Poetry Writing for Kids: 3 Fun Poems for Kids to Write

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Little M has been very interested in writing poetry lately. She’s always loved writing activities but this is the first time poetry has made a real appearance. It’s so fun to see her creating poem after poem.
For today’s activity I’m teaming up with Pepperidge Farm to bring together two of Little M’s favorite things: Goldfish® Crackers and poetry writing for kids. YAY! So grab a snack, some paper, a pencil and a little poet.

Pepperidge Farm has been creating “The Little Moments. Big Smiles.” with their Goldfish Tales website. Fans of Goldfish crackers are given the opportunity to read the latest tale, find details regarding the promotion, submit their own tales and get a peek at behind-the-scenes videos.

fun and easy poetry writing for kids

Poetry Writing for Kids: 3 Fun Poems for Kids to Write

Acrostic. Little M has a favorite type of poem and this is it. Do you remember writing acrostic poems when you were a kid? They are fun and easy, making them perfect poetry-writing exercises for kids.

An acrostic poem is one where the first letter of each line spells a word. (The word can also be formed in the middle or at the end of the line. Since I’m working with a beginner we are sticking to the beginning.)

I had Little M use orange and black markers to write the word GOLDFISH down the left side of her paper. I asked her to create a poem about the Goldfish Crackers she was snacking on. I can’t resist sharing her work.

Great
Orange
Little
Delicious
Fish
I
Share my fish and I
Heart my Goldfish!

Riddle. I hadn’t thought of riddles as poems until I read this Riddle Poems post from Imagination Soup. In the post she lays out how to help kids form riddles with few easy prompts. We are great fans of jokes around here and riddles are similar to jokes so I know riddle poems would be a hit! I was right.

I wrote out the beginning of each line and had Little M fill in the rest. The theme? Goldfish of course!

I smell like…
I taste like…
I feel like…
I sound like…
What am I?

fun and easy poetry writing for kids
 Shape Poems I love, love, love the way our Goldfish cracker shape poems turned out. A shape poem is a poem that forms a shape with words. The words describe the shape they form. The words can either outline the shape or fill in the shape. Little M chose to outline the Goldfish cracker.

To prepare this one I drew a Goldfish cracker lightly with pencil as a guide for where to write.

fun and easy poetry writing for kids

Two ways to Win!

Pepperidge Farm is offering two ways for you to win some fun prizes.

First up, leave a comment on this post answering the question below for a chance to win a $100 Visa Gift Card (Rules below).

Do you have a favorite way to introduce poetry writing for kids? OR Is introducing poetry for kids something you are excited about trying? Let us know in the comment section! 

Then head over to Goldfish Tales. Each month, entrants are asked to share a photo and story for a chance to win a case of product. There is also the opportunity to win the Grand Prize – an awesome trip to the U.S. location of the winner’s choice. A great opportunity to create more Goldfish tales!

Entry Instructions:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

  1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
  2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
  3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
  4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska). Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected. 

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 5/14/15 – 6/11/15.

Be sure to visit the Pepperidge Farm® Goldfish® brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

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234 Comments

  1. I haven’t introduced poetry writing yet. I think it would be fun to present poems as songs first.

    Reply

  3. I have not yet introduced poetry writing to my son but it is something I’m excited to do over this summer!

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  6. My daughter is still pretty young to write poetry but she loves to listen when I read poems out loud to her.

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  8. I like if you introduce it in a song or some other interactive way they would embrace it

    groogruxking40 @ gmail dot com

    Reply

  15. My favorite way to introduce poetry is to sing a favorite song together and write the lyrics down on paper. I then have them write a poem that they could sing to the melody of the song.

    andysavi.mom@gmail.com

    Reply

  17. My daughter and I usually write poems together that rhyme, it helps her a lot with her spelling.

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  19. I have not yet introduced poetry writing, but my daughter just started writing recently so we can try this!

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  21. My son loved poetry and creating poetry and he even entered some contests and won a prize. I think it is such a good idea to get a poetry book and introduce children to poetry because it really gets them to be creative!

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  26. My 3-year-old is trying to figure out rhyming – he doesn’t quite have it yet, but he’s getting there.

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  29. I am excited about trying introducing poetry to my kids, I would start with drawings following up poems.
    tcarolinep at gmail dot com

    Reply

  31. I haven’t introduced poetry to my grandson yet, but I think it is a good idea.
    cshell090869 at aol dot com

    Reply

  33. I haven’t tried poetry writing with my little one one yet, but i have a book of poem I started reading to him.

    Thanks for the chance to win!
    wildorchid985 AT gmail DOT com

    Reply

  35. I think that it’s a great idea to introduce children to poetry and writing poetry. I haven’t done it myself yet but I will definitely start. Creativity is something that I want to foster in my kids.

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  38. Well before introducing poetry writing , I surround our children with poetry reading. Poetry reading is part of our regular reading. After a child has been immersed in poetry, you can start writing with a poetry template like the acrostic and shape poems that you used.

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  39. My daughter is six and she already loves writing little poems. This would be great for her!

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  40. My daughter is just starting to learn how to write so we haven’t introduced poetry yet. We make writing fun by earning stickers as a reward.

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  45. I’d love to introduce my daughter to poetry! She’s my little bookworm and loves when I read to her so I think she will also enjoy poems!

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  46. Never tried Poetry writing before, but it does sound like it would be interesting and fun.
    Thanks so much.

    Reply

  48. I’ve never been interested in poetry, so don’t really pay attention to what the kids do with it.

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  49. i am excited about introducing my kids to poetry. i myself loved getting all my feelings out through poems and would love them to do the same.

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  51. In the classroom and at home, I introduced poetry by reading it to the kids over and over. They grew to love the patterns and rhymes of the language.

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  57. I would be excited to introduce poetry writing to help develop my niece’s creative side.

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  60. Teaching poetry to kids is a great thing! I am an English support teacher for grades K-5 and I am teaching my students various types of poetry each year. I am excited to use some of these ideas for when my own child grows up 🙂 thanks!

    Reply

  61. Yes, I am excited about trying poetry writing for kids. My daughter would love it. Thanks for the giveaway!

    Reply

  63. We haven’t introduced poetry yet. My toddlers are young, but not too young to learn! I am excited to introduce it.

    Reply

  68. I really never paid to much attention. I read my grand kids some poetry or rhyming books but not with a focus on it. I kinda let the school introduce them. Its something I will work on.

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  70. I haven’t ever though about introducing my kids to poetry. I will have to look into some poetry books for young children, because we love to read

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  72. I just like using kids books that have poetry inside them. And if you make it somewhat musical, it’s even more enjoyable!

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  74. Poetry writing just came up naturally with us. We have writers in the family, and poetry is also in some of the books we read. 🙂 So, we read some and then encourage them to write their own! 🙂

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  76. i think you should introduce children to poetry just by reading it to them, you can start with rhyming picture books

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  79. I’ve really never thought about it but think it is a good idea and will definitely look into it when purchasing them books next time.

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  81. I will definitely be trying your tip of having the kids make a poem using the letters of a work. (bonus points for you mixing up the colors on the page!)

    Reply

  83. I haven’t introduced poetry writing to my daughters yet, but after reading this, I think I will!

    Reply

  88. I have not introduced poetry to my children but now I am excited to
    start with some poetry books for them.

    Reply

  90. I have not yet started introducing poetry writing but am so excited to get to try it!

    Reply

  92. My kids starting writing poetry in school pretty early on, its fun to read some of the things they come up with!

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  94. I don’t know anything about poetry. The only poetry I’ve shared with my kids is from Dr Suess! I guess I’ll wait for a great poetry teacher to enlighten them!

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  97. We have not introduced poetry yet but we will when the time is right art is so special and important.

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  98. The first thing we did was haikus….you can use most any words as long as it’s the right amount of syllables…

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  101. I’ve not done too much of this.
    My daughter loves rhyming words though.
    She’d probably rock a rhyming poem 😉

    Reply

  105. My own kids liked to say poems that I wrote down for them when they were very young. I still have them. When I worked in a Latchkey program, we read poems together and then the kids were always more interested in writing poems with their own names or friends’ names included.

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  106. I love introducing poetry to my kids. It can be fun for all ages, start with more of a sing-song approach when they are little to writing their own as they grow. And there are so many topics and varieties. Poetry can really give you a chance to show off your imagination.

    Reply

  107. I have not introduced my little niece to poetry yet she is a little young for that however I’m going to make up some fun little games so she can learn.

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  109. Poetry can be totally random. For instance riding in the car and we see a cow elicits “How now brown cow?”. What else do you see? Tree? Ok- I’d like to be a big strong tree.

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  112. A child’s garden of versus is a book that introduced poetry to me as a child and I read the same exact book to my own son now. I am glad my mom kept that book all these years.

    Reply

  114. I hadn’t even thought about it! My daughter has read poems and learned about rhyming in school, but I never thought of writing poetry at home. They just got out for summer break, so I think I’m going to fill out some papers with the start of Acrostic poems and every time she says “I’m bored!”, I’ll hand her a new one! Thanks!

    Reply

  116. I’ve always loved poetry aND have been writing poems for years so it’s very easy to introduce them to my great nieces and nephews. We play at making up stories that rhyme and we read poems, rhymes and stories in poem form.
    I’m hoping to instill the art in them.

    ubrewme@yahoo.com

    Reply

  118. I think that dr seuss is a great way to introduce poetry at a very young age. And playing for the kids folk music from the 50s and 60s would also be great in order to develop a sort of simple rhythm.

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  119. I like to introduce poetry using fun or quirky poems. Where the Sidewalk Ends is a favorite. We also like to do acrostic poems which can be easy for kids to create using words like their name or favorite book title.

    Reply

  122. I have not yet introduced poetry to my daughter but plan to soon thanks to this post!

    kport207 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  123. It’s fun to give kids a character they know to write the poem about (fairytale, tv, favorite book).

    Reply

  124. My daughter loved writing poems as a child. I encouraged her to include them in cards to Grandma and Grandpa.

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  125. As a retired teacher, I always introduced a poetry unit with an Acrostic Poem. They are fun and easy. My granddaughter is only 3 but I will certainly play with poetry when she is older.

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  136. So far we have touched down on the basics of rhyming. We love to make poems together with rhyming words and its alot of fun, I dcant wait until we learn more about actual poems.

    Reply

  137. I do not have children in m life but I am VERY excited to see your post and at the thought of teaching/introducing poetry to children. I majored in creative writing in college and my specialization was poetry. 😀 I am all for the arts being a major part of children’s lives. 😀

    Reply

  140. This is such a great idea for the summer. I love that it is a project and snack pairing.

    Reply

  142. I was very much into poetry growing up. I found it was something my daughter also got excited about. We started writing poems about her friends and her. Now she writes poems about everything.

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  144. My daughter enjoys writing poems. Her first poem she wrote for school and now she enjoys writing poems for fun.

    Reply

  146. I love and enjoy poems. My favorite way to introduce poetry writing for my kids is giving them some simple poetry books

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  149. The kids have not had been to inclined to do much poetry. I’m hoping to encourage them to write some poetry this summer. I thought maybe if I could see who came up with the funniest poem – it may give them more incentive to write a poem. My niece certainly seems to have a knack for poetry.

    Reply

  160. I introduce my daughter to age appropriate classical and modern poetry at the library and online. I also believe music lyrics show wonderful creativity in verse.

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  161. My favorite way to introduce poetry writing to kids is by reading poetry! One of the best texts for children is T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” which inspires nearly everyone who reads or hears it to try their hand at writing some cat poetry themselves!

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  164. My favorite way to introduce it is to go outside with a notepad and my children to compose poems.

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  168. I think it’ll be fun when we get there, we’re just learning how to rhyme right now.

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  170. I think a great way to introduce poetry writing is by starting with poetry reading. My favorite poems to write are haikus, so that would probably be a good starting point.

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  171. we haven’t introduced poetry writing to the kids yet, but we are working on songs with rhyming words

    Reply

  173. i am a classroom teacher and i love teaching them that poetry doesn’t have to rhyme! it is great starting with the acronym style poem

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  175. I’m excited about introducing kids to music, and I think poetry goes hand in hand with that. Creativity and rhythm!

    Reply

  176. I am excited to try teaching poetry to my Grand-daughter. She just turned 4 and we read poetry daily.

    Reply

  181. I’ve never thought about introducing poetry to kids, but I think there would be a lot of fun ways to do so, like books and songs.

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  182. My kids were introduced to poetry in school. My fiancé is savvy to the ways of poetry but I am frankly lost.

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  188. My daughter has loved writing poetry since she was very little. I think it started with reading her Dr Seuss and Shel Silverstein. As soon as she could write she was trying her own versions of poetry and stories. I have always encouraged creative expression through writing. She is now 16 and wants to be a journalist 🙂

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  190. My kids are grown now, but they both wrote poems in school, and they had children’s poetry books, like Shel Silverstein’s books.

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  203. My granddaughter is only 8 months, but i look forward to introducing her to poetry someday. I’ve always loved it myself.

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  205. My hubby has written both of our sons poems so they thinks its pretty cool and write their own now!

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  206. Children seem to pick up rhyming words easily so I think introducing them to simple poems would be fun.

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  208. Two children, both grown, and I don’t know that we introduced either one to poetry writing. Left that pretty much to the schools.

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  210. I’m extcited about introducing poetry to my kids , I love it when they read, but I don’t think poetry is one thing they have read before, now I’m excited to introduce them to the poetry in our library

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  213. I found a copy of my favorite childhood book, a child’s book of verse, at the thrift store and read it to my grandchildren

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  214. I introduced poetry to the kids by sharing with them some of my favorite poems from when I was a kid. We haven’t tried writing poetry quite yet.

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  216. I have been teaching sixth grade for the last three years and I have found one of the best ways to introduce poetry is to find poetry that your students or children would like and read actual poems to them! This gives them fabulous exposure to real poems, helps get their creative juices flowing, and gets them excited about writing poems! They especially love seeing different types of poems. These can help even beginNing writers see how fun and easy writing poetry can be!

    Reply

  222. My boys absolutely love goldfish crackers.
    My son loves Dr. Seuss..and attained a love for rhymes! We incorporate that into poems all the time!

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  229. My daughter has not written any poetry yet but she loves to write books and make her own board games.. I am sure poetry is next..

    Reply

  230. My grandkids are a bit young to write poetry but I have introduced many poems to them. We do a lot of reading as I started this with them at a very young age.

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  233. I used to write poetry when I was in my teens. My daughter loved poetry when she was also a teen. Thank you for the chance 🙂

    Reply
  234. Pingback: Poetry Month: "Booger Love," by Brod Bagert

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