Best Websites for Kids Poems

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Interactive Poetry Sites Help Children Create Poems

These are the best poetry websites to get kids excited about writing and reading poems -- especially during National Poetry Month in April.

Kids love to read and write poems. Sometimes they struggle with choosing the right word. Or they're unsure if they have the right format. Many of the websites described below make that task easier. Then kids can focus on their creativity... on making pictures, music and movement with words. A few of the websites described below also give kids the opportunity to submit their poems and have them published online.

Not enogh poetry here for you? Stop by my website, LearningReviews.com > Language Arts > Poetry, where teachers and parents can find even more poetry resources and activities.

#1 Poetry Interactives 

by ReadWriteThink

ReadWriteThink is one of the foremost websites in providing online reading and writing activites for students and lesson plan ideas for teachers. They have several Poetry Interactives kids can use to spark their creativity. Each interactive is accompanied by lesson plan ideas for students at various grade levels. Be sure to print or copy each completed poetic masterpiece! They cannot be saved online.

readwritethink_acrostic_poem The Acrostic Poem interactive provides a form where you pick your main word, then write words that start with the letters of the main word. After you brainstorm your acrostic words, you type in the ones that best describe your main word. The interactive will suggest other words when you point at a letter in the main word. You can then print your masterpiece or go back and make changes.


readwritethink_diamante_poem Using the Diamante Poem interactive, kids create a poem in the shape of a diamond. They select a central theme, then use adjectives, -ing verbs, and nouns to "paint" the theme. The interactive has examples to guide the poet. There are also pop-ups on the fill-in-the-blank diamante form to help guide the student through the parts of speech that make up their poem.


readwritethink_letter_poem
Letter Poem Creator is designed for students in grades 3-5. Using the example in the interactive, students learn to use poetic line breaks by turning a narrative into a poem. The model explains the process of breaking a letter into ideas, and stanzas.


readwritethink_riddle_poem
Noted for use by kids in grades 6-8, the Riddle Interactive helps students to make use of simile, metaphor and metonymy. Students design a riddle around an answer, such as a door or grass. They brainstorms words associated with the answer, their synonyms, antonyms. The best riddles use as many of the senses as possible.

readwritethink_shape_poem
The Shape Poems interactive was designed to help elementary students create fun poems about a object in the shape of the object. This interactive tool provides 19 different shapes around such themes as sports, nature and school to spur creativity.






readwritethink_wordmover_poem
There are two Word Mover interactives. The first uses a passage from the children's novel, Holes. The second uses a passage from Martin Luther King's speech, I Have a Dream,. Kids create a found poem by moving key words, phrases and lines from the passage to the work area.

#2 Giggle Poetry 

by Meadowbrook Press

GigglePoetry.com Giggle Poetry offers several poetry activities. Take a poetry class and learn how to write different kinds of poems. Have a poetry tongue twister race. Answer a rhyme-time riddle, or fill-in-the-blank to complete a poem. Perform a poetry play. Read interviews with some well-known children's poets, and email them a question. And, of course, browse through the online library of hundreds of poems for kids.

#3 Poetry Rhyming Dictionary and Thesaurus 

Poetry.com

poetry_dictionary Poetry.com's Rhyming Dictionary and Thesaurus helps kids in their struggle to find words that express their feelings and ideas. It has some features that make it ideal for kids learning to write poems. When you do a search on a word, the dictionary gives you a list of rhyming words, with links to their definitions. You can also use it to find synonyms, as well as words with similar sounds or consonants (alliteration).

There are many other resources on poetry history, techniques and daily contests on Poetry.com. These are designed for mostly older students and adults.

#4 Instant Poetry Forms 

by Alysa Cummings & the Educational Technology Training Center

instant_poetry_forms Instant Poetry Forms is an award-winning website designed to help kids create dozens of different kinds of poems. There are forms for poems about birthdays, animals, emotions, rhymes and lymericks, to name a few.

The student picks the type of poem he wants to write. A fill-in-the-blank form appears to help him create the poem, along with a sample of a completed poem. He can print it or copy and paste it into a wordprocessor.

Teachers and homeschool parents, the website has lesson plan ideas for you.

#5 Writing with Writers: Poetry 

Scholastic, Inc.

scholastic_poetry Spend some time with writers of children's poetry at Scholastic's Writing with Writers: Poetry. Three well-known poets discuss samples of their work, and give kids advice on their own poetry writing. You'll also find lesson planning resources for teachers and homeschool parents.

There is a webcast of Jack Prelutsky, Children's Poet Laureate, as he amuses us with several of his well-loved poems.

Karla Kushin shares her poetry and offers advice on brainstorming and revising your poetry. Kids in grades K-12 can publish their own poems to the website, and read the poetry of other kids.

Jean Marzollo, the writer of the well-known I Spy riddles, offers advice and tips to kids on creating their own I Spy riddles.

Try the interactive Poetry Idea Engine to create and print a limerick, haiku, cinquain or free verse.

#6 ShelSilverstein.com 

by Shel Silverstein

shel_silverstein Shel Silverstein's Official Site for Kids is all about the fun of Shel Silverstein poems. Every child I know has been captivated and amused by the off-kilter poetic sense of Silverstein and his equally oddball illustrations. His website is very much in the same vein. Be sure to turn on your speakers or headphones so you can fully appreciate and play along with his poetic hijinks.

Time for a poem . . . 

Whatif - A Shel Silverstein Poem

Sometimes at night when you try to go to bed, the whatifs come crawling in. Myke Mansberger's adapatation of Shel Silverstein's, 'Whatif'.

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#7 Poetry Splatter 

by Reading is Fundamental - Reading Planet

poetry_splatter Reading Planet invites kids to splat a poem at Poetry Splatter. The student picks a poem theme in her age group (up to age 14). When she splats, a group of color-coded words sprays the work area. She moves her word choices to the fill-in-the-blank spots. Voila - instant poem! She can print it or start over and try out other words.

Turn on the speakers or headphones for this one.

#8 Poetry4Kids.com 

by Ken Nesbitt

poetry4kids Poetry4Kids.com is a poetry playground. Kids read and rate the poems on this website. You'll see funny poems, the newest poems and the most popular poems. There are lessons on writing funny poems, including clerihews and exaggeration poems. And there's a simple rhyming dictionary.

If you register (for free), you can enter poetry contests, participate in a poetry forum, and even keep a poetry journal.

#9PoetryTeachers.com 

by Meadowbook Press

poetry_teachers PoetryTeacher.com is the sister site of Giggle Poetry. Try one of the ideas for poetry activities with your students. Have your students perform poetry theater. Find instructions for how to teach writing different kinds of poems.

There's advice from Bruce Lansky on how to get kids excited about poetry, and advice from Kathy Norris about how to read poetry in front of the class. Invite a poet or writer to your school via their link to AuthorinSchools.com.

#10 WordSmiths 

by New York Public Library TeenLink

wordsmiths TeenLink's WordSmiths is an anthology of poetry and other writing by teens. They publish about a dozen writings a month, and you can read the work of teens in past issues going back to 1996. Teens can submit their poems and other writing for future publication to the anthology.

#11 KidzPage Poetry 

by Emmi Tarr

KidzPage_Poetry KidzPage offers a healthy dose of poetry and verse for kids. Take a look at Critter ABCs. In the KidzSing Garden of Song, pick a verse for a sing along from the large collection of nursery rhymes. Read a selection from Homegrown Verse, poems submitted by kids at schools all over the world. Publication to the site ended in 2006, but it remains popular.

#12 Poets.org 

by the Academy of American Poets

Poets_org Poets.org has extensive educational resources for high school teachers to use with students. There are curriculum and lesson plan ideas, a teacher discussion forum, essays and tips on teaching poetry, and an anthology of poems to share with students.

How to Eat a Poem

Don't be polite.
Bite in.
Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that

may run down your chin.
It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.
You do not need a knife or fork or spoon
or plate or napkin or tablecloth.

For there is no core
or stem
or rind
or pit
or seed
or skin
to throw away.

by Eve Merriam

Have you tried writing poetry using interactive poetry sites? 

Or do you teach with them?

Lensmaster

junebugco wrote...

Thanks to poetry I have found a use for the dangling modifyer.

ReplyPosted June 06, 2009

Lensmaster

KimGiancaterino wrote...

My step-son needed help with a Haiku recently. His teacher had given the wrong formula in the homework instructions, but we found help online. Excellent resource... Squid Angel Blessed.

ReplyPosted May 31, 2009

Lensmaster

AlexandraHubbard wrote...

what a nice lens! As a future teacher, I think this is so useful! 5* from me!

ReplyPosted May 21, 2009

Lensmaster

Marinela wrote

Cool sites for children.
Thanks for sharing

Kids

The kids smiles spread
And so dose the atmosphere
They make the world spin

marinelareka.com

Reply Posted April 23, 2009

Lensmaster

tandemonimom wrote...

This lens is now a Featured Lens on the newly revamped Homeschooling Group (under new management)!

ReplyPosted April 09, 2009

 
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