6 Ideas For Teaching Children To Write Poetry
Children can learn to write poetry when they are shown the basics. It does not matter if you are a parent or a teacher. Here are 6 steps to get you started.
1. Word list. At home or at school you can make a list of words that rhyme. Make the words fun for kids like: clown, frown, smile, mile, snail, sail, grand, stand etc. Next have the kids try to make sentences out of a couple of the words.
2. Recite sentences to the kids. After the children have had time to make some sentences and you have made a couple your self have everyone recite a couple. Kids need to hear the words rhyming. This should be fun as kids can come up with some funny rhymes.
3. The Bible. The Bible is the most widely read book in the world. It is written in prose and parts of it are quite beautiful. You can read parts of the Bible a loud and discuss why it is considered poetry. As an exercise you can have the children try to imitate some of the verses.
4. Poems about grandparents. Try having the children write poems about things and people they are very familiar with like grandparents. Other topics could be pets and toys. The idea is to help them identify with the subject matter for their poems.
5. Rhyming games. An effective method for teaching kids poetry is to use games. Nursery rhymes are some of the first poetry we hear. You can read some of these to the kids and have them stomp their feet and clap to the rhythmic pattern they hear. Be prepared for some noise but this is very effective.
6. Music. Play different musical selection and point out how the lyrics blend like the words in poems. There are often rhymes used. This will help the older kids become more interested in poetry when they realize that their favorite musical groups adhere to many forms of prose in their music.
Teaching children to write poetry is simple when approached in steps. First, you need to start with simple poetry that only focuses on rhyming words in simple sentences. After children have the basics down you can show how poetry is used in the Bible and music. Give kids ideas for poems by giving them ideas to write on like pets.