel. My “teaching” of them is always very personal.

My pupils always know how much I love the book, the words and the images. “It is told in gold – the gold of the goldfinches that flit through its pages in charms – and holds not poems but spells of many kinds that might just, by the old strong magic of being spoken aloud, unfold dreams and songs, and summon lost words back into the mouth and the mind’s eye.” The poems are designed to conjure back these words into the language and stories of children. Written by wordsmith Robert Macfarlane and beautifully illustrated by artist Jackie Morris it is a collection of poems and paintings inspired by the sad fact that words from the natural world were being removed from the Oxford Children’s Dictionary. Discover some of The Lost Words here: Dandelion Acorn The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. The Lost Words is one of the most wonderful books I have ever had the pleasure of owning and is a staple starter activity in my outdoor learning lessons.

The lost words jackie morris