Children love and can understand poetry’s ability to inspire deep emotions. They enjoy reading or listening to their favorite poems again and again, and particularly when they are being praised for memorizing the words. If you want to motivate your child to get more involved with poetry or even start writing, you should read him or her poems before bedtime and also start writing by yourself, inviting your child to join — there’s no better example for our kids than the example we can give them every day.
Help your child get familiar with the different elements of poems and styles of writing because children are often confused and do not know where to start in writing their first piece. Explain to them the varieties of poetry, help them understand the meaning of words and sentences, their structure, rhymes and vocabulary. Your child will not only enjoy discovering this new limitless world of expression, but he or she will also have fun sharing their creations with other friends and peers.
Here are few suggestions on how to encourage your child to get involved in poetry and start writing poems by him/herself:
· Since parents are the ones that should set the best example for their children, you can recommend some of your favorite books of poetry and read them aloud together with your child. After reading each poem you both can discuss where the lines end, how the rhythm is created, or how these affect the meaning of the poem or its particular appearance.
· If there’s a song you and your child both like, you can sing it and write down the lyrics, and then leave your child to write a new poem that can be sung to the same melody while using the structure of the original lyrics as a guide.
· You can take a walk with your child and on the way you can stop at different places, like the park, or the street corner. Ask your child to describe what he or she sees in a sentence or two, and write down those lines. Later when you get back home, your kid can sit and revise these sentences and maybe turn them into a poem.
· Introduce your child to the acrostic poem and show him or her how to write one with the lines spelling their own name, or the names of other family members, friends and pets. Later you can also explore other types of poems like haiku, or ‘found’ poems, diamante, etc.
· Make poetry fun for your child. When on a trip ask your kid to make a series of 5 to 10 pictures and then write a poem including a few words for each photo. Import the images into appropriate multimedia editing software and enhance the slideshow poem with some effects, or maybe add your child’s favorite song. You’ll both enjoy the end result and it will certainly motivate your child to write more and better next time.
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Our guest blogger today is Alex Petryck. Alex is a professional freelance writer who loves to encourage students and help them with their writing. Follow him on twitter @AlexPetryck.
Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.
If you’d like to write a guest post for the ALSC Blog, please contact Mary Voors, ALSC Blog manager, at alscblog@gmail.com.
KathyK
Great post. Thanks.