March is National Nutrition Month, a month where focus is placed on teaching children healthy…
Roses are red, violets are blue, April is national poetry month, can we celebrate with you? Something as simple as a little rhyme like that can help to introduce poetry to preschoolers. You can save Shakespeare and the more advanced poetry for the big kids! You want to make poetry for preschoolers easy and fun. This will help to engage little ones and hopefully get them to enjoy poetry.
If you’re not a poet and you know it, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are 5 ways to celebrate national poetry month with a preschooler.
5 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month with Poetry for Preschoolers
With the mindset of keeping it simple, here are 5 ways to make poetry for preschoolers fun and exciting.
- Create Visual Poems
Who said poems have to only have words? An interesting way to celebrate national poetry month with preschoolers is to create visual poems. Scholastic introduces the idea of creating a short poem about what’s around the classroom and leaving a blank space with the line “We learned all about _____ today.” The children can draw a little picture of what they learned about that day.
- Rhyme Time Fun
Using a simple beginning like “Roses are red, violets are blue”, have children think of words that rhyme with blue. Write them down. Then help them create sentences to complete the rhyme. Children can become little poets before they even know it!
- Read to Your Children
Reading children’s nursery rhymes is a great way to celebrate national poetry month with them. Besides the benefits of reading to your child, specifically choosing rhyming stories will make poetry come alive. Plus, these stories are memorable, so there’s a chance you may hear them saying the lines around the house well after the story is over!
- Find Rhyming Songs
Besides reading to your children, find rhyming songs to help bring National Poetry Month alive. Kids love music, so why not bring poetry and music together? Some popular rhyming songs include:
- “Down by the Bay”
- “A Rhyming We Will Go”
- “The Color Game Song”
- “Five Green and Speckled Frogs”
These are just a few ideas of rhyming songs to get you started for National Poetry Month. You can go to YouTube and search for more rhyming songs so you can keep going all month long. There are plenty of them! Soon enough, you’ll be singing along and rhyming too!
- Have a Poetry Picnic
Make poetry fun by having a picnic. Choose your favorite foods and a few fun children’s books and make it a picnic. Maybe some “Green Eggs and Ham” can lend itself to some ham sandwiches? Be creative so that your kids will get excited about poetry, and the picnic of course.
You may even want to dress like book characters that are known for their rhymes. “The Cat in the Hat” is a favorite and is pretty easy to do. Your preschooler will get a kick out of seeing mom or dad dress up. The idea is to make it fun for them so that they can appreciate poetry. Don’t be afraid of getting a little silly, it’s all for a good cause.
Looking for a Preschool in Raleigh? Contact Us!
At Primary Beginnings, we love to get kids to be creative and stimulate learning. If you’re interested in learning more about our preschool curriculum and enrolling your child, contact us today. You can also schedule a tour so we can meet you!