Why Kids Love Poems & You Should Too!
Yes, kids love poems! I know that you’re most likely remembering the ballads from secondary school or the poetry analysis you were forced to do. Well, kids don’t think of poetry like that. Instead, they see poetry as having fun words and stories that excite and engage their imaginations. With rhyming words, alliteration and words in all sorts of fonts, sizes and places on a page, kids find poems interesting.
Rather than stun you with poems we have written, we’d like to encourage you to check out a NZ written poetry book, Treasure Beyond Measure. Written by Helen Griffiths, it takes you on a journey where you discover some amazing animals. Well worth reading to younger kids, or for older kids to read to themselves.
Kids Love Poems & Parents Should Too!
There are so many benefits from kids reading poems or being read poems. These include:
- Encouragement to be creative – like stories, poems help paint a picture in a child’s head which they can then express. For example, in their play, creating artwork and singing.
- Sparking of imagination and abstract thinking – poems paint word pictures which helps children engage their imaginations and think outside the box.
- Developing an opinion – the way you feel about a poem is unique and there’s no right or wrong answer. Discussing poems gives kids the opportunity to share their own views.
- Improves reading fluency – older children can improve their reading fluency thanks to the tunes and patterns within a poem. Poems also require more attention to word decoding which is useful for challenging confident readers.
- Helps improve spelling – the rhyme and spelling patterns within words are easy to find in a poem. This helps support the development of a child’s spelling skills.
- Increases vocabulary – poems contain lots of words not used in regular speech and books. This helps increase their vocabulary and comprehension.
- Poems are motivating – last but not least, poems are fun! When something is fun, kids are more motivated to do it, and poems can be a great way to engage reluctant readers.
Introducing Poetry to Your Children
So, where do you start when introducing poetry to kids? Chances are you already have. Nursery rhymes are great, as is making up funny sentences with lots of rhyming words. Many story books have rhyme and other poetry features within them too. One of our favourite children’s’ poetry books is Treasure beyond Measure and while suitable for older readers, it can be read to younger children too. Make sure you check out our other children’s books while you are there!
