Mary Had a Little Lamb
Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And every where that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
Everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go;
He followed her to school one day,
School one day, school one day,
He followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play,
Laugh and play, laugh and play,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school,
And so the teacher turned him out,
Turned him out, turned him out,
So the teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered near,
And waited patiently about,
Patiently about, patiently about,
Waited patiently about,
Till Mary did appear;
“Why does the lamb love Mary so?
Mary so, Mary so,
Why does the lamb love Mary so?”
The eager children cried;
“Why Mary loves the lamb, you know,
Lamb you know, lamb you know,
Why Mary loves the lamb, you know”
The teacher did reply;
Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Then the traveler in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark;
How could he see where to go?
If you did not twinkle so.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
In the dark blue sky you keep,
While you through my window peep,
And you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Jack And Jill
Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
Up Jack got
And home did trot
As fast as he could caper,
Went to bed
To mend his head
With vinegar and brown paper.
Baa, Baa Black Sheep
Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full;
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane
Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie
Runs through the town,
Upstairs and downstairs
In his night gown.
Tapping at the window,
Crying at the lock,
“Are the children all in bed,
For it’s past ten o’clock?”
“Hey Willie Winkie,
Are you coming in?
The cat’s singing purring sounds
To the sleeping hen.
The dog’s spread out on the floor
and doesn’t give a cheep,
But here’s a wakeful little boy
who will not fall asleep.”
Anything but sleep, you rogue,
Glowering like the moon,
Rattling in an iron jug
With an iron spoon,
Rumbling, tumbling round about,
Crowing like a cock,
Shrieking like a I don’t know what,
Waking sleeping folk.
“Hey WIllie Winkie-
The child’s in a creel!
Wriggling off everybody’s kne
Like an eel.
Tugging at the cat’s leg,
Confusing all her thrums-
Hey Willie Winkie,
See, there he comes.”
Weary is the mother
Who has a dusty child,
A small, short little child
That can’t run on his own,
That always has a battle with sleep,
Before he’ll close an eye,
But a kiss from his rosy lips
Gives strength anew to me.
Short Funny Poems
Laughter is the best medicine and what better than tickling your kid’s funny bone with some short funny poems. Here, we have a few recommendations of funny poems for your kids that will surely crack them up, and they’ll be more than eager to learn them.
My Cat Is Fat
I’ve a cat named Vesters,
And he eats all day.
He always lays around,
And never wants to play.
Not even with a squeaky toy,
Nor anything that moves.
When I have him exercise,
He always disapproves.
So we’ve put him on a diet,
But now he yells all day.
And even though he’s thinner,
He still won’t come and play.
Topsy-Turvey-World
If the butterfly courted the bee,
And the owl the porcupine;
If churches were built in the sea,
And three times one was nine;
If the pony rode his master,
If the buttercups ate the cows,
If the cats had the dire disaster
To be worried, sir, by the mouse;
If mamma, sir, sold the baby
To a gypsy for half a crown;
If a gentleman, sir, was a lady,—
The world would be Upside-down!
If any or all of these wonders
Should ever come about,
I should not consider them blunders,
For I should be Inside-out!
Chorus
Ba-ba, black wool,
Have you any sheep?
Yes, sir, a packfull,
Creep, mouse, creep!
Four-and-twenty little maids
Hanging out the pie,
Out jumped the honey-pot,
Guy Fawkes, Guy!
Cross latch, cross latch,
Sit and spin the fire;
When the pie was opened,
The bird was on the brier!
A Mouse In Her Room
A mouse in her room woke Miss Doud
Who was frightened and screamed very loud
Then a happy thought hit her
To scare off the critter
She sat up in bed and just meowed.
A psychiatrist fellow from Rye
Went to visit another close by,
Who said, with a grin,
As he welcomed him in:
“Hello, Smith! You’re all right! How am I?”
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were caught, so what could they do?
Said the fly, “Let us flee.”
“Let us fly,” said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
A mosquito was heard to complain,
“A chemist has poisoned my brain!”
The cause of his sorrow
was paradichlorotriphenyldichloroethane.
McGallimagoo
My name is not McGallimagoo,
Although some would have you think.
All day long they call me this,
And I really think it stinks.
McGallimagoo come here to me
Mcgllimagoo sit down.
McGallimagoo is such a funny name,
But it always makes me frown.
So if you see me on the street,
Please don’t call me this.
Refer to me by my proper name,
Which is Mr. Hullibajiss.
Short Rhyming Poems
Whenever you plan on introducing poetry to your kid, it is recommended that you start with rhyming poems. The rhythmic pattern, similar sounding words, and repetition of words are easy for kids to memorise.
Two Little Dicky Birds
Two Little Dicky Birds,
Sat upon a wall.
One named Peter,
The other named Paul,
Fly away Peter.
Fly away Paul.
Come back Peter!
Come back Paul!!
Bed In Summer
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
My Doggy Ate My Homework
“My doggy ate my homework.
He chewed it up,” I said.
But when I offered my excuse
My teacher shook her head.
I saw this wasn’t going well.
I didn’t want to fail.
Before she had a chance to talk,
I added to the tale:
“Before he ate, he took my work
And tossed it in a pot.
He simmered it with succotash
Till it was piping hot.
“He scrambled up my science notes
With eggs and bacon strips,
Along with sautéed spelling words
And baked potato chips.
“He then took my arithmetic
And had it gently fried.
He broiled both my book reports
With pickles on the side.
“He wore a doggy apron
As he cooked a notebook stew.
He barked when I objected.
There was nothing I could do.”
“Did he wear a doggy chef hat?”
She asked me with a scowl.
“He did,” I said. “And taking it
Would only make him growl.”
My teacher frowned, but then I said
As quickly as I could,
“He covered it with ketchup,
And he said it tasted good.”
“A talking dog who likes to cook?”
My teacher had a fit.
She sent me to the office,
And that is where I sit.
I guess I made a big mistake
In telling her all that.
’Cause I don’t have a doggy.
It was eaten by my cat.
Monday’s Child
Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go.
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for a living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath Day,
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.
Little Jack Horner
Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He stuck in his thumb
And pulled out a plum and said
“What a good boy am I
What a good boy am I”
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet,
Eating her curd and whey;
Along came a spider,
And sat down beside her,
Frightened Miss Muffet away, oh yeah
Frightened Miss Muffet away
Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He stuck in his thumb
And pulled out a plum and said
“What a good boy
What a good boy
What a good boy am I”
Tips to Teach Poems to your Child
Give it a Tune
Have you ever seen that music is better understood and retained by our minds in comparison to simple words. You can think of any catchy tune and help your kid learn the poem in that tune.
Modulate
Voice modulation plays an important role in remembering poems. You can pick up different scales and momentum for different paragraphs.
Act The Characters
If there are some characters in the poem, try enacting them. This will help your kid to memorise in a better way.
Erasing The Words
You can write the complete poem on the board and after reciting a few times with your kid, you can start erasing the words one by one.
Break Up The Poem
This is a good approach to helping your kid memorise a poem. Break the poem into paragraphs and teach it to your kid paragraph wise. However, if there are no paragraphs, you can divide the poem into lines.
Keep Repeating
Repetition is a great way of remembering things and the same applies to poems. Keep repeating until your kid memorises the poem by heart and then he/she will not forget it easily.
Explain It
It is seen that whenever you explain and give a valid logic to your kid, he/she will understand and remember things in a better way. You can explain the poem, in the form of a story, beforehand.
Poems are a great way to bond with your kid, while also teaching them something valuable. These poems can help kids build their language and speech skills as well.
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Step 2: Understand Your Purpose
Why are you writing a poem and what do you want it to say? The purpose of your poem can dictate what form or style it should use, how long or short it should be, and the types of language you use. Are you writing for yourself, for an assignment, or for someone else?
Step 4: Brainstorm
Start by writing down all the words that come to mind when you think of your subject. Poets and writers often imagine what other people or objects see or feel. If a poet saw an apple, he may wonder why it is there, who put it there, what the apple is thinking, or what it will become, like applesauce or apple pie.
Take a walk and try to experience every physical sense: touch, smell, sound, taste, and vision. Try to watch people and animals, and imagine their feelings and perspectives. Get silly and make up crazy stories. All you have to do is loosen up, have fun, and start writing whatever comes to mind.
Types of Poems and Poetry Styles
There are many types of poems you can write. Poems don’t have to have rhymes and meter, but they can if you feel comfortable using them. Once you’ve selected a format, you can learn more about that style of poetry by reading many examples of that type of poem.
Step 7: Write the Rest
If you use the first line as your opening line, simply start adding lines after it. If it’s your ending line, you can work backwards or work towards that line. As you write, don’t worry too much about perfect formatting. You can fix that later.
Tips for Writing Your First Poem
Your first poem may not be perfect, or even good. That’s okay. If you keep a few things in mind as you write, your poem is more likely to be something you’re proud of.
Michele Meleen
M.S. Counselor Education
Ten of the best poems for children selected by Dr Oliver Tearle
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
‘Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!’
So begins this glorious nonsense poem for children, often mistakenly called ‘The Jabberwocky’ (the Jabberwock is the monster, so the poem is ‘Jabberwocky’). It was included in Lewis Carroll’s 1871 follow-up book to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, although the first stanza was actually written and printed by Carroll in 1855 in the little periodical Mischmasch, which Carroll (real name Charles Dodgson) compiled to entertain his family. Focusing on the slaying of a fearsome monster, the titular Jabberwock, the poem is renowned for the inventiveness of its language: it gave us almost literally dozens of new words, including some now in common use: the words ‘chortle’ and ‘galumph’.
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’
This charming poem about the love story of the owl and the pussycat – unlikely partners, perhaps – has been interpreted in various ways (is the cat the female in the relationship?), but perhaps this is all beside the point. What matters is the wonderful picture of a fantasy world Lear
Taken from Stevenson’s 1884 volume A Child’s Garden of Verses, this Victorian classic describes a train journey and the fast-moving panoramic view witnessed from the train window:
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by …
One of Belloc’s cautionary rhymes, which in many ways prefigure Roald Dahl’s writing for children, ‘Matilda’ is a classic children’s poem with a very dark subject: the titular heroine, because of the lies she tells, ends up being burned to death. But the poem has a light, humorous tone, despite its cautionary nature, since Belloc thought that making children laugh could also make them think.
As well as writing such modernist poems as The Waste Land and ‘The Hollow Men’, T. S. Eliot also wrote a book of nonsense verses about cats for his godchildren. (Eliot himself owned numerous cats.) Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was later turned into the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical Cats. This poem follows Macavity, who is loosely based on Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories (of which Eliot was a devoted fan). He’s a master of disguise, a ‘cat-burglar’ in the most literal sense of the term, and a criminal who covers his (paw-)tracks with skill. According to Stephen Tunnicliffe, ‘Macavity’ is particularly good reading for 11- and 12-year-olds.
Michael Rosen is one of the leading poets for children writing today, and ‘Chocolate Cake’ is enormous fun. He starts off by discussing his love of chocolate cake as a young boy, and how one night he crept downstairs to eat a bit of the chocolate cake in the kitchen – and ended up wolfing down the whole lot.
One of Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes – his verse retellings of classic fairy tales – this one is particularly good fun. Dahl offers us not the meek Little Red Riding Hood of nineteenth-century fairy stories but a plucky, resourceful, and brave girl who pulls a pistol out of her underwear to protect herself from the Big Bad Wolf. Revolting, horrific, and funny too – as we'd expect from the fascinating mind of Roald Dahl.
A poem about overcoming fear and not allowing it to master you, ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me’ is the perfect poem for children if you want to teach them about self-belief and the importance of facing their fears. Angelou lists a number of things, from barking dogs to grotesque fairy tales in the Mother Goose tradition, but comes back to her mantra: ‘Life doesn’t frighten me at all’. We’re especially fond of Angelou’s image of walking the ocean floor and never having to breathe (a fine metaphor – though in reality, don’t try doing this without breathing apparatus).