Friday, May 4, 2012

Mommy and Me Poetry

Enjoying a little "Couch Time" with my girls!
One little activity that my five-year-old and I like to do together is write poems. This is usually a spontaneous activity when we are sharing a little moment of one on one time. CJ usually has a pen and notebook on hand at all times. So when we are inspired... the poetry just flows.

Here are a few ideas for writing poems with your little one:

Create and acrostic. This poem was written when we were learning about Kangaroos. I wrote down commands or imperatives to create the acrostic. The words are leading, or create room for an idea. Then CJ filled in the response or the idea. Here is our poem, My words are black and in bold, her words are pink.

Kangaroo
Keep eating grass
Always follow your leader
Never leave the pouch
Go in the pouch! And stay there!
Ask first to come out.
Remember to stay with your mom.
On occasion, stop for some food at an Oak Tree.
Oh! One more thing... Always keep away from predators.

Then there is always the whatever goes approach. This is a fun way make up a silly poem. For this you can choose a letter and choose words either real or made up for your poem. This next poem has no form, a few rhymes scattered in, but it is all her own. It nothing else it is very expressive!!

Zipity Zackity Zoe
Zackity Zooza
My Father in Heaven loves me!

Zackity Zoo
God loves you!

Nanny  & Poppy, me & Daddy
Have a new baby
Awesome too!
Have a new baby
Zaza Zoo!

Here is one we did together. This was very collaborative. We worked harder on rhyming words. She started out with the opening line. And I helped her pick a word for the last line of each first sentence. She filled in most of it. I let her fly with her ideas and offered a few suggestions.

Snuggle buggle boo!
Mommy loves you!

Snuggle buggle bee!
CJ loves me!

Snuggle Buggle Zipity Zoo!
Daddy loves you!

Snuggle Buggle whee!
Rose loves me!

In the end, I am sure writing poems with your kids has educational value. For us it is a great time spent having fun together. My little one got a chance to express some of her ideas to a willing listener. We got to bond over a few things we both enjoy...snuggling and playing around with words!

2 comments:

TammySue said...

Great acrostics girls...I can just picture you three on the couch doing this.. Sarah will have to bring over her poetry binder and share her writings this summer. Love you guys.

Anonymous said...

how fun!! I love your acrostic, so cute :) -heidi w