The National Year of Reading 2026 is the backdrop to this year’s National Poetry Day on 1st October 2026. It’s theme of Wonder is particularly relevant to a philosophical approach to poetry as wondering, pondering and imagining are an intrinsic part of thinking philosophically.
This resource was written by:
Emma Leeson
Subject
Citizenship
English and Literacy
Geography
History
Science
Age Range
05-07
07-11
11-14
14-16
Concept
Care
Environment
Hope
Nature
Respect
Responsibility
Sustainability
Wonder
These resources offer practical ideas for how P4C can use poetry to stimulate thinking and engagement by asking for initial lower stakes responses such as ‘What are your first thoughts?’; moving on to more challenging and exploratory questions around the concepts hidden within the National Poetry Day poems linked to the environment, such as: responsibility, power, care, courage and hope. There are also suggestions about how students can use these philosophical conversations to write their own poems.
