O sweet wild April/ Came down the Lea,/ Dancing along,/ With his sisters three:/ Carnation, and Rose,/ and tall Lily./ Sing hi,/ Sing hey,/ Sing ho!—William Force Stead
April is National Poetry Month—sing hi, sing hey, sing ho! Poetry is such a fun way to spark your children’s interest in words and wordplay. Poems have magical, lyrical rhythms and beautiful, descriptive language that will arouse your kids’ curiosity and captivate their senses.
Sprinkle some of these fun activities into day-to-day family life for a month-long celebration of the joys of poetry.
Read Poems Aloud Start simple and start with humor. Read a few nursery rhymes aloud to your kids. Even older children will appreciate the good-natured humor, fun rhymes, and melodic flow of the words. Keep the momentum going and choose a few longer poems that will definitely tickle your kids’ funny bones, such as “I Should Have Stayed in Bed Today” by Jack Prelutsky and “My Sloth is Supersonic” by world-renowned poet Kenn Nesbitt….