by Paul Rance

Created on: May 17, 2010

Getting children at a young age interested in writing poetry can be achieved by making the subject interesting through a number of ways.

One way to encourage young children to write poetry is to play them songs, especially songs which are humorous, with a strong subject matter, about, say, a certain animal, and which have an easy rhyme scheme. Get the children to write down the rhymes they remember hearing, and then ask them to write about the subject of the song, but with their own different rhymes.

As well as playing songs to small children and stimulating their minds that way, it is also a good idea for young children to sing songs, as this gets through to a young child how rhyme can be used in another really enjoyable way.

Another fun way of getting young children interested in writing poetry is to get them to create a picture of something they like, and then help them to write a simple poem to accompany the picture. This could be quite daunting for a small child on their own, so a fun way would be to start the poem for them, and then leave gaps for where the rhymed word should be.

A simple way of inspiring small children regarding rhyme, and helping them to learn the alphabet at the same time, is to go right through the alphabet from A-Z, and find a rhymed word for every letter. Also, you could use a book with an animal or object representing every letter of the alphabet. This will engage a small child, and encourage them to respond and learn, and they could then create a rhyme for every animal and object all at the same time. Some words will be difficult to rhyme with for a little child, so don't be shy in helping out!

The most conventional way of grabbing the attention of the young mind, regarding the magic of rhyme, is simply reading to them, and nursery rhymes, for instance, have a timeless appeal to young children. Also recite the rhymes with the child, and they will then get a feel for the way rhymes work.

Writing poetry should be enjoyable for all ages, and this is particularly true of the very young. Young children will really respond to things which are fun, so making poetry enjoyable to write, and not too difficult at this early stage, are the most important things to remember when teaching a small child to write, and to enjoy writing, poetry.

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