Playing with words and exploring rhythm and rhyme help to build and strengthen kids’ reading skills and boost reading and learning fun. Use these poetry-starters to help kids write their own funny or sweet poems for family and friends.
Warm Up to Poetry
Before kids put pencil to paper, spark their creative thinking with some warm-up exercises:
- Take turns thinking of words that rhyme with an object in the room.
- Make a list of favorite colors then have kids come up with five rhyming words for each color.
- Ask everyone in the room to say two words that represent how they are feeling and act out those words. Then everyone else copies the action!
Make a Poem Your Own
Start with a familiar poem:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet,
And so are you.
Have kids write the first two lines:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Then talk with kids about how they could finish the poem with new lines to make it their own poem. Ask: What else rhymes with blue? Who is their poem about? Do they want to write a sweet or silly poem? Brainstorm words together and encourage kids to try lots of different combinations.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Thing One is fun,
So is Thing Two!
Kids can also try other variations on “Roses are red” by changing the second and fourth lines. The second line can be whatever they like, but they have to rhyme it with the fourth line.
Roses are red,
Oobleck is green,
Sugar is sweet,
The Grinch was mean!
No Time to Rhyme
An acrostic poem is a good poetic form for beginning poets who want to write a poem about a person or pet they care about or a favorite character or author. The acrostic is not a rhyming poem and is usually written to describe a chosen word or name. Have kids decide on the subject of their poem and write that name vertically down the side of a page. Then use each letter to begin each line of the poem.
Helpful
Open-hearted
Reliable
Thoughtful
Obliging
Nicest elephant ever!
Once kids have written their poems, they can add them to a Pocketful of Love or include with a batch of Canvas Cookies and deliver to the subject of their poetry.