How to Write Poetry for Kids
Consider your audience., Read a variety of children's poems., Brainstorm., Write your poem., Revise your poem., Share your work.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Consider your audience.
Young children tend to gravitate toward short poetry that rhymes.
Funny and silly poems are usually popular, as are nursery rhymes.
You don't have to write rhyming poetry, but rhymes actually develop valuable pre-reading skills for young children.Poems that are about everyday and ordinary experiences can be a good way for young children to learn to think about those things in different lights.
Having familiar subject matter can also allow young children to focus on detail such as word sounds and syntax without being too distracted.
Mary Ann Hoberman writes wonderful poems for young children.
Her book A House Is a House for Me is very popular with young readers because of its use of rhyme, song-like rhythms, and creative descriptions of familiar things: "A hill is a house for an ant, an ant. / A hive is a house for a bee. / A hole is a house for a mole or a mouse. / And a house is a house for me!" (Slash marks, /, indicate line breaks.) -
Step 2: Read a variety of children's poems.
There are many collections of poetry and reading suggestions online, and you can check out books of poems at your local library.
This will give you a sense of what is appropriate for the age range you want to write for.
Reading poems aloud is particularly helpful to get a sense of how language works in poems for young children, as many children's poems are meant to be read aloud.Short narrative poems that tell a simple story are ideal for young children, who usually have short attention spans.
The Cat in the Hat and other books by Dr.
Seuss are good examples of how to tell a short, funny narrative story in rhyme.
Limericks are short, 5-line poems that have a particular rhyme scheme, where the first two lines and the last line rhyme, with a different rhyme sound for the middle two lines:
AABBA.
For example: "A talkative man from Seattle / would spend his days speaking to cattle. / When asked what he said, / one old cow shook her head, / and replied, “Why it’s nothing but prattle!”Because of their strong beat and heavy use of rhyming sounds, limericks are a lot of fun for young children to read or recite aloud."Mother Goose" books are excellent collections of nursery rhymes.
Many of these, such as "Humpty Dumpty" and "Hickory, Dickory, Dock" have been popular for several hundred years., There are a variety of brainstorming activities you can do to help generate ideas for poems.
Try to keep your audience in mind when brainstorming; for example, very young children may not enjoy scary poems or poems that talk about unfamiliar things or experiences.
Find a particular word that sounds fun to you.
It can be any word, but silly ones are often popular with young children.
Write down all the words you can think of that rhyme with it.
For example, you could try to rhyme something with "banana" or even "hippopotamus." (If you're stuck, there are many online rhyming dictionaries that can help.)Choose a word with a specific vowel sound.
Then, write down all the words you can think of that share that vowel sound, even if they don't rhyme.
For example, you could put together words like "cat," "crab," "map," "apple," and "shaggy." This shared vowel sound is called "assonance," and understanding it will help young readers learn to read.Choose a word with a specific consonant sound at the beginning of the word.
Then, write down all the words you can think of that share that sound.
They don't have to rhyme, but they can.
For example, you could put together words like "shaggy" and "sharp" and "shark" and "shake." This shared sound is called "alliteration"
and it is another helpful literacy element for young readers.Pick a familiar object and describe it.
Go into as much concrete, specific detail as you can, using all of your senses.
Imagine you're describing your object to someone who's never seen one before.
What will you tell them? This can be a great way to introduce young readers to thinking about familiar things in new ways.
Pick an adjective and write it down.
Then, write down as many synonyms for that word as you can think of.
Online dictionaries and thesauruses can help you.
You may even discover words that are new to you! Expanding children's vocabularies is one of the best things about children's poetry.Think about a relationship that is important to you.
This could be with anyone: a grandparent, a sibling, a child, a spouse, a teacher, a friend, a neighbor.
Think about how you feel about that person, and write down as much as you can that describes your relationship.
Poetry can help young children learn about relationships and empathy.Think about an experience you had as a child.
It could be a very common experience, such as playing outside or meeting a new friend.
It could even be an experience that might be intimidating for young readers, such as the first day of school or visiting the doctor.
Try to remember how you felt when you experienced it.
Write down all the feelings and thoughts you can remember.
You could also try talking to children about what experiences they think about most often. , Writing the poem is the hardest part! The key is to draft frequently and consistently.
Don't worry about achieving perfection on your first draft.
Instead, try to put down the bones of your poem.
You can (and should) improve it with revision.
If you're stuck, you can use a formula to get you started.
Children's author Hannah Lowe suggests a three-step process for coming up with poems: 1) pick a number between 1 and 20; 2) pick a (different) number between 1 and 100; 3) pick a color, a mood, a type of weather, a place, and an animal.
The first number represents the number of lines your poem will have, while the second number should make an appearance somewhere within the poem's content.
The keywords from step 3 will form the basis of your poem's story.Play a round of "mad libs." You can find collections of mad lib formulas in bookstores and online.
They work by asking you to write down a list of words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.) without seeing the story template, and then having you fill in the words in blanks in the story.
Doing this may help spark your imagination for a poem, but be careful not to plagiarize the actual story template.There are various online sources that can give you some "building blocks" if you're having trouble getting your poem started.
Writers Digest and Scholastic Publishing online are good places to start, but you can also try searching the internet for ideas that appeal to you., Your poem will probably not be exactly the way you want it on your first draft.
It may take many drafts to reach your goal, but don't give up! Some professional authors take months, even years, to revise their work.
If you don't know where to start revising, read your poem aloud.
Mark any places that don't sound "right" to you.
Then, think about what you found odd or didn't like.
Consider ways to change those elements.
Revision works best if you take it piece by piece.
Approaching your poem as though you have to revise the whole poem at once may feel overwhelming to you.
Revise a little bit at a time, and your poem will gradually become what you want it to be. , If you have children of your own, read your poems to them! You can also ask neighbors and friends with children if you can share your poems with them.
While you can also get good writing advice from adults, seeing how children respond to your work will probably be the most helpful to you. -
Step 3: Brainstorm.
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Step 4: Write your poem.
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Step 5: Revise your poem.
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Step 6: Share your work.
Detailed Guide
Young children tend to gravitate toward short poetry that rhymes.
Funny and silly poems are usually popular, as are nursery rhymes.
You don't have to write rhyming poetry, but rhymes actually develop valuable pre-reading skills for young children.Poems that are about everyday and ordinary experiences can be a good way for young children to learn to think about those things in different lights.
Having familiar subject matter can also allow young children to focus on detail such as word sounds and syntax without being too distracted.
Mary Ann Hoberman writes wonderful poems for young children.
Her book A House Is a House for Me is very popular with young readers because of its use of rhyme, song-like rhythms, and creative descriptions of familiar things: "A hill is a house for an ant, an ant. / A hive is a house for a bee. / A hole is a house for a mole or a mouse. / And a house is a house for me!" (Slash marks, /, indicate line breaks.)
There are many collections of poetry and reading suggestions online, and you can check out books of poems at your local library.
This will give you a sense of what is appropriate for the age range you want to write for.
Reading poems aloud is particularly helpful to get a sense of how language works in poems for young children, as many children's poems are meant to be read aloud.Short narrative poems that tell a simple story are ideal for young children, who usually have short attention spans.
The Cat in the Hat and other books by Dr.
Seuss are good examples of how to tell a short, funny narrative story in rhyme.
Limericks are short, 5-line poems that have a particular rhyme scheme, where the first two lines and the last line rhyme, with a different rhyme sound for the middle two lines:
AABBA.
For example: "A talkative man from Seattle / would spend his days speaking to cattle. / When asked what he said, / one old cow shook her head, / and replied, “Why it’s nothing but prattle!”Because of their strong beat and heavy use of rhyming sounds, limericks are a lot of fun for young children to read or recite aloud."Mother Goose" books are excellent collections of nursery rhymes.
Many of these, such as "Humpty Dumpty" and "Hickory, Dickory, Dock" have been popular for several hundred years., There are a variety of brainstorming activities you can do to help generate ideas for poems.
Try to keep your audience in mind when brainstorming; for example, very young children may not enjoy scary poems or poems that talk about unfamiliar things or experiences.
Find a particular word that sounds fun to you.
It can be any word, but silly ones are often popular with young children.
Write down all the words you can think of that rhyme with it.
For example, you could try to rhyme something with "banana" or even "hippopotamus." (If you're stuck, there are many online rhyming dictionaries that can help.)Choose a word with a specific vowel sound.
Then, write down all the words you can think of that share that vowel sound, even if they don't rhyme.
For example, you could put together words like "cat," "crab," "map," "apple," and "shaggy." This shared vowel sound is called "assonance," and understanding it will help young readers learn to read.Choose a word with a specific consonant sound at the beginning of the word.
Then, write down all the words you can think of that share that sound.
They don't have to rhyme, but they can.
For example, you could put together words like "shaggy" and "sharp" and "shark" and "shake." This shared sound is called "alliteration"
and it is another helpful literacy element for young readers.Pick a familiar object and describe it.
Go into as much concrete, specific detail as you can, using all of your senses.
Imagine you're describing your object to someone who's never seen one before.
What will you tell them? This can be a great way to introduce young readers to thinking about familiar things in new ways.
Pick an adjective and write it down.
Then, write down as many synonyms for that word as you can think of.
Online dictionaries and thesauruses can help you.
You may even discover words that are new to you! Expanding children's vocabularies is one of the best things about children's poetry.Think about a relationship that is important to you.
This could be with anyone: a grandparent, a sibling, a child, a spouse, a teacher, a friend, a neighbor.
Think about how you feel about that person, and write down as much as you can that describes your relationship.
Poetry can help young children learn about relationships and empathy.Think about an experience you had as a child.
It could be a very common experience, such as playing outside or meeting a new friend.
It could even be an experience that might be intimidating for young readers, such as the first day of school or visiting the doctor.
Try to remember how you felt when you experienced it.
Write down all the feelings and thoughts you can remember.
You could also try talking to children about what experiences they think about most often. , Writing the poem is the hardest part! The key is to draft frequently and consistently.
Don't worry about achieving perfection on your first draft.
Instead, try to put down the bones of your poem.
You can (and should) improve it with revision.
If you're stuck, you can use a formula to get you started.
Children's author Hannah Lowe suggests a three-step process for coming up with poems: 1) pick a number between 1 and 20; 2) pick a (different) number between 1 and 100; 3) pick a color, a mood, a type of weather, a place, and an animal.
The first number represents the number of lines your poem will have, while the second number should make an appearance somewhere within the poem's content.
The keywords from step 3 will form the basis of your poem's story.Play a round of "mad libs." You can find collections of mad lib formulas in bookstores and online.
They work by asking you to write down a list of words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.) without seeing the story template, and then having you fill in the words in blanks in the story.
Doing this may help spark your imagination for a poem, but be careful not to plagiarize the actual story template.There are various online sources that can give you some "building blocks" if you're having trouble getting your poem started.
Writers Digest and Scholastic Publishing online are good places to start, but you can also try searching the internet for ideas that appeal to you., Your poem will probably not be exactly the way you want it on your first draft.
It may take many drafts to reach your goal, but don't give up! Some professional authors take months, even years, to revise their work.
If you don't know where to start revising, read your poem aloud.
Mark any places that don't sound "right" to you.
Then, think about what you found odd or didn't like.
Consider ways to change those elements.
Revision works best if you take it piece by piece.
Approaching your poem as though you have to revise the whole poem at once may feel overwhelming to you.
Revise a little bit at a time, and your poem will gradually become what you want it to be. , If you have children of your own, read your poems to them! You can also ask neighbors and friends with children if you can share your poems with them.
While you can also get good writing advice from adults, seeing how children respond to your work will probably be the most helpful to you.
About the Author
Carolyn Graham
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow pet care tutorials.
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