5 Ways to Make Friends with Poetry: Why Teaching Poetry Is Good for Kids

You don’t have to be a poetry expert—or find an hour in your already-full school day—to help kids make friends with poetry. Discover 5 simple ways to teach poetry to kids, plus learn how poetry builds vocabulary, strengthens listening skills, encourages careful reading, and inspires kids to write.

Homeschool parents and classroom teachers have a lot of ground to cover in a day. And it can be  a challenge to fit all the content and subjects into a day’s or week’s schedule—especially when the unexpected happens.

Homeschool parents know what it’s like to have  siblings needing attention in the middle of instruction. Maybe an online program glitches. Maybe the computer decides not to cooperate. Or maybe the dishwasher breaks down at exactly the wrong moment. 

Classroom teachers have their own curveballs: an unplanned school assembly, a fire drill, a classroom visit, or any number of interruptions that can turn a carefully planned day upside down.  

As a homeschool parent or classroom teacher, you know the struggle is real. So you may be wondering how teaching poetry to kids can possibly fit into an already-full school day.

I’m here to help.

First, let’s understand why teaching poetry to kids is so valuable. Then we’ll look at five simple ways to bring poetry into your teaching rhythm without adding another overwhelming subject to your list.

Why Teach Poetry?

Here’s the wonderful thing about adding even 15 minutes of teaching poetry to kids to your weekly teaching rhythms: poetry can do double–or even  triple!–duty.

A good poem can help children practice reading, writing, listening, learn new vocabulary, discover metaphors, encourage memorization, and even public speaking. 

Teaching poetry can actually streamline some of your other lessons, offer you freedom in planning, and benefit your kids in ways that reach far beyond the poetry lesson itself. 

Let’s break it down.

Poetry Builds Vocabulary

Poetry hones our ears for language. Poets choose words carefully. Sometimes a poem introduces a child to a word they’ve never encountered before. Other times, it takes a familiar word and places it in a next context, inviting the reader to think about what it means.

The best poems are the ones that send you to the dictionary on a word hunt. And that’s a vocabulary lesson that doesn’t feel like a vocabulary lesson!

Poetry Strengthens Listening Skills

Poetry requires careful attention. When children listen to a poem being read aloud, they are paying attention to the sounds of words, the rhythm of the language, the pauses, and the meaning being communicated. They’re learning to listen closely. 

Careful listening is a skill that serves them well in every subject.

Poetry Teaches Kids to Read Metaphorically

Poetry can say a lot with a few words. Rather than explaining an idea or emotion, poets may choose an image to represent it. A bowl, a shell, a rock, a tree, a bird. Something concrete can become a container for an abstract idea. 

These images and comparisons help children learn to read metaphorically: to look beyond the literal words on the page and consider what else the poet might be saying.

Poetry Encourages Careful Reading and Writing

Poetry requires us to slow down. Every word matters. Every line break matters. The sound of a word can matter. The repetition of a phrase can matter. 

That kind of careful attention is excellent practice for reading and writing. Kids who regularly read poetry have opportunities to become better listenters, more engaged readers, and more thoughtful writers. 

So, how do we get started? 

Start Small: 5 Simple Ways to Teach Poetry

The good news is you don’t need to carve out an entire afternoon for poetry. Start small.

1: Take Five: Read a Poem Aloud

Start with five minutes. 

 Read a poem during Morning Time, at the beginning of the school day, after lunch, or whenever it naturally fits into your day. 

You don’t even have to explain it. Just read.

Let your children hear the language. Let them enjoy the sounds. Let them listen to the rhythm and notice the images. 

Reading poetry aloud regularly trains kids to listen carefully, and it gives them the opportunity to experience poetry as something they hear.

• Need a place to begin reading? Click on the photo below for my free list of picture books as poetry, for kids ages 3-12.

2: Go on a Word Hunt

When you’re reading a poem, stop when you come across an unfamiliar or particularly interesting word.

What does it mean?

Can you figure it out from the context?

What happens when you look up the meaning?

Does knowing the definition change the way you understand the poem?

This is one of my favorite things about poetry: a short poem can become a vocabulary lesson, a reading lesson, and a conversation all at once.

And sometimes the best words are the ones that simply make children smile.

3: Listen for the Music

A poem comes alive when it is read!

Whether you’re reading or listening to a poem, pay attention to the music of the language.

When reading poems with rhyme and meter, children can learn to notice:

• The pattern and cadence of the reader’s voice—the ups and downs
• The syllables and sounds of the words
• Repeated sounds or phrases
• End rhymes
• The rhythm of the lines

This is where poetry overlaps beautifully with reading and listening instruction.

And there’s another benefit: reading poetry aloud gives children practice with recitation and public speaking. Those are valuable skills for children as young as five or six and continue to serve them throughout their school years and beyond.

4: Notice the Patterns

Our brains are naturally drawn to order, repetition, and pattern.

Poetry gives children plenty of opportunities to experience all three.

The musicality of rhyme and meter can make poetry easier to remember. Think about how easily we remember nursery rhymes, songs, and familiar verses.

With poetry, the words aren’t simply communicating an idea. They are creating a pattern that our ears and minds can recognize and remember.

And this is where the joy comes in.

Who doesn’t love a nonsense poem?

Take Jabberwocky, for example.

Lewis Carroll’s famous poem from Through the Looking-Glass is a wonderful example of how much fun language can be.

You don’t have to understand every word you read to enjoy it.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

What exactly is a slithy tove? Nobody knows!

Children can listen to the sounds, notice the rhythm, try to pronounce the invented words, and imagine what these strange creatures might look like.

Poetry can be fun and valuable! That’s a teaching win.

5: Take Fifteen: Let Kids Write

Once children have spent time listening to and enjoying poetry, give them an opportunity to write their own. 

Simple poetry resources will suffice. You don’t need a complicated poetry curriculum. Using various resources (I have some for you here), take 15 minutes once a week and give children the opportunity to write their own poems. 

They might: 

• Write a poem about something they see outside
• Write a poem with pictures (see Resource library)
• Make a list poem
• Play with rhyming words
• Write a limerick 
• Describe something using metaphor
• Write a poem using repetition

The goal is simply to give children the experience of making something with words or pictures. 

Remember, you don’t need to create your own resources: ACCESS MY POETRY RESOURCE LIBRARY. 

You Don’t Have to Be a Poetry Expert

If adding poetry to your homeschool or classroom curriculum, remember start small. 

You don’t have to know everything about poetry before you begin. Learn alongside your learners! You don’t need a perfect poetry curriculum. And you certainly don’t need to spend an hour every day teaching it.

Read one poem.

Listen to it. 

Talk about an interesting word.

Notice a rhyme.

Laugh at a silly line.

Then, when you’re ready, let them try making something of their own.

Five minutes here. Fifteen minutes there.

Before long, poetry won’t feel like one more subject you have to squeeze into the school day.

It will simply become part of your teaching rhythms.

And maybe–just maybe–you and your kids will make friends with poetry along the way.

Bring joy to your day with poetry. 

• Joy is a subject, right?