These are some of my favourite tips and ideas for encouraging children to enjoy reading and writing poetry
Read other people's poems and your own (out loud)
(Poetry teatime is a well known activity amongst homeschoolers, where you can take time with family and children to slow down, set the table wtih favourite drinks and snack and share poems)
Practice rhyming words
Make mind maps for ideas relating to your poetry topic
Use repetition - for example: I like ......... or My favourite .........
Help children understand that poem don't have to be really long and complex, it is about express yourself:
Look at different styles of poetry:
Look at Haiku poem - they are 3 phrases with a 5, 7, 5 pattern
Example of Haiku by Matsuo Basho
"An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the ponds
Splash! Silent again.
Use acrostic poems -
Slowly days are getting longer
Pretty flowers starting to appear
Rain still sprinking the gardens lots
Igniting imagination of what is to come
New life being born
Green everywhere
Help children to understand poetry doesn't have to rhyme
Go outisde and use nature as inspiration for poetry
Use a format where the child has to just think of one word. For exmaple:
Rainbow
The red makes me think of
The orange remind me of
The yellow makes me think of
The green reminds me of
The blue make me rememeber
The indigo makes me think of
The violet makes me think of
To conclude, make poetry part of your everyday. Make it enjoyable.
