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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!