Poetry Writing for Kids

Poetry writing for kids is not rocket science.

In fact, kids are natural poets.  
Just turn on the tap and voila!  Poetry pours out.

Kids think like beat poets, in small observations and spurts of thought.  

That’s why I love to teach them free-style poetry writing.  It mirrors the way they naturally see the world.

With a little guidance, they'll polish it up nicely.  

If you teach kids one poetic device per day, kids will "get it."  

If you use that poetic device often during the school day, it becomes a regular part of their language.  

So, when you teach simile, use simile.  

Hey guys... 

Let's glide through the halls...like a ghost. 

OK, now process that thought...like a computer the size of a city.

Step by step, you'll move on to the next poetic device —  using sensory details, repetition, alliteration, rhymes, "million dollar words," addressing the object directly, and so on.  

You'll point out the natural arc of a poetic structure; what might come first, next and last.

When you set up the scaffold like this, and then let kids loose — you know, just like in a jungle gym — creativity will leap off the page.  

Best of all, kids will see that creativity has no boundaries and no end.  

Poetry is life, and poetry is forever. 

I’ve been creating these poems with kindergartners for years, and I’ve never seen a bad poem — not even from my just-off-the-boat ESL or RTI kids.  

Advanced kids produce jaw-dropping stuff, and older kids get doodle-framed paper with extra lines, to spin out verbal wonders till the cows come home.  

And the pride on their faces is — well, poetic!

If you’d like 16 full writer’s workshop Poetry Lessons — my time-tested recipe for these jazzy confections — here they are.  They work splendidly for K - 5.

You'll get plenty of lists, charts and examples to support each lesson.  

And, your kids will write poems that are awesome— and maybe, even life-changing.