Puns and playing with words
Examine the use of literary devices and deliberate word play in literary texts, including poetry, to shape meaning: puns, invented words, double meanings and nonsense verse
Lesson
Set out your lesson
“Puns and playing with words means practising the idea at the table with a short text or prompt and one clear check. We will demo once, then your child tries.”
Bring to the table
- A short familiar text, poem, or picture book page
- Sticky notes or pencil
Extra for the adult
Worked example. “I think she is worried because the text says her hands were shaking.”
Optional challenge. For Puns and playing with words, add one harder example after success.
What to notice. Keep one parent note: examples tried; results; support used. This session samples Puns and playing with words, not mastery.
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Teaching approaches
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1 approach
Puns and playing with words means practising the idea at the table with a short text or prompt and one clear check. We will demo once, then your child tries.
Materials: A short familiar text, poem, or picture book page; Sticky notes or pencil. 1. Say the goal of Puns and playing with words in plain words once. 2. Adult reads a short stretch aloud and models one think-aloud (predict, notice, or question). 3. Child reads or listens to three short stretches and gives one evidence-based response each time. 4. Fresh check: one fresh evidence-based response. Record and stop. Done: three responses tied to words or pictures in the text. Proof: parent note of examples and results. Stop: End after the fresh check; keep optional challenge for another day.
Family records and proof options
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Practice this concept
Start practicePuns and playing with words practice
Practice key ideas from Puns and playing with words.
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Learning resources
Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.
Library of Congress · Practice link — not the full lesson
Aesop's Fables
Before you open · source notes
Aesop's Fables supports Puns and playing with words. An adult previews and guides; this is a learning page, not a scored quiz.
Free educational page, no sign-in required for the tested path.
Before you openAsk the learner one fact they learned and one question they still have.
Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.
Source, access and review notes
Public Library of Congress page. An anonymous GET on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt for this URL. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. An adult should preview and guide the learner.
Library of Congress. “Aesop's Fables.” External page; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute materials.
Unknown — link only
Check understanding
- Explain the double meaning in a pun (e.g. 'The bicycle couldn't stand up because it was two-tired')
- Find invented words in a nonsense poem (e.g. C. J. Dennis's 'The Triantiwontigongolope' or Lewis Carroll's 'Jabberwocky') and work out what they might mean
- Explain how an author uses word play in a humorous book (e.g. Andy Griffiths' 'The 13-Storey Treehouse') to make the reader laugh
“Does your child get the joke in a pun or a silly made-up word in a poem — and can they explain the double meaning?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Conceptual
- Subject
- English
- Domain
- Reading Comprehension
- Age range
- Ages 9–12
Standards