Before You Read
Before your students read this book, remind them to read the poems line by line as well as sentence by sentence. The sentences express complete ideas like sentences in any other kind of writing. The line breaks create enjoyable rhythms, help readers understand parts of ideas within sentences, and sometimes emphasize the humor in ideas. Point out that the illustrations most often enhance the humor within the poems.

Poetry in Motion
Have students work with partners or small groups and choose a poem by Douglas Florian they particularly like. Have one or more group members act out the actions of the poem or show movement and gestures that relate the mood of the poem as another student or two read the poem aloud. Student groups can join together to create a performance called Poetry in Motion that can be presented to other classes.

A Personalized Bing, Bang, Boing
Students might want to try their hand at writing a poem on the same subject as one of the poems in Bing Bang Boing. For example, a student who enjoys the poem "It's Hot! It's Hot!" on page 66 might begin and end a poem with the same two first and last lines that appear in Florian's poem ("It's hot!/It's hot!" and "And it's hot!/It's hot!"). Using the beginning and ending of Florian's poem as a framework for when to begin, students can fill in the middle of the poems with their own ideas.

Visual Inspirations
Douglas Florian wrote the poems of Bing, Bang, Boing and drew the illustrations. Have students draw a recognizable object or person in a way that is humorous. Then, have students exchange drawings. Have them use those drawings as illustrative inspirations for poems they write themselves. The poems can rhyme or not, have long lines or short lines. The illustrations and poems can be combined into a class poetry anthology.

Poetry Slam
If students enjoy the poems from Bing, Bang, Boing and also have poems of their own, have them hold a poetry slam. Encourage them to read the poems clearly, expressively, and enthusiastically. Challenge them to write brief, interesting introductions to some poems that will catch the interest of the listening audience. After a group of readers have performed, have listeners judge who was the best poetry slammer in the group. You might arrange for a few short poetry slam sessions. The winners from all of the sessions can meet in a slam dunk poetry reading finals.