Young writers need to learn a wide range of literacy skills to improve their writing. One way your child can improve their writing is by learning how to use onomatopoeia! Onomatopoeia is a great tool for children to improve their stories. Telling stories can feel a lot easier than writing stories, but this literary tool can be used in story writing to make a written story feel like a told one. Onomatopeias help readers hear what they are reading. Let’s learn more about onomatopeias!
What is onomatopoeia? Why does it matter?
Onomatopeias are words used in written stories to demonstrate sound effects. They are words that mean exactly what they sound like. Onomatopeias matter because they can have a large impact on story writing since they make your story easier to read. Readers can get a better grasp of the sounds that happen within your story when you use onomatopeias. Onomatopeias matter for story writing because they add a whole new dimension to your stories: sound!
Examples of onomatopoeia
Now that your child knows how onomatopoeia is used in story writing to demonstrate sound, here are some examples so they can further understand them. They describe sounds of anything and everything, even animal noises! This list may also help your child to come up with onomatopoeia on their own if they ever feel stuck when trying to come up with some:
- Whoosh
- Pitter-patter
- Bong
- Bonk
- Slurp
- Ha-ha
- Boom
- Vroom
- Splat
- Kerplunk
- Bam
- Hush
- Brrr
- Beep
- Achoo
In order to better understand the above examples, we’ve chosen to provide sentences in which these onomatopoeias could be used:
- Bonk! Sam felt a throbbing pain in his head after accidentally running into a nearby tree.
- Night Zookeeper Riya told Night Zookeeper a knock-knock joke. They could hold in their laughter. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! They laughed in unison.
- Achoo! “Bless you,” said Professor Penguin when he heard Florence Flamingo sneeze.
- Grudge the Bear thinks he hears a motorcycle off in the distance. Vrooooooommmm! He hears the engine roar.
- “What is that sound?” asks Eek the Eskimouse. Beep, beep, beep, beep… “It won’t stop!”
Activity & Resource
Learning how to use onomatopoeias is an important skill, and we hope your child has learned a lot on this topic! We’ve also provided you with an activity that can help your child practice identifying onomatopeias. Good luck!
