Friday, February 18, 2011

What Are Your Favorite Children's Poems?

Poetry To Teach Children to Love Language

Be the Best Nanny Newsletter's new year resolution is to read more to children this year.

We hear poetry everyday but often take it for granted. We hear poetry in the songs we sing and in the books we read. Poetry is often used in children's books because poetry makes reading fun. It's fun to hear the rhythm and rhyming of the words of a story. Children can learn to love language using poetry. If you memorize favorite poems, children can learn to improve their memory.

To develop a passion for poetry, keep these tips in mind:

Start with the classics, like Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawingsby Shel Silverstein, The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, or Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face: And Other Poems: Some of the Best of Jack Prelutsky.

Act poems out. Use a loud voice, a whisper, or a squeaky voice whenever you think it's appropriate. Change the words and see who can make the silliest new poem.

Encourage kids to write their own poems. Help kids include the hallmarks of poetry, such as imagery -- using language to show how something looks. Help them include sounds, tastes, smells, or personification -- giving objects human qualities, such as "the tree's branches hugged the boy."

What are your favorite children's poems?

3 comments:

Caroline said...

Anything by Dr Seuss. All his books are poetry.

Lisa said...

All the mentioned are great! Want to add Jeff Moss, who has had his stuff used on Sesame Street.

The rhyming is also good for those early readers too!

Anonymous said...

Above the Bright Blue Sky ~Albert Midlane