Top Tips for Writing Great Read Aloud Poetry
Here are our top tips for writing great poetry for young children.
First, take a look at some poetry books for young children – like A Great Big Cuddle by Michael Rosen and Chris Riddell, and Here’s a Little Poem by Jane Yolen, Andrew Fusek Peters & Polly Dunbar.
And think of all the nursery rhymes and play rhymes that you know and enjoyed when you were very young! – like ‘Mary had a little lamb’, ‘Incy wincy spider’, ‘Five fat sausages’!
When you share poems with very young children you say them out loud, often over and over!
You have lots of fun with the words and the sounds of the words.
You enjoy rhythm and rhyme, and actions to go with the words!
Here are some top tips for writing your own poem to share with a young child:
Subject
Write about the everyday things which young children do and see as they learn about the world – getting dressed, eating, playing, pets, people, the sun, the moon, the stars.
Sounds
Think of the sounds of the words in your poem so that it is really fun to say the poem out loud. You could play with the words, or make up words, like ‘incy wincy’ – or use words which express sounds, like ‘splash’, ‘bang’, ‘moo’, ‘buzz’!
Rhythm and rhyme
Your poem doesn’t have to rhyme but a good rhythm and a simple rhyme often make it easier to join in and share it.
Repetition
Young children will love saying your poem over and over, and they’ll love it and remember it even more if you repeat some of the lines or words (e.g. ‘me, me, me!’)
Actions
It’s great if there are actions to go with your poem – just something very simple, like tapping and clapping, or moving your fingers to look like ‘Incy wincy spider’ climbing up the drain.