[For Elementary School Students] Turn Summer Memories into Haiku! A Collection of Fun Summer Haiku Ideas

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.
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I’ve been playing the Electone since I was six, mainly performing Disney music, anime songs, and music from dramas and films. I post performance videos on YouTube and social media, and I also give concerts. Building on my Electone experience, I took up synthesizer and piano during my student years and performed at school-sponsored events. As a writer, I’ve covered not only music-related topics but a wide range of genres, so I hope to draw on my experience to deliver articles that make readers think, “I want to try that!” or “I want to listen to that!”

How to write summer haiku—kids often struggle more than you’d expect, don’t they? We often hear, “Seasonal words are hard,” and “What should I write about?” But that’s okay! If children make the most of their natural, straightforward sensitivity, they can create delightful haiku.

For example, like this one: “At the summer festival, drinking ramune just for the glass marble.” It’s also great to put small everyday moments or feelings into words.

Here, we’ll share summer haiku ideas that even elementary school kids can enjoy.

From playful ways to get started to activities you can enjoy together with parents, you’re sure to discover something new.

[For Elementary School Students] Summer Memories in Haiku! A Collection of Fun Summer Haiku Ideas (21–30)

Summer break: ice cream melts, homework won’t.

This senryu is interesting because it uses two words pronounced the same—“tokeru,” written as 溶ける and 解ける—but with different meanings.

It’s like the quintessential elementary school summer vacation homework, something many people tend to put off.

The key is that it says “doesn’t get solved” (解けぬ), not “gets solved” (解ける).

The homework problems are hard and won’t get solved easily, yet the ice cream melts right away… you can really feel that frustrating contrast.

It’s an excellent piece that vividly captures both the heat of summer and the exasperation of not being able to solve the homework.

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moko

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Together with the goldfish, the memories I want to save.

In summer, festivals are held in various places, and the usual stalls appear there too.

This haiku portrays someone trying to create summer memories with the theme of goldfish scooping, one of those festival classics.

Goldfish scooping is enjoyable in the moment, but it also tells us it’s an event whose fun continues afterward—when you watch the goldfish swimming at home, the memories come flooding back.

The word “together” also conveys a sense of affection, as if to say they want to raise the goldfish scooped here and nurture them from now on.

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kappamaki

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The sky that the sunflowers gaze at is clear and bright.

Sunflowers are flowers that symbolize summer, and because their blossoms face the sun, they strongly evoke an image of clear, sunny weather.

With sunflowers as our theme, let’s express a summer landscape filled with blooming sunflowers in the form of haiku.

The depiction of sunflowers facing the sky conveys both their lively, flourishing state and the fact that the sky is brilliantly clear.

It also conjures an image of looking up at the blue sky alongside the sunflowers, creating a refreshing sense of summer.

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kappamaki

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Me, lazing around again tomorrow during summer vacation.

There are elementary schools where the summer vacation is longer than spring or winter break, right? During long vacations, children tend to fall into irregular routines.

This haiku seems to capture those kinds of days.

Especially during summer break, perhaps because of the heat, it’s easy to feel sluggish about moving the body.

Kids end up wanting to lounge around doing nothing.

It expresses children’s honest feelings.

Many parents probably get irritated seeing their kids lazing about, too.

You can even read into the family dynamics behind it, which adds a sense of uniqueness.

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Nakajima Junko

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Mosquito coil guard at the entrance

One of the nuisances of summer is mosquitoes that seem to come from nowhere, and mosquito coils are an essential item to keep them at bay.

This haiku expresses how reassuring it is to have a mosquito coil.

The scene is simple—placing a mosquito coil by the front door—but by adding the word “guardman,” it emphasizes the coil’s effectiveness and the sense of security it brings.

Evoking the image of the coil’s smoke, you can almost sense the scent wafting from the entrance and feel the summer breeze.

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kappamaki

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Cicada voices, seasonal letter, the mailman

When it comes to the sounds of summer, cicadas are the classic example.

Even though they can feel noisy, hearing them makes you sense that summer has arrived.

This haiku expresses the arrival of a letter about the season while also evoking the feeling that summer has come through the sound of cicadas.

The key phrase is “a seasonal letter,” which not only suggests that a letter arrived in summer, but also conveys the idea that the cicadas themselves are announcing the change of seasons.

Through the sound of cicadas, it evokes both the heat and a certain freshness of the season.

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kappamaki

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At my grandmother’s house, this year again, I meet the cow frog.

Many people visit the homes of grandparents who live far away during summer vacation, and there you find scenery different from what you usually see.

This haiku is about experiencing that unusual summer landscape, using the creatures you encounter there as its theme.

The creature that appears here is the bullfrog; this expression evokes an image of rich nature and even conveys the refreshing breezes of summer.

The phrase “this year as well” suggests that the bullfrog’s call is heard every year and that it is what makes one feel that summer has arrived.

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kappamaki

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My right foot that shot on a summer morning

I imagine there are many elementary school students who are in soccer clubs or taking lessons.

Even on hot summer days, matches and daily practices are important time, aren’t they? Unlike basketball, soccer is a sport where it’s hard to score a goal.

Whether in practice or in a match, the moment you score, a feeling of joy must well up inside you.

You can sense the emotions of that exact moment the ball goes into the goal from the haiku, too.

It was probably a soccer session scheduled to avoid the hottest time of day in summer.

From “a summer morning,” you can also get a feel for everyday life.

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Nakajima Junko

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I sowed the seeds, and now they are sunflowers I look up to.

When it comes to sunflowers—the quintessential summer flower—their height is a hallmark, and the way they stretch toward the sky conveys a positive vibe.

This haiku depicts the sunflower’s growth and evokes the image of a clear summer sky.

It looks back from the moment the seeds were sown to the plant’s towering height, conveying strength in the shift from looking down to sow the seeds to looking up as they grew.

The act of gazing up at the sunflower hints at the summer-blue sky visible beyond the bloom—an important point of the poem.

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kappamaki

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Words of the summer starry sky, a tale of the world

There are many stories behind the stars that float in the night sky, and those stories really heighten the romantic mood when we look up at it.

This is a gentle-air haiku that portrays someone lost in those starry tales, soaking in the feel of a summer night.

Since there isn’t just one story but many variations, what people imagine from this haiku will likely differ from person to person.

It’s also worth noting how the act of reading various stories from the night sky is expressed as “the sky’s words.”

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kappamaki

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