On Beyond Giggles: Writing Children's Poetry

Workshop by Meg WinikatesMassachusetts Poetry Festival 2017

“Children spend their whole lives talking, listening, reading, and dreaming in one language (or more, if they are lucky), so why not encourage them to do all those things in the most pleasurable possible way—with poetry. Great poetry is a circus for the brain.”

J. Patrick Lewis, 2011 Children’s Poet Laureate

Writing for a Young Audience: What’s Different?

• Rhythm and rhyme (not) required?

• Relationship of text to image

• Silly yes, surprising great, obscure no

• Children are good at spotting fakers

Real words and rare words, big words are the best words (especially the funny sounding ones)

by Jack Prelutsky, from Ride a Purple Pelican

Classic writers on classic themes (construction vehicles, dinosaurs, and toys a plus!)

by Edna St. Vincent Millay, from Poetry for Young People series

Seasonality: Playing with everyday experience

by John J. Muth, from Hi, Koo!

Dragons, Unicorns, and Talking Trees: Playing with Imaginary Beasts

Illustration by Eric Carle, from Dragons, Dragons

“Our concerns as adults and as children are not so different. We want to be surprised, transformed, challenged, delighted, understood…Poetry is a rangy, uncontainable genre—it is a place for silliness and sadness, delight and despair, invention and ideas (and also, apparently, alliteration).”Matthea Harvey

Don’t be afraid of the dark: Playing with the gross and scary

by Shel Silverstein

What did you say?Interactive Poetry

You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You by Mary Ann Hoberman

Concrete Poetry: Playing with shapes on the page

by Joyce Sidman, from Meow, Ruff

Tell us about your favorite poem remembered from childhood

“Whatever may be said about this small but graceful art, three things should be remembered: good poems for children are never trivial; they are never written without the characteristic chills and fever of a dedicated man at work; they must never bear the stigma of ‘I am adult, you are a child.’''David McCord

Your Turn!Poetry Starters for Children’s PoemsInspired Jack Prelutsky, Read a Rhyme, Write a Rhyme

Animals, Emotions, and Empathy

Turtle Poemstart from Prelutsky

Because I am a turtle,A shell protects my hide.Because I am a turtle, I feel secure inside.

Because I am a turtle,

_______________________________

Pick an animal (or use the poemstart here) and use that animal’s characteristics to write about their imagined emotional state.

Silly Sounds and Surprises

“Food” Poemstart from Prelutsky

I’m hungry, so I think that Iwill have a piece of penguin pie.

When that is finished, I will eat

A _______________________________

Write a poem about food, using the silliest sounding real foods and the most surprising imaginary foods you can come up with.

Identity and Imagination

“Myself” Poemstart from Prelutsky

I’m bigger than a bumblebee,I’m smaller than a whale.I’m slower than a cheetah,I’m faster than a snail.

I’m ______________________________

How many ways can you describe your (persona’s) place in the world and sense of self? Get creative!

Thanks for playing with words with me!

• Find these slides on http://mwinikates.com

• Check out my interdisciplinary education blog here: http://brainpopcorn.com

• Find me on Twitter: @mwinikates

• Please share your playful poems!